My projects should have a purpose: Mawra Hocane on picking scripts that make a difference

The ‘Qissa Meherbano Ka’ actor spoke about her growth over the past decade in recent interview

Mawra Hocane, whose first acting credit dates back to 2011, has been a fixture of Pakistani television for a large part of her career. Recently making waves with her television series Qissa Meherbano Ka, which highlights the issue of marital rape, the actor sat down for an interview with a local publication. Mawra spoke about the trials and tribulations of growing up in front of the camera, completing her law degree in the midst of work, and picking projects that have a positive social impact as opposed to those of the more commercial variety.

Speaking about her growth over the past decade, Mawra shared, “I feel like I’ve grown up in front of the camera. During the shooting of my first serial, I was 19. I am 29 today. Anyone would grow over ten years. It’s just that, my arc was constantly scrutinised. It was a privilege that people know and love you, but there is another side to it. It’s that all of your flaws, as well as the good parts of you, are out there in front of everyone.”

Reflecting on how she has learned to take a backseat and not actively insert her opinions in every conversation, the actor explained, “I’ve learned over time that the world won’t collapse with one less opinion. I feel that I used to be a very opinionated child. When I was 19, 20, 21, I had something to say about everything.”

She continued, “In interviews, I had an answer to all the questions. But as I’ve gotten older, I feel that I don’t have answers. It’s not that I’m playing it safe. It’s just that I don’t have an answer to everything. I’ve learned that it’s okay to not have an opinion. Being popular doesn’t mean you have to add your two cents to every conversation that is happening around you, especially if what you have to say will hurt someone else.”

On her relationship with her sister and fellow actor Urwa Hocane, Mawra explained that for the first time in their lives, the two are living apart in different cities. Speaking about how their relationship has changed over the years, the Sammi actor revealed, “Our relationship has also evolved over the years. Before, we were very childish as teenagers. But, as we’ve matured, we’ve done so in unique ways. We’ve come to appreciate our differences and similarities. Urwa doesn’t try to make me like her, and I don’t try to make her like myself or follow my ideologies. We are very comfortably independent of one another now, but, of course, we’re still close.”

In 2017, the actor received her LLB, posting about it on social media. On her graduation, she shared, “My London graduation was a dream come true. Due to my shoots, I had to take two years off from studying. Some projects were the type I couldn’t leave in the middle, and sometimes your producers and directors offer you projects that you really want to be a part of. It used to be very difficult for me to pick between LLB and my shoots. I picked my shoots for two years, then left it and studied for a year and two after that. I used to worry over whether I'd be able to complete my degree.”

On the value her degree holds for her, the actor added, “I wrote so much about it on social media because it meant so much to me. When you start working early, you’ll see that 95% of people aren’t able to complete their degrees. It’s no one’s fault. Work is addictive like that. You get used to independence. It’s difficult to put that on hold and go back to your student self.”

One of the first few Pakistani celebrities who gained massive popularity on social media platforms such as Instagram, Mawra explained how critics used her popularity to undermine her achievement. She said, “Even when I was working on a variety of projects, I was always undermined as an artist in the name of social media. Even though social media was a part of me, and now it’s a part of everyone. But, just because I was the first one to step into that zone, everyone wanted to undermine me as an artist and call me a ‘social media personality’ or a person famous because of social media.”

She continued, “That’s when I realised I don’t have anything to prove to these people. If I have 20 to 25 projects under my belt, I must be doing something right. I’m not saying I’m the best actor, but I have worked hard.”

On picking projects that she feels make a difference, Mawra shared, “It’s a conscious choice for me to work on projects that make a difference in society. Whatever female character I play, she should represent a certain set of women correctly. I don’t want to play it because it makes me out to be a hero or because it’s a safe character to play. I really want to bring to light certain issues in the correct manner, even if they take a toll on me or my career.”

She elaborated further, “Doing commercial projects is easy, and I won’t name [the ones I was offered] because they are doing so well, but I consciously picked Qissa Meherbano Ka over them. I knew they were highly anticipated projects that were bound to do well, but I knew so much could be done with Qissa Meherbano Ka. The other characters were also well-written, but I didn’t feel like I could add much to them. They were okay on their own. With Meherbano, there was so much margin to make a difference.”

Mawra revealed, “When I signed it, only five episodes had been written so far. The rest was narrated to me by Momina [Durraid]. We had so many meetings about what we could do with the story. It was very satisfying to do that. I feel like this is the way it will be for me now. My projects will need a purpose.”