If you have a wife, then you shouldn’t have a girlfriend: Syed Jibran

Actor opened up about his character in ‘Daraar’ and Pakhtun misrepresentation in ‘Mere Humnasheen’

Actor Syed Jibran, who has more than often nailed the brief of playing a baddie in drama serials, opened up about how he thinks his character Shaheer in the Sheharzade Shaikh directorial Daraar is a “realistic” portrayal of men and their vices.

The 43-year-old actor also defended his Pakhtun culture against the stereotypical portrayal of Pathans and tribal areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the Ahsan Khan-starrer Mere Humnasheen.

In conversation with BBC Urdu, Jibran detailed how he thinks Shaheer’s desire for both his wife Irha (Amar Khan) and Sajal (Momal Sheikh) is justified because drama serials should move away from standard heroes and heroines. However, he did share that one should practice monogamy in real life. “If you have a wife, then you shouldn’t have a girlfriend. But if you’re not married, then it’s fine. You can have girlfriend(s),” he said.

Jibran’s character Shaheer Ahmed is a well-mannered and successful businessman who falls in love with Irha, only to later get attracted to her cousin Sajal. “I feel like Shaheer is not a negative character. It is, in fact, very good that our stories have evolved in such a way that the traditional hero-heroine and villain situations are less common,” he said adding that there is no need to distinguish characters as evil or good but show them as human beings capable of both during their lives.

“A character does not have to spread either good or bad. My character in Daraar is going with a similar story. He’s a great guy in the beginning but he is also troublesome later.”  The human facet of his character was what made Jibran choose the script immediately.

Upon what he thinks about his character having an extramarital affair in the serial, he explained why he was proud of Shaheer’s actions. “'Most of the time, when a man has any illicit relations with other women, he is not sincere with his wife and doesn’t pay attention to her. However, we have shown that Shaheer is a perfect husband and an ideal son-in-law. He’s a great brother but he is also very calculated with his acts. He can also be so cruel that his public image echoes perfection, but the vices and weaknesses in his personality also shape him.”

Jibran went on to add, “'They say that wife and girlfriend are two different things, so he wanted a wife to run his house. He saw that in Irha but his heart was always on his ex-girlfriend. So Shaheer got another chance, and he got more inclined towards Sajal now.”

The Mere Humnasheen actor further shared how he believes Shaheer is a realistic man. “Whenever Sajal raises a dispute about marriage, he asks her if she wants to become his wife. His love is also based on logic.”

The vice wins

Moving on from his serial Daraar, Jibran asserted that he consciously chose an abundance of negative characters in his career because he believes people mostly remember villains as compared to heroes.

“People always remember negative minds. They don't remember decency. Apart from this, the margin for doing negative roles is high. Those who are positive characters or heroes are often overshadowed. My negative roles have been largely remembered,” he laughed. “People say that Jibran will always do the dirty work."

As a Pakhtun himself, Jibran was asked whether the criticism against Mere Humnasheen on misrepresentation of Pakhtuns was valid or not. Admitting that some things were definitely exaggerated, he exclaimed, “Now we have a lot of awareness there and there are very few tribes left where such brutal situations happen.”

Sharing an anecdote from their shoot in Swat for the same drama, he said, “'Majid Khan, who essays Bahram in the show, and I built a whole gym there to chill after our shoots. We thought it wouldn’t be easy in the mountains but Munazzah Arif, Hiba and her mother and all these women would also join us at the gym. It was very fun.” The sight was also amusing for the villagers nearby.
“All the villagers used to gather to see what was going on. What are these women doing? Actually, they were not used to women exercising. So it turned out to be a very interesting festival of sorts for them,” he said.

Onscreen ease

Upon being asked about his favourite co-stars, Jibran named Saba Qamar and Sajal Aly. “I respect them because of the quality of their work. I also have a good friendship with Ayeza Khan. We did many dramas together and had a lot of fun. I also enjoyed working with Hiba.”

When asked why he never attends award shows anymore, Jibran shared that the organisers stopped calling him ever since he started asking for money. "At award shows, I'll give my time but I’ll charge for it. Otherwise, I am not interested in going on the red carpet and saying that I wore this or that. It is completely irrelevant to me whether they give me an award or not. Award shows are essentially TV shows, so everyone should get money,” he concluded.