Many tried to prevent us from getting married: Javeria and Saud Qasmi recall early days
Javeria Saud and husband, Saud Qasmi are no strangers to the television screen. Embodying many characters beloved by local audiences, the two actors’ most recent offering, Baby Baji, has acquired the praises of many fans due to its comical genre.
With a long-faring acting resume under both their belts, the fellow actors put their talents to the test as they took the time to make an appearance on The Talk Talk Show with Hassan Choudary on Express Entertainment. However, the couple delivered a rather surprising start with a small skit full of playful banter to kick off the episode’s run.
As they sat down, Choudary confirmed the length of the their careers, revealing that both relatively began their acting journey around the same time despite not having met each other, with Javeria coming to the screen between 1995 and 1996 and Saud making his debut with the film Gunnah in 1993.
Qasmi, however, recalled an interesting anecdote where the now-popular actor reminisced how his entrance into the industry was on a fluke. Speaking of a particular wedding the actor attended as a guest, he revealed that he was offered a film on the spot – which he originally even rejected.
The Gunnah actor admitted that his reasoning for eventually accepting what he believed was a one-time experience was to show his future children that he once appeared as a hero in a film. Thinking nothing of it, the actor returned to America, unaware of the success of his debut project. Upon his eventual return to Pakistan in 1995 was when the actor was offered Love ’95 from Shamin Ara, which although a small role, completely launched the actor’s career.
Moving on to their eventual love story, the couple went on to reveal that Qasmi also met his future wife at another wedding, after which the actor sent his family to ask for her hand in marriage the very next day. Citing many famous names who were part of the groom’s party, the couple remembered Amjab Sabri, Shaan Shahid, and Afzal Khan (better known as Jan Rambo) to have made trips to the Nand actor’s house during the initial days of the proposal.
“I liked [that all these people were coming]. Because, when your life feels stagnant and when suddenly change is expected to come, especially when that is good change, then you do enjoy the experience…It was a big deal for me and my family to have such stars come to our house…but obviously there was also a fear that if this does progress, I'll be worrying about what he’s like, how many affairs would be in the cards, what all would and would not happen,” spoke Javeria candidly.
In a wedding that lasted for 21 days, the couple revealed that many actually did not want for the couple to wed as Qasmi was known to have a “playboy” and “ladies’ man” persona, as Choudary put it, which the couple revealed resulted in some unnamed past flames to mar the arrangements. However, efforts made in vain were put to rest when the couple broadcasted their nikkah ceremony on live TV, revealing that news of their nuptials spread when channels chose to cover their wedding in a social media-less age.
In reference to their professional work, the duo revealed that their joint production house is currently in the process of producing three new projects, after which Saud even revealed that the actor had recently even gotten three offers from Bollywood after his roster of over 200 films.
However, in a rapid-fire question-and-answer session, Javeria took to listing down her three favourite attributes of working in the entertainment industry, expressing, “One pro is that God gives you respect and you get love from a lot of people. You end up earning enough in a short time as compared to those who unfortunately work the whole month and are not able to make as much. The cons are that you don’t have much of a personal life, and that people speak ill of you. Granted, you are the artist, but when they speak ill of your family, or pass comments or spread false rumors, that is really awful. And the third is that people think we are so far from God and religion, and that we are not even able to take God’s name … this I do not like at all.”
To the same effect, the Love ’95 actor went on to give young comers some advice pertaining to the current landscape of the industry. “First is punctuality. Second is you should jell together. For example, we were just doing a drama and all of us became a family. The last day we were shooting, all of us … we all felt that we were parting ways, we were crying. This kind of family-like environment should be present on sets … So, I would suggest everyone should sit together, discuss the character. Then out of that, something good emerges; that’s what I feel. And thirdly, there is no such thing as a big star and a small star in the industry. The bigger stars are those who show care for the younger stars or those who want to do new work. You should boost and support [young talent],” advised Qasmi.