Affan Waheed is a well known name in the industry with hit dramas like Dastaan and Do Bol in his career but he is still often regarded as underrated considering his 11 years of working experience in the industry. However, the actor has always maintained that he is not very fond of spotlight and even now he thinks he is as reclusive as he was when he entered the show-business.
Nowadays he can be seen in Kasa-e-Dil, as a kind but confused Meerab in Shehnai, and will soon make an appearance as a rock star in Yun Tou Hai Pyar Bohat, and the second generation in on-going drama Pardes. In a heart-to-heart chat with Aamna Isani of Something Haute, Affan spilled some beans on why he is a recluse, his new projects, chances of a Hollywood or Bollywood project and much more:
“Acting is a tedious job; I always call that actors are glorified mazdoors [labourer],” he said, adding, “It’s not just that the job itself is tough, but we should also look at how an actor has to fight on many fronts: you’re aging then new faces are coming in the industry so competition is always growing, so there is so much to deal on a daily basis.”
The actor also shared that he never had a healthy relationship with himself. “If I may call it an imposter syndrome; whenever I compare my external achievements to my internal experiences, I’m never good enough for myself,” he said.
Affan was recently seen dancing to Shehnai’s OST in the promos of the drama and it took many by surprise because he has done it for the first time and Affan agreed that it was a difficult job.
“It was a Herculean task for me; I have two left feet and I cannot dance to save my life. I rehearsed for 3 days for this and I only agreed because it was on small screen. I had to dance in my film and I asked them to remove the song because I didn’t want to make a fool of myself on big screen,” he laughingly shared.
Talking about the much-debated impact of television content on audience, Affan expressed that he believes there is a certain responsibility on actors.
“My work is the legacy that I will leave behind so, yes, I am wary of what I’m doing but as working actors, this is our bread and butter so it is impossible to fill 30-40 dramas weekly with good and responsible content. However, it is also important to do a project, once in a while, which gives you job satisfaction like I did Bedardi for the same reason.” he said.
And not may know that he was offered a role in a movie with Nicole Kidman which he turned down. “The role demanded a guy who could play football or basketball really well and I’m not good at either of them. I was also going for my film shoot so I had no time to even practice for it, hence I decided to turn it down rather than failing the auditions,” he shared.
Watch the full interview here to find out about his views on social media, religion, success, fame and his new film with Amna Ilyas:
