From the critically acclaimed and much-loved Zainab in Bol to the very bold and feisty Daro in The Legend of Maula Jatt (TLOMJ), Humaima Malik has gone from strength to strength. Her breakthrough performance was in Shoaib Mansoor’s Bol and then she worked in Bollywood in an unreleased period film with Sanjay Dutt, then appeared in Raja Natwarlal with Emraan Hashmi. Later, she came back to Pakistan and did Dekh Magar Pyaar Sey and Arth 2.
The actor will be making her big screen comeback soon in Bilal Lashari’s TLOMJ with an ensemble cast. In an exclusive conversation with Aamna Isani of Something Haute, Humaima shared her experiences of working in Pakistan and Bollywood, why she is selective about her work, her TV project and much more.
How did she get the role of Daro Natt?
“Daro is Noori’s sister (Noori played by Hamza Ali Abbasi). She is fiery, fearless and apple of Noori’s eye. Bilal categorically asked me to not watch the first Maula Jatt because then sometimes an actor starts mimicking the older version. So, my character was very raw for me. I was offered Daro’s role long ago as Bilal wanted to cast me from the very beginning. I was working in Arth at the time and Bilal narrated the story to me at Ammara Hikmat’s house and both of us loved it.
Who is Daro?
“Daro is an only girl surrounded by men in her clan; so the first twist about her is how she survived in a male dominated clan. The reason is that she is loved by her brother Noori Natt; Daro is his only weakness. She is trained to be a fighter so she knows horse riding and sword fighting. She is no less than a man; she has pride, dignity, honour, and appeal. She is sexy, fearless, fire. Daro is a patakho [firecracker].”
Her next project on television
“I have recently shot a TV drama titled Jindo which has been directed by Anjum Shehzad. It is such a powerful story about a strong woman Jindo, who I am playing, and I’m proud to be a part of such a project where people have invested money to create such a progressive story. I shot for it in a desert for three months; it’s a story of a girl who gets married to an older man in another village and then gets raped by the leader of the village. Then, she raises her siblings when her parents passes away. She later becomes a peerni and then trains women to fight with sword fighting and shooting. She forms a gang and then takes her revenge to change the history of her village. Now, this is also a drama.”
“But what we see frequently on television is sisters fighting over a man, mother-in-law beating her daughter-in-law, women falling for her brother-in-law etc. I recently also left a play after shooting for three days. I told them continuously for six months that do not take me in this project. All We did the whole day was shoot scenes on a dining table. But I’m not a dining table actor. Give me something that should stay in people’s mind.”
How she learnt Punjabi?
“Daro was made for me. I was very thin so I started eating to look like a Nattni. I don’t speak Punjabi but Nasir Adeeb sahab (writer) sent me voice notes to help me and I also had a Punjabi teacher. When I started learning it before the shoot, I didn’t enjoy it much. So, I asked him to teach me on set and that’s how I practiced. I think I am good at learning languages. It wasn’t so difficult but an enjoyable experience. I have even asked Ammara to let me dub when they will release it in China.”
How she prepared for Daro?
“Ammara arranged horse riding classes for me and I used to wake up early to go for practice. Later on, on the day of the actual shoot that mare wasn’t available so I had to ride a new horse. But they trained us so well that none of the changes confused us. It was a very positive set. I have done all my stunts myself; there were fight trainers who came from Germany to teach us. Their head trainer was very impressed and he asked ‘is this girl is a dancer because she is picking the moves very quickly’ so all these boys were like ‘what have you told him?’ I want to do my action scenes myself.”
Her equation with her co-stars
“I had the best equation with Fawad Khan during shoot because he is generous. He helps and accommodates that artist he is working with which is rare for actors. I enjoyed working with everyone including Hamza, Mahira, Gohar and all of them.”
Watch her full interview to find out about her foray into production and her NGO, A Door To Life:
