July Issue 2019

Lauded for its role in helping revive Pakistani television to its former glory, HUM TV is back with another norm-defying show for its audiences. Starring some of television’s most celebrated names – Sonya Hussain, Zarnish Khan, Zahid Ahmad, Yumna Zaidi and Sami Khan – the channel’s new drama Ishq Zahe Naseeb is a twist on the age-old love triangle with a character with a Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) driving the narrative. The cast met with bloggers and social media influencers at a HUM TV press meet to celebrate the launch of their serial.

The cast and crew behind Ishq Zahe Naseeb.

Trailers of the show have led people to believe Ahmad’s role is that of a trans person but the actor clarified that his character suffers from a split personality disorder and “it just so happens as a matter of coincidence that the other personality is that of a woman’s.” Addressing questions about Pakistani drama serials always portraying matters of gender and sexual identity in association with mental illnesses, the actor admitted that it was indeed a difficult line to toe, “As an artist, I always want to do characters which are different from my personality… Experimenting with my range, bringing out my feminine side, when allowed to express it, how would ‘she’ express herself, and how would I emote to her expressions? Whether or not I was able to do it in a convincing manner, and whether or not my performance seems real – that’s something for the audience to judge. There’s such a fine line between the surreal and the real; it is exactly why I chose to do this. It’s a step forward for the industry as well, as no one has delved into these subjects before,” he added. Even if the project does not fully succeed in achieving what it has set out to do, Ahmad is certain that “we’ll be forgiven for it, because it’s a first in this direction.”