Faysal Qureshi is a well-known veteran of the acting world with multiple TV plays, a morning show and much more to his credit. The actor-host has given a number of notable productions in the past 25 years but this year, he plans to fully take his skill for telling stories beyond just acting. Channeling his experience in the industry,
Instepinterview
Faysal Qureshi on the balancing act between acting and production and how social media is changing the landscape of the entertainment industry.
Faysal Qureshi is a well-known veteran of the acting world with multiple TV plays, a morning show and much more to his credit. The actor-host has given a number of notable productions in the past 25 years but this year, he plans to fully take his skill for telling stories beyond just acting. Channeling his experience in the industry, Qureshi is now focusing on polishing scripts and projects at his production house.
This year he has several ventures in the pipeline including Geo TV’s Khalish, set to go on air later this month.
“Khalish is a love - hate revenge story with about a battle between a son and father,” he shared. He is also working on three more TV projects – Zewar, Bashar Momin 2 and season 3 of Kis Din Mera Viyah Howay Ga. Qureshi’s production house, called Connect Studios is also keeping him busy.
“It’s not an easy job to manage both production and acting at the same time but many people are doing it including our industries biggest names - Humayun Saeed, Fahad Mustafa, Ejaz Durrani and Adnan Malik,” he said.
Qureshi also dwelled on the merits and perils of social media in the entertainment industry.
“Social media garners a very prompt response to everything because everyone has the opportunity to be a critic in their own way. However, one can’t get carried away with negative comments. If over 40 percent people appreciate a show, we feel we’ve succeeded.”
Social media, in his opinion allows actors to respond to feedback immediately and change their looks or wardrobe according to what the feedback is. He believes that one problem producers are facing is that the results on social media and the rating system don’t coincide.
“With Waada, the ratings weren’t good but people on social media agreed that more dramas on the same topic should be made. Other times, the ratings are great but there’s no talk of the show on social media,” he revealed.
If social media has done one thing, it’s that the world is a much smaller place. “Earlier, there were many real life stories that wouldn’t reach us but now they do and we can tell those stories in our dramas. There are a lot of stories to be told so we try to push for the most relatable ones. The good thing is, channels are accepting all kinds of scripts but there are a few things that I want to change on screen which I plan to do with my productions this year,” he said.
Qureshi’s contribution to the industry is significant and diverse so any projects coming from the actor-host are ones to watch out for. Having given strong performances in Zakham and Waada last year, he intends to continue his morning show gig and focus on production and acting.
