The Pakistani-American actor, with multiple acclaimed Hollywood projects to his credit, returns to Pakistan after 39 years with stage play Bhai Bhai.
Faran Tahir, who has appeared in a number of American TV series as well as Hollywood films in the last two decades, recently returned to his homeland Pakistan where he spent some early years of his life. He is performing in Pakistan for the first time, in a theatrical play called Bhai Bhai that premiered at the Karachi Arts Council yesterday.
“It’s never been that I didn’t want to do it. Part of it was logistics; every time I wanted to come back, some project would come up and then I’d get pulled into that,” Faran shared in an interview with Instep a day before the play opened in Karachi, while he was rehearsing at the Arts Council.
“But that love and that feeling of wanting to come and learn from the people here that are in my business and also share what I know was something that I had really wanted to do. I feel we need to start creating bridges between the two industries,” he added.
Produced under his banner Tahir Entertainment and directed by Faran himself, the play takes inspiration from True West by Sam Sheppard, a celebrated American playwright. When asked how was it directing and acting in a play at the same time, Faran informed that it was challenging to take up both roles simultaneously.
“It is a little difficult,” he admitted. “Because one of the things you do as a director is you need to have perspective of the whole show. So, when you are inside the show, it becomes a little hard but I have some wonderful people to help me through it.”
Faran also informed that they will have separate spells for Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, with intervals in between as he has to go back for a couple of projects. He will return to Pakistan in the second quarter of 2019 for another run.
Having played titular roles in American stage plays like Royal Shakespeare Company’s Othello (2017) and the recent King Richard III (2018), Faran is of the view that theatre in America is very different from Pakistan.
“In Pakistan, theatre is raw,” he maintained. “There it is a different tradition; it is much more diverse. You do Shakespeare, you do Greek tragedies and modern plays, etc. so it is a different kind of a feel. Here because we have a younger country and we have gone through fits and starts, there have been great improvements in theatre. There has also been a dark time for theatre in Pakistan; the artists are trying to move forward but sometimes the circumstances hold them back. We are still trying to find that balance. So there is thrust and I am hoping that we can go through it and get on the other side where it becomes an unstoppable vehicle.”
Known for his roles as Raza in Iron Man and Captain Robau in Star Trek, Faran is eager to work in Pakistan, whether it is television, films or theatre.
“To me, work is not only work but I’d like to explore all of that. If somebody offers me to come to Italy, I’ll go. So why not come back to your own homeland and do something?” Faran asserted.
“I think we are at that cutting edge where some wonderful things can happen and some wonderful things are happening,” he continued, speaking of Pakistan’s flourishing entertainment industry. “We are finally at a point where we are exploring newer issues, newer genres. We are not falling into that pattern of the old industry, which I have nothing against, but this is the time where a different kind of a voice needs to be heard. We are finding that voice. In another five to ten years, Pakistan should and must have its own voice which can be influenced by other voices from other genres and other countries but it should be our distinct and undisputed voice.”
Bhai Bhai is a 90-minute long, fast-paced comedy with nine scenes in total. It follows the story of two brothers, essayed by Faran and his actual brother Ali Tahir, who has been associated with theatre and television in Pakistan for long. Noted for his performance in 1995 comedy miniseries Teen Bata Teen, Ali last performed onstage a couple of years back. In Bhai Bhai, he is essaying the role of a screenwriter who is a little nerdy.
Aside from Faran and Ali, the play features Hina Dilpazeer, who has vast theatre experience to her name and will be playing mother to these two aggressive siblings while it also has Aamir Qureshi who is returning to stage after 20 years and will be seen as more of an anti-hero in Bhai Bhai.
The play is currently running at Arts Council Karachi till February 10.
