The veteran actor explains his decision to take on 5 films in 2019 and making his directorial debut with Durj.
Shamoon Abbasi has had an illustrious career that goes beyond a decade. Working through several mediums, on the small-screen and celluloid, he rose to prominence by giving new-age cinema a cold-blooded villain in Waar.
Since then he has featured in a number of notable films including O21, Manto and made a brief appearance in last year’s Parwaaz Hai Junoon.
However, it is 2019 that he’ll truly carve a space for himself with not 1 or 2 but 5 films in the pipeline.
2019 began on a bizarre note as Abbasi called out, in an extensive and unabashed social media post, the makers of his first release of the year Ammar and Kanza, the brains behind the film Gumm, for being unprofessional, “narcissistic egotists” and unoriginal, among other things.
“Pakistan’s film industry is still very much reviving. After a few years’ hard-work, we’re finally closer to having an infrastructure, so when it comes to making a film, you need to have a certain level of trust in every aspect – being an actor, director, technician,” he began, speaking with Instep. “The storyline should be able to pull people to cinemas… I wanted to help the couple (behind Gumm) make a good movie, but ultimately, the movie ran for two days. When you’re warning them and they don’t listen, the results are very obvious.”
Nonetheless, he has a number of films lined up for the year - some he’s shot, some he’s in the middle of shooting and some he’s still very much in the process of signing.
Out of the confirmed 5, he’s currently filming Azeem Sajjad’s Chaudhry, which is based on the life of slain police officer, Chaudhry Aslam Khan. The film will also mark the cinematic debut of leading model, Zara Abid as well as Zohaib Khan.
Speaking about the biopic, Abbasi told Instep, “I enjoy working on biopics, it’s the best thing for Pakistani cinema to pick up stories that are real, about our heroes, and we need to know about these unsung figures.”
He has also completed the first leg of shooting for Mohib Mirza’s directorial debut, action-comedy, Ishrat: Made in China alongside Sara Loren, Sanam Saeed and HSY.
“Ishrat will be a lot of fun. I’ve done my first spell and I was super glad to see how Mohib has escalated to this level of being a thorough professional behind the camera,” Shamoon maintained. “How he controlled the whole scenario was very impressive and I think very soon, he’ll be another prominent addition to the filmmaking world. We also have some great actors.”
Abbasi is also playing an integral part in journalist-turned-filmmaker Kamran Shahid’s forthcoming film, tentatively titled The Trial that is said to depict the fall of Dhaka in 1971 and the war that followed. The period piece will feature Abbasi alongside Mikaal Zulfiqar, Sadia Khan, Resham and Alyy Khan. Nonetheless, the film’s been in the making for about three years now and is scheduled to finally see the light of day later this year. However, Abbasi feels a production of this magnitude that requires detailing takes its due time.
The Trial will see Shamoon taking on the role of the lead antagonist, yet again.
He’s also slated to begin shooting for Saife Hasan’s comedy, Patakh De next month alongside Ahsan Khan, Hania Aamir, Kubra Khan and Azaan Sami Khan - taking on the lead nemesis once more. Despite the fact that his claim-to-fame has been anti-hero roles ranging from Waar to his numerous TV appearances, one wonders if he feels typecast, as an actor.
”When it comes to our industry, we need an antagonist who does his part well and comparatively doesn’t look ugly or superficial; they don’t have to use the barbaric wigs to look the part, so I’m probably ranked as one of the best antagonists,” he says, fully aware of his forte. “And I like doing such roles; somebody needs to grasp these roles too, not everybody can do the goody hero. It’s what I choose. I keep changing my characters.”
What Shamoon seems most ecstatic about is his directorial debut film, the mystery-thriller Durj based on true events.
The film will narrate the journey of a woman searching for her kidnapped husband who falls prey to cannibalism. However, it was earlier reported that Shamoon will be turning to the director’s chair for Gidh with Shaan Shahid and Sara Loren. Speaking about how Durj came into being instead, Abbasi noted, “Durj is very, very close to my heart and the response has been amazing all over. I think cannibalism is an international issue and unfortunately there were some flaws in our law that made this whole thing happen, and this story emerged. I collected the data and wanted to show these characters,” he noted.
“It’s not gruesome or bloody, but emotional. Gidh was undoubtedly my first love and I wanted to come up with it, but honestly, I would openly say that the cast and the people associated with it weren’t helpful, a lot of mess created, a lot of time was wasted,” he added of how he pursued Durj instead. “Gidh is still very much in the pipeline and we’re revamping the script, things have changed since it was first written, so we’re making it more relevant. We are planning on coming out with it very soon as well.”
All in all, Shamoon might just be the most occupied actor in the industry with a wide array of films, which he feels has allowed him to “explore more dimensions” of the craft both, in front of and behind the camera.
“People thought I’d retired,” he said on a parting note, “and a lot of people want that too, but I know my audience is very happy, so I’m serving my industry as much as I can.”
