The actor talks to Instep about his upcoming projects, the philanthropic activities he has been associated with and much more
Ahsan Khan is a versatile actor with a number of diverse roles to his credit and years of experience to back it up. Though he is known for his intense and serious roles in serials such as Udaari among others, Ahsan is presently appearing in Geo TV’s romantic comedy drama, Shahrukh Ki Saaliyan alongside Ramsha Khan.
“Shahrukh Ki Saaliyan is a situational comedy that is doing really well. I knew that it will be a hit with the masses and people are loving it. I see people cheering for me when I go out.” Ahsan told Instep in a recent interview.
The actor, who played a small yet impressive part in Mohammed Ehteshamuddin’s recently concluded period drama Aangan, shared that it was a classic play which had a cult following. Shahrukh Ki Saaliyan, on the other hand, it is a light hearted, fun comedy drama that has a great script, amazing direction and production.
“I have done so many serious plays that I just wanted to do something light and funny that would appeal to the masses and that is exactly what I did,” he explained.
When asked if it’s challenging to pull off a comic role, the actor responded, “To pull off a comic role you need a flow. Having said that I believe a versatile actor can make a character his own if he/she is willing to push themselves. Whether the character is serious, comic or emotional, an artist has to put in efforts and a comedy serial solely depends on how the dialogues have been written.”
Ahsan, who does not like to attach himself to arbitrary projects, is also hosting a talk show these days. The show features famous celebrities as guests and, according to the actor-host, it is doing really well.
“In my opinion, a host has to bring a flavour to his show and that flavour is your originality. I try to have a casual chitchat and try not to go below the belt. The audience only knows actors through the characters they portray onscreen and through my show I want their real personalities to come out in front of viewers.”
Aside from hosting and acting, Ahsan Khan has been involved in a lot of philanthropic work. He was recently announced as the Brand Ambassador for Human Development Foundation (HDF). “I firmly believe in lending my whole hearted support to social causes. I’ve also always spoken up against child abuse. Apart from this I was the first one to be associated with Deewar e Meherbani (Wall of Kindness) in Karachi and I’m also a part of the Clean Karachi Campaign. Moreover, I am the Goodwill Ambassador for Children’s Literature Festival (CLF), that aims to make quality education accessible to all children in Pakistan.”
Given that television is recently considered to be more of a woman’s domain, we asked how diverse are the options for men? The actor-host responded, “I agree that usually the plot of our dramas are women centric and we see a lot of ‘roti dhoti larkiyan’ but men’s roles are equally pivotal to take any story further.”
He continued, “There are a lot of prominent male characters and it all depends how an actor is portraying it. In fact, these days I see quite a balance onscreen.”
When asked about his future projects, Ahsan revealed that his upcoming projects include Haseeb Hassan’s Alif that stars Sajal Aly and Hamza Ali Abbasi and is slated to go on air in September on Geo Entertainment.
“In Alif, you will once again see me in a special appearance opposite Kubra Khan. Besides, I have two films that are romantic comedies and two TV serials that are in the pipeline,” he revealed on a parting note.
