It is by no coincidence that Haissam Hussain, one of the present-day generation’s most stylish and successful TV drama producers, is a film maker at heart. "I’ve taken every [TV] play of mine as a film," he confesses, in an exclusive chat with TNS. "Every time I began work on a serial I would start imagining how it would’ve looked like if it was made into a film, what kind of feel it would have, what cast, etc. My target would subconsciously be cinema."

There are obvious signs for those who could tell why Haissam always liked to work on the 16:9 (widescreen) format, why he would often use ‘lobaan’ (artificial smoke) to create misty frames and how his cut was quintessentially a film director’s.

Twenty-ten’s Partition saga Dastaan, Haissam’s most prized serial to date that also won him LUX Style Awards’ Best Director trophy besides being adjudged the "most memorable serial of all times" by the Pakistan Media Awards and Hum TV, famously made the use of lenses fashionable. Such lenses would commonly be a part of a film maker’s shooting gear.

Eventually, it took Haissam a wide repertoire of 10(!) TV serials -- including the costume drama Nurpur Ki Rani, the farcical Akbari Asghari, the domestic Durre Shahwaar, the fairytale Aik Nayee Cinderella and the romantic comedy Aun Zaara, a few assorted plays, a theatrical adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew in vernacular, and almost eight years since his graduation in Film from Middlesex University in 2006, to be able to realise his long-cherished dream.

Today, as he wraps up work on his first full-length feature, tentatively titled Bin Roye Aansoo, which is based on popular digest writer Farhat Ishtiaq’s novel by the same name, being adapted simultaneously for a TV serial, and stars Mahira Khan, Humayun Saeed and Armeena Rana, this 38-year-old dynamic director has already moved on to his next -- a film, again -- which he is quick to call his "dream project". "I can’t reveal much about it right now, except that it’s a Geo Films venture and it’s going to have a lot of young people," he says, excitedly.

Excerpts from the interview follow. 

The News on Sunday: Was film always a dream?

Haissam Hussain: It was, definitely. When I came into this field [of television] in 2008, I found that everyone I met wanted to make films. But no one was making films, because the times were bad for any such venture. Today, the scene has changed for the better. We are seeing a revival of the cinema-going culture. Our movies are doing well at the box office. So, people are open to the idea of financing film projects now. This would be unimaginable only a year and half ago.

TNS: What prompted you to make a film as well as a full-fledged TV serial on the same subject?

HH: Well, the subject may be the same but here we are talking about two different scripts -- one for the film and the other for the serial. There are a lot of tracks in the serial which aren’t there in the film version. Besides, the edit for both is going to be different.

Having said that, it was my producers’ (Hum TV) idea. I am sure they wanted to play safe. After all, even if, God forbid, the film doesn’t work, the serial will.

TNS: You will obviously need to space them out?

HH: Of course. We intend to release the movie first. This is going to be our strategy. Though, I am quite hopeful the serial will also find its audience.

TNS: What is so special about Bin Roye Aansoo?

HH: It’s a beautiful novel by Farhat Ishtiaq who has earlier scripted the phenomenally successful Humsafar. It traces the emotional journey of a girl named Saba [played by Mahira Khan]. It’s a love story, set partially in the US.

TNS: Was it doubly challenging?

HH: Well, it’s been a very interesting experience. And, yes, it was doubly tiresome.  But I must say I’ve given my cent percent to both the film and the serial.

I treat every project I am doing as my baby. I also try not to repeat myself. Technically, I have moved on to the world’s best RED [camera] and Cooke’s lenses in Bin Roye… This is the first time ever in the history of this entire region that a TV serial has been shot on this expensive, high-end equipment.

The Cooke’s lens tends to darken a frame, so we had to use HMI lights in every scene. Ditto for the film version.

I expect Bin Roye… to change the way our TV serials look. Trust me, you wouldn’t have seen this kind of a result even in top-of-the-line Turkish or Indian shows.

TNS: Apparently, you were to first to use lenses for a TV shoot.

HH: Yes, but these days, every one seems to be using them. It’s not a healthy trend. The directors and the DoPs should understand that there is a specified reason why you should be using these lenses. They are meant to beautify a frame; you don’t need them to shoot a drawing-room comedy or a saas-bahu serial.

At the end of the day, you are a story-teller and this aspect should not take a back seat to technology.

TNS: You also made the lobaan smoke fashionable. Was it a kind of a cheaper substitute to what may be an expensive technology?

HH: Well, smoke is used in shooting to add a visual depth to a frame or when you mean to show the light source. Even Hollywood movies use this by means of a fog machine which is an expensive proposition. We have used it in Bin Roye Aansoo, though.

TNS: Why are you stuck with the digest writers who deal mostly in stereotypes of women in our society?

HH: Why not? Some of them such as Umera Ahmad, Faiza Iftikhar and Farhat Ishtiaq are really good writers. Besides, they have contributed to reviving the TV drama industry at a time when people had stopped watching our plays and were hooked on Star Plus soaps.

Yes, I do notice a certain stereotyping of women etc and there is a bit of monotony also. But then how do we find the writers? That’s the million-dollar question we directors have to contend with.

TNS: How did you land The Taming of the Shrew? Were you keen to do theatre as well?

HH: Oh, I never cared for theatre! I always thought how many people will it eventually be performed before? A couple of hundreds, maybe? But when the opportunity to represent Pakistan at Globe came up, I couldn’t say no. I thought I must rise to the occasion.

Fortunately, we got great reviews in such prestigious British magazines as Guardian and Telegraph. We were given four stars whereas the Indian troupe got only two stars.

TNS: What’s going to be your next project after Bin Roye…?

HH: I have started work on a film for Geo. It’s about young people. I am very excited about the project. It won’t be an overstatement for me to call it my dream project.