Aswad Ayub may be one of television’s most hated characters right now, but Usman Mukhtar - who plays the proud, egotistical and emotionally damaged protagonist in drama serial Hum Kahan Kay Sachay Thay – is enjoying heights of success that he could only have hoped for a decade ago.

Usman Mukhtar’s acting career started on stage, way back in 2006 when he was part of Islamabad’s burgeoning theatre scene. He remembers The Good Doctor being his first play, in which he played Cedric the butler, after which he continued acting for stage, performing in countless plays for the next few years.

It was almost 10 years later that he got a small, big-screen break in the hit film Janaan; Usman played ‘suitable boy’ Samir and was cast alongside Bilal Ashraf, Ali Rehman Khan, Armeena Khan and Hania Amir. In 2018, he played a key role in the film Parchi, which also credited him as cinematographer.

Having a keen interest in acting, direction, cinematography amongst other disciplines, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that Usman’s career took a haphazard start. He had done theatre, film, and a whole lot of experimental web content, but it was eventually his debut on television that positioned him as bona fide television ‘hero’ material. The intense and almost toxic character Altamash he played in drama serial Anaa, brought him a massive fan following.

Selective in the projects he signed on, Usman then essayed the supporting role of a psychiatrist, Dr Haris, in drama serial Sabaat. While his performance was applauded, the drama was criticised for legitimising a patient-therapist relationship and Usman bore the brunt of it. Usman admits that his role in Sabaat was weak and lacked character development. He became even more careful when signing up for future projects.

Hum Kahan Kay Sachay Thay was a script he couldn’t refuse. Cast as lead alongside Mahira Khan and Kubra Khan, the Umera Ahmed script and Farooq Rind directorial is any actor’s dream project.

Aswad Ayub was obviously not a straightforward character and having just played two equally complex characters in Anaa and Sabaat, why exactly did he say yes to Hum Kahan Kay Sachay Thay?

“Initially I said no to HKKST because there were a few things in the script that I didn’t understand,” he explains, in conversation with Instep. “I feel like the character in the novel is way different from the character in the drama series. Even though Umera Ahmed is one of the best writers that we have in Pakistan, I didn’t want to portray the character of Aswad.”

What eventually convinced the actor was the entire team and cast of the project. “Director Farooq Rind is great at what he does and then of course the interesting cast that includes the likes of Shamim Hilaly, the comeback of Mahira Khan on the small screen as well as Kubra Khan; it was a combination of all these things, which is why I took on this part.”

So how was the experience of working with Mahira and Kubra Khan?

“We had a lot of fun and we worked off each other’s energies. In fact, when you’re working with somebody for a long time you kind of start understanding their process of acting as well as the process of direction. It was absolutely great.”

Speaking of direction, Usman Mukhtar does in fact wear that hat too. He actually started out as a director and has worked on different projects in the past.

“My first directorial venture was back in 2006 when I was doing theatre in Islamabad. It was a short film called Aasia, which was based on a case of child molestation that I’d thoroughly researched. It even won an award at FILUMS film festival,” shares Usman.

We do not show women as independent, strong female characters. One of the reasons for doing Sabaat was because the female roles were very powerful. Even with HKKST, Mehreen Mansoor (essayed by Mahira Khan) is not that bechari larki. Whatever she goes through, she proves that she is strong enough to handle any situation. I just feel we need to write more powerful, independent characters for women, and we need to stop making our main heroes so regressive – Usman Mukhtar

Even though the actor hasn’t had any formal training in filmmaking, he always wanted to become a filmmaker. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t go to film school, so everything I have learnt and explored, I’ve done on my own,” he adds.

Talking about his award-winning short film Bench, which he produced and directed as well as acted in, Usman says that the idea came from this park in Islamabad he has visited since he was a kid.

“I have grown up going to this park. Whenever you go to a park there are benches and you come across different people sitting on them. Sometimes you’ll see a mother with her son, at times a young boy and girl… you’ll always find new characters there. I always thought that it would be interesting to show a story just revolving around a bench. ”

He continues, “Imagine how many people sit on that bench in just one day and how many stories unfold on it.”

Usman further went on to say that when Bench was made, they didn’t even think that they’d be sending it to different festivals. “When I stop shooting for my acting projects, direction and working on my own content is my detox. So, Bench was like detox. Once it was shot and I edited it, I showed it to a couple of friends and they loved it and told me to send it to different international festivals. I applied and submitted my short film and then we started getting news that it has won a few awards,” he reveals, adding that it was an unplanned but a surprising and artistically rewarding experience.

Though Usman has been planning to release the short on YouTube for quite some time now, he says that due to his acting commitments he hasn’t been able to do so. “I haven’t had the time to put it up online because there are certain things that need to be tweaked. However, we plan to release it this month InshaAllah,” Usman tells Instep.

Given that television has recently started being considered to be more of a woman’s domain, we wondered how diverse the options for male actors are. Usman Mukhtar agrees but he feels that the female characters are very regressive.

“We do not show women as independent, strong female characters. One of the reasons for doing Sabaat was because the female roles were very powerful. Even in HKKST, Mehreen Mansoor (essayed by Mahira Khan) is not that bechari larki. Whatever she has gone through in the past or is going through, she shows that she can deal with it and is strong enough to handle any situation. I just feel we need to write more powerful, independent characters for women as well. And we need to stop making our main heroes so regressive,” he stresses.

The director and actor comes from the school of thought that exaggerated acting doesn’t look very realistic and according to Usman, he underplays his characters on screen. Even as a director, he prefers realistic acting and is not a big fan of over the top, exaggerated acting. “If we look at international projects, the kind of acting that we used to see in the 1990s or early 2000s has changed altogether. That kind of acting doesn’t happen anymore. I have grown up watching movies by Sidney Lumet, I’m a big fan, and I loved Godfather. Also Gangs of Wasseypur is my all-time favourite - these movies are very realistic in terms of acting as well as treatment of the movies.”

As for his upcoming projects, Usman Mukhtar is gearing up for the highly anticipated Sinf-e-Aahan, the story of which revolves around female cadets. “It is a women-centric project, and I am happy that I am a part of a project that shows women in a progressive light,” he says.

On a parting note, Usman discloses that apart from this, he has a feature film, a short film and a web series in the pipeline. “I can’t reveal anything about these projects at the moment but will share details as soon as things start rolling,” he concludes.