Where the worlds of film and music collide

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With Symt breaking up, Haroon Shahid shifts focus to his solo musical career and delves into the world of acting.

Pakistan’s music industry has time and time again proven that bands cannot last too long. Sometimes it’s an ego battle, where the musicians clash with the vocalists for more visibility. Other times it’s personal factors, such as one band member getting married or moving abroad for studies. But Haroon Shahid assures that Symt had a peaceful break-up.

This break-up had become evident when Shahid made a solo appearance alongside Quratulain Baloch on Coke Studio this season. The band had earlier featured together on Coke Studio season 5 to produce some stellar tracks, such as ‘Tum Kaho’ and ‘Koi Labda’ which also featured Sanam Marvi.

But the tragedy here lies in the fact that it is very difficult for bands to survive in Pakistan. Shahid’s band was also struggling to make ends meet, but the singer feels he was specially restricted from doing more work. “Being the front-man of the band, I couldn’t go and play for other bands. But for Farhan and Hassan, (bandmates) they had more opportunities; they could shift around,” Shahid spoke to Instep over a telephonic conversation. But the band will sometimes play together as Shahid’s line-up for solo concerts will still include Farhan Ali.

This has also made Shahid move on to another profession that he doesn’t exactly love: acting. It becomes clear from our conversation that the project he’s working on was so good that he decided to give acting a try. “I’ve been getting acting offers since the last five years now. Honestly, mera dil nahi tha,” but his upcoming venture, which he cannot disclose at the moment, is a huge opportunity for the singer because not only is he acting in a lead role, Shahid will also be working on the soundtrack of the film.

However, don’t expect Shahid to join the drama-actors bandwagon, as we have seen many musicians do in the past, cases in point being Fawad Khan, Goher Mumtaz, Junaid Khan and Farhan Saeed. “I’d rather do a 9 to 5 job than act in TV serials. It’s much more fun.” says Shahid very matter-of-factly.  This may sound like he’s taking a dig at our TV industry, but Shahid merely loves his official job at a digital marketing agency, which he had to take a break from to work on his acting project.

Another reason why he wishes to stay away from the acting world is because he hasn’t tested himself out as an actor yet.

Shahid feels that with the exception of a few, such as Fawad Khan and Junaid Khan, musician/turned actors on our small screens are not that good. “Actor ka kaam acting hona chahye. Musicians ka kaam music.” Unfortunately, the state of creative people in Pakistan is so unstable, that eventually musicians, and actors, have to switch around to find other work opportunities. “Those who don’t like 9 to 5 jobs, they end up acting in these dramas.”

Regardless of whether he loves this new profession or not, Shahid is going to give it his best shot with acting. “I’m taking acting workshops for this role. I’m going to do this the right way. Over here people have this perception that it doesn’t matter if what you’re appearing in is bad, just do it for the exposure. What that does is give you a few brand endorsements initially, which is bad because it doesn’t help in the long run. I can see musicians jo yeh harkatein kar rahay hain, but they’re hurting their own careers as far as I’m concerned.”

While Shahid’s own lack of interest in acting may suggest that his entry into the acting world will be short and sweet, he sounds prepared when it comes to how he will take this new venture forward. “You can’t just rely on your good looks and hope that it will be enough for the audience. In my opinion, it’s about picking the right scripts and working with the right people. I’m not going to just do anything that comes my way. Other than that, all I can do is simply hope for the best.”