It could be anytime, or not, one could safely conclude after speaking to the diva who was last seen in Mah-e-Mir and was best remembered for her roles in Shoaib Mansoor’s Khuda Kay Liye and Bol.
It could be anytime, or not, one could safely conclude after speaking to the diva who was last seen in Mah-e-Mir and was best remembered for her roles in Shoaib Mansoor’s Khuda Kay Liye and Bol. I ran into a gorgeously casual and yet impeccable looking Iman Ali this week. At Café Flo, poised at a table with a couple of her friends, she had a tall glass full of broken meringue, strawberries and whipped cream in front of her, making the rest of us envious of how she could down the calories without donning the weight! But Iman was picture perfect.
What was she up to these days, I was curious to know, as the last I had heard was that she was on the cast of Humayun Saeed’s Punjab Nahin Jaungi and then she wasn’t. I did know that she had been living between Lahore and Karachi for quite some time and in the absence of a film, she had kept herself busy with music videos and endorsements. Omega, for recent-most example.
“I’m waiting for the right moment,” Iman smiled as we sat down to chat for a bit. She said she had refused 7 films in 2016, and she even sent out an apology to all the filmmakers she had said “no” to. I’m assuming Humayun Saeed must be one of them. But she didn’t want to play the love interest in a hero-centric film. She wanted to be ‘Queen’, quite proverbially referring to the Bollywood hit. And so she was waiting.
She had agreed to a rather small role in Mah-e-Mir, I pondered aloud. “Anything for a friend,” she replied with absolute clarity and loyalty to Anjum Shahzad.
What would she do while she waited, besides the endorsements and music videos?
“I just might start writing,” she responded. “I want to begin with scripts and then eventually write a novel.”
I just hope she finds a role that she likes before she gives in to life behind the camera because in the spotlight is where she belongs. ‘Aphrodite’ is what a fan once called her and that she is. Beautiful and talented, I do hope there is a role out there that will appeal to the artist in her!
—Aamna Haider Isani
