RJ Khalid Malik had a riveted radio audience, listeners who loved him on The Breakfast Show on FM89 for over 10 years; he made their mornings special.
Khalid Malik on his role in Baaghi: “The best way to describe my character is that he is someone who is there for her.”
CatchingUp
RJ-turned-actor Khalid Malik talks about going ‘Baaghi’ from one radio show to another.
RJ Khalid Malik had a riveted radio audience, listeners who loved him on The Breakfast Show on FM89 for over 10 years; he made their mornings special. Anyone who tunes onto the radio every morning would know how it felt when Malik announced a couple of months ago that he is resigning from the show. However, in a rather strange turn of events, he returned with a brand new show, Khalid Malik’s Morning Jam on FM91, right after everyone thought he has announced his radio retirement.
We’ll explore the subject towards the end of the interview but what caught our attention at the moment is Malik’s association with upcoming Qandeel Baloch TV biopic in which he plays a pivotal role.
“The best way to describe my character in the play is that he is someone who is there for her,” the actor told Instep in an exclusive interview, noting that he isn’t allowed to reveal anything else about his character.
Behind the scenes: Khalid Malik with his Baaghi co-stars Saba Qamar and Osman Khalid Butt.
Baaghi is based on the life of Qandeel Baloch, who was considered a rebel and was killed by her brother in July, last year in the name of honour. Starring Saba Qamar as Baloch, the biopic has an interesting cast including Ali Kazmi, Osman Khalid Butt and Sarmad Sultan Khoosat aside from Khalid Malik.
Sharing his experience of working with Qamar for the first time, Malik noted, “She is a very dedicated actor who is very committed to her work. As a co-star, she’s very easy to work with. We share similar objectives. Since Baaghi is such a talked about project, her objective is to make sure that she shows different sides of a controversial personality like Qandeel. Before getting into this project even I had different views about her (Qandeel) but once I got into it, I too worked to share the same objective.”
Malik also shared that there are two reasons why he attached himself to the project. One of the reasons was the director of the biopic, Farooq Rind. “I have worked with him (Farooq Rind) before and I trust his vision so my first instinct was to say yes. Secondly, Qandeel was a very controversial character. It was a personality that even I opposed before she passed away. So I agreed to do it to challenge my own views.”
Ever since Baaghi has been announced on social media, it has attracted various sorts of criticism. While some support the idea of highlighting what made her the kind of person she was through a biopic, many trashed it for giving importance to Baloch who wasn’t an inspiration for others. It is also being said that instead of a biopic on her, producers could have made one on the late Amjad Sabri or Junaid Jamshed.
What is Malik’s take on the subject?
“It’s okay once in a while to get more insight into someone who is otherwise controversial in a negative sense because of what she did,” Malik emphasized.
He also said that he wasn’t surprised to see people reacting to it in this particular manner. He agrees that a biopic on the late Amjad Sabri or Edhi sahab should be made but these are the personalities on which a lot has been written and said, unlike Qandeel.
“If we are a civilized society then our approach should be different,” Malik asserted. “Our approach should be not one of a judge but one of curiosity. Not that she did wrong so she should be killed but why did she do what she did. There has to be something that has shaped that person’s behavior. And as I get into this, I am actually very saddened. I feel that it’s a very sad story. It’s not about being heroic at all, it’s about being very real to life.”
Aside from Baaghi, Malik is simultaneously shooting for another serial called Masoom which is based on Naseeruddin Shah’s film of the same name.
As the interview came to a close, we asked Malik about his recent switch from one radio channel to another.
“The resignation speech that I did with my previous employer, nowhere in the speech did I say I was leaving radio. I said I’ve resigned from the company,” he responded. “I did a 4-hour daily show for over 10 years and it became very popular; I put my soul into it. For me it was very sad because I didn’t know what was going to happen next. A lot of people thought it’s a drama but again they were quick to judge instead of finding out why I did that. So when I resigned, FM89 were very kind and generous about it and I left on a very good note. After I resigned, I became certified as a NLP (Neurolinguistics Programming) Practitioner and as a Time Line Therapist (TLT). I was about to launch my life coaching empire and in the meantime I was getting a couple of offers and one of them was from FM91. I really wanted time off as I had already engaged a couple of people to help me with the launch. But FM91 was very persistent to have me on board so we finally sat down. For me it is my career as well as my passion and my livelihood since I have spent 14 years of my life acquiring skill in radio. Anyone who is in a career always looks for a better opportunity that will challenge them. FM91 came with a generous offer. They have a different market than 89 so for me it is a challenge. Therefore, I postponed my life coach launch which I hope to launch in a couple of months, by October or September this year,” he concluded.
