Director Anjum Shahzad talks to Instep about exploring diverse genres on television and bagging a nomination for Khaani in the Best Director category at the upcoming Lux Style Awards 2019.
Having a number of credible TV serials such as Khuda Aur Muhabbat, Mirat ul Uroos, Rang Laaga as well as the critically acclaimed movie, Mah-e-Mir to his name, director Anjum Shahzad’s TV serial Khaani not only received critical and commercial acclaim but also generated record-breaking numbers on the ratings chart.
The socially relevant play, Khaani that featured Feroze Khan and Sana Javed in lead roles, has picked up multiple nominations including one for Anjum Shahzad in the Best Director category at the upcoming Lux Style Awards 2019.
Currently Anjum Shahzad’s romantic comedy, Romeo Weds Heer (RWH), is being aired and the TV play is in complete contrast to Khaani, which highlighted social issues such as power, politics and raising your voice against injustices.
Instep got in touch with the director to find out his views on exploring diverse genres on television.
“I basically enjoy doing projects that have a narrative and are challenging. If you look at my entire career, I have never stuck to one specific genre. In fact I like experimenting,” shared Anjum Shahzad. “However, what matters the most is the script; I loved Romeo Weds Heer’s script, written by Dr Muhammad Younis Butt. I found it quite challenging and just went ahead with the project.”
Sana Javed and Feroze Khan-starrer, Romeo Weds Heer, is a social satire, which is written in a comic, light-hearted fashion.
Reflecting on the project, the director told Instep, “If you compare Romeo Weds Heer with Khaani, in my opinion the former is a much more difficult project than the latter because justifying such a script is very tricky.”
Anjum Shahzad believes that comedy is a very difficult genre and not all our actors are trained in this medium so they have to put in a lot of effort. “Another tricky aspect is shooting such plays. It has to be done in a presentable way so as to pull in the audiences and keep them hooked to their television screens,” he said, adding that the ongoing play’s script is somewhat like a film so we the execution is also similar.
Produced by Asad Qureshi and Abdullah Kadwani of 7th Sky Entertainment, Shahzad gives a lot of credit to the producers who take up experimental projects that have the potential to stand out among the clutter. “To be honest comedy plays are very difficult to execute. You see a normal drama is shot in eight to 10 days while the number of days for such projects is more than the usual. One has to give credit to the producers as it is not an easy task to manage production.”
Talking about the risk of helming a comedy play after the socially relevant Khaani, which became one of the most successful plays on television, Anjum Shahzad stated, “I am very happy with Khaani’s success; it’s definitely huge and one should enjoy it. However, I’m not really concerned about ratings and if a certain project is really successful, you have to take up more challenging projects after that. Only then you can define you range and prove that we are capable of working in any genre. Good content will always stand out. After reading the script of Romeo Weds Heer I knew that this is a good project and will resonate well with the audience. And the response has been great.”
When asked about plays that tackle social issues, he said, “I believe in taking up projects that are out-of-the-box. There is absolutely no harm in highlighting a social problem. But our plays usually show problems but never present solutions. As a creative person you should make sure to show a balanced story. Often, we show a suppressed woman in a male dominated society like ours but there is a way to portray a social issue on the small screen. I feel that there is no vision when it comes to the plot in some plays.”
According to the director, television is a medium through which one can educate viewers and bring about a change as well. This doesn’t mean that the play has to be preachy, but you have to show them a way out and how to tackle a certain situation.
As for bagging a nod in the Best Director category for drama serial Khaani at the upcoming Lux Style Awards 2019, Anjum Shahzad shared, “Of course it feels great as Khaani has raised the bar – especially in terms of content. I’m happy that I have been nominated and I have my fingers crossed. Let’s see what happens.”
About the criticism and controversy that has surfaced after the announcement of Lux Style Awards nominees, Shahzad said, “When it comes to awards there are always controversies. The TV industry has grown so much that I am sure it must be very difficult for the jury members to consider everyone. I honestly think that we need different set of awards like the critics’ and technical awards so as to acknowledge the efforts of those who deserve it.”
