Saba Qamar: storming the summer screen

Karachi:“I really had my fingers crossed that I wouldn’t have simultaneous releases,” says Saba Qamar, as she talks to Instep Today about her Eid release, Ghabrana Nahi Hai (GNH), “log beyzaar hojate hain eik hi shakal dekh kar.”

As luck would have it, while everything Saba has worked on in the last year didn’t exactly release together, three major projects have, or are set to hit, screens of various sizes within weeks of each other.

While Mrs. & Mr. Shameem gathers the accolades it rightly deserves, Saba is busy working the promotion circuit for GNH. Though she is slightly abashed about her multiple releases, she is, of course, proud too. GNH shows her in an avatar we have just come to associate as a Saba Qamar brand: the badass woman. Kamli – which releases in June – has her stretching her acting muscle, if we are to go by the trailer alone.

With each role, Saba Qamar seems to be putting together the pieces of a puzzle that define her as an actor, and a human with history. We are indeed convinced of her skill, but also find that she gravitates towards certain kinds of characters; the stronger, the better. Even if a character Saba Qamar plays starts out weak, it shows immense growth by the end of the story.

Perhaps she informs her choices and execution with her own experiences. As she explains why her character, Zubi, in GNH is so special to her, she gives us a little peek into her life.

“My family is conservative: pardeydaar and women aren’t allowed to work,” says Saba as she recalls how she just found her calling in the performing arts. On an audition at PTV, engineered by her mother’s friend, she came across a photographer who asked her to model for a lawn shoot.

“I was paid Rs 2000 per outfit, for 25 outfits, and that was when I was like, ‘yeah, this is what I want to do’.”

The actor has come a long way from her induction to acting and modeling in 2004, and though she slips in and out of characters like a chameleon, she states, rather proudly, that the one thing that is pure, unadulterated personal expression is her Instagram.

“This is my thing, my baby,” she says, “I think my Insta is where you will find me, and see what Saba Qamar is all about.”