It is no coincidence that Usman Mukhtar — the young actor who turned heads with his half-smiles and poker-faced comedic act in the hit Parchi — sported Clark Kent-style glasses and neatly parted hair, with a suit to match, at the film’s recent Lahore premiere.
He’s grown up on DC comics, he tells Gulf News Tabloid! in an exclusive chat. Though, more than Superman, he’s been “a big fan of the Undertaker. In fact, as a teenager, I used to make his tribute videos on my computer.”
Clearly, these were the early signs of a ‘filmmaker’ in him. But there was resistance at home. Mukhtar says, his father didn’t allow him to get into film school, so he took up Mass Communications at the university.
As an avid movie viewer, he began to read up on the art of filmmaking. Soon he found an outlet in the shape of vlogs and short films that he started to create, with help from his friends. He also had a deep interest in acting, which led him to theatre and, in 2016, to the big screen with the blockbuster Janaan. His role in the film was only about the length of a cameo, but he was noticed.
No wonder the producers repeated him in Parchi, this time as one of the three main leads. The film’s soundtrack — Imagine, sung by Mika Singh, and Billo Hai, by Sahara UK — featured him prominently alongside Hareem Farooq and Ali Rehman Khan.
Parchi also afforded Mukhtar a glorious chance to flex his muscles as a cinematographer. In his own words, “[Director] Azfar Jafri asked me to shoot the film because he thought that I’d understood the [shooting] style he wanted. On the first day of shoot, I was very scared. I didn’t know if I’d be able to manage it side by side with acting. It was very stressful and hectic,” he declares.
“My call time was always two hours ahead of every other actor’s. I would set up the lighting, until my second DoP would take over, and then step in front of the camera. I’d keep returning to check on the camera angles etc. It was very distracting. I wouldn’t wish it upon my enemy!”
But he admits that it was a lot of fun, at the end of the day: “Now I know that I can challenge myself to that point.”
He hastens to mention “a few people without whom my stint as DoP wouldn’t be a success — such as Latif bhai [brother], who was one of the best gaffers we had on the sets, and Amir Mughal, my second DoP. Also, the lighting crew. Filmmaking is team effort, you know.”
Mukhtar concludes saying that he is “more of a filmmaker than an actor” but right now his focus is on acting. “Later, if I get the right funding, I’d love to direct a film.”
Is TV on the cards? “Yes, very much so,” he replies. “I’m reading a few scripts. Nothing is final yet. But I can assure you that my next project will be a TV drama.”
