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Tell us about your early days?
I was born in Rome in 1973. My parents had gone there for their studies and then they stayed back. After my birth, they started importing Pakistani goods to Italy, especially leather, footballs, leather jackets and so on. Then later they got affiliated with the Pakistan Export Bureau and returned to Pakistan. I was a student at that time so I stayed in Rome till the age of 18. And yes, I speak Italian fluently.
When did you first face the camera?
When I came back to Pakistan from Dubai I was around 22 years old and it was during those days that someone invited us to a TV programme called Acting Challenge. However, at that time there were only two channels — PTV and NTM. The programme was designed to encourage young girls and boys to perform on stage and win the competition. I personally liked the programme as I felt it was a platform where youngsters would be encouraged to display their talent. I was really excited to learn that somebody had actually invited us to watch the show. I took my cousin Javeria with me (who was also my first wife).
Then…?
After the show, Javeria wanted to go backstage and take some autographs but I was never the type and always liked to stay away from the limelight. Nyla Jafferi, a TV actress, was the coordinator of the show and when she met me, she asked me to participate in the show. She said, ‘I don’t know about the girl, but I think you can act’. To that I replied that Javeria could become a good actress but not I. Anyways, she asked us to come on Sunday for an audition. In the meantime, we wrote a short script and asked my uncle, who has a really good sense of humour, to guide us. We went to Nyla that Sunday and luckily we got approved. Our performance was so good that the organizers wanted to find people of high calibre to compete with us. We won the semi-final and then the final. The rest, as they say, is history.
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So did you get married before starting your career?
We both were being offered different projects and it was getting difficult to move around. There were places where she couldn’t go alone and then we had to understand that it just couldn’t go on like this. Our parents suggested that since we also had feelings for each other, we should get married. The idea of getting married got more solid just because we had entered showbiz and needed each other at that point.
I must say that you are more known for your three marriages than anything else. Is there anything specific you are looking for in women?
To be honest, I really want my women to find something specific in me. I always desired tenderness in a relationship. When you start living with somebody, there should be ease and compassion. To cut it short, with Javeria, it was more a hasty kind of a situation, her career was taking off and we felt it was the right decision to get married. I respected her decisions and let her pursue her career. She got too involved in her profession, leaving little time for our home and family. It was she who wanted to end our relationship. She was too money-minded.
Nausheen was my biggest mistake and it was not a stable relationship. She came into my life when I was down and miserable. It was a very low phase and economically too I was very down. I remember when I met Nausheen, I was spending my days and nights sitting idle in front of the TV. She started supporting me financially in a fake way. I guess she had other plans. Soon I came to know that she already had children. She has even taken my child away and is not letting me see him.
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But now that you are married to Umaima Malik, one of the budding models, do you think that you have finally found your soul mate?
Umaima Malik is a very blunt and an intelligent girl. She respects me and my family. We like to spend time with each other as she gives more importance to her husband than anything else. With her, I can be myself and we can talk for hours. I remember when I had first met her, she inquired about my marriages and then very bluntly told me that it was because I lacked something that my marriages had been a disaster!
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