At a time where men and women alike are rushing to get their botox injections, tummy tucks and nose jobs to make it big in the world of showbiz, it’s refreshing to see Gohar Rasheed stand firmly against this fixation on superficial beauty. In fact, when I asked him what he thinks of this behaviour of his peers, Gohar started to laugh uncontrollably and said that he needed a minute to answer. “Control Gohar, control,” he said to himself while sniggering away. I immediately understood that this was Gohar’s attempt at trying to be diplomatic while also being honest.
We met Gohar at an interview arranged by his PR team and surprisingly, it started right on time, unlike other interviews that are usually delayed by several hours.
Amongst the various discussions that we had over the course of the evening, with his upcoming film Rangreza being one of them, somehow the conversation dwindled down to the industry’s obsession with looking conventionally beautiful.
Of course, he didn’t take any names, but Gohar did roll his eyes when he said that many actors around him are constantly worried about getting a chiseled jaw or getting skin colour injections that make their skin lighter. “Somebody suggested this to me as well. He said, ‘Gohar bhai aap bhi teekay lagwa lein,’ and my response to that is ‘but why?’ I don’t understand when and how white became synonymous with beauty. We’ve all heard the term ‘tall, dark and handsome’ right?”
Gohar commented on how shockingly common cosmetic surgeries have become. Is there a lot of pressure on stars to look a certain way? “Honestly, I don’t take that pressure and by the look of me you can easily say that,” Gohar laughed. “With all the odds within me, I’ve made it here, with these marks on my face and my skin. And I believe that it’s always the craft at the end that matters. So when men and women are busy trying to beautify themselves with, grey coloured lenses for example, why are they doing that! It looks super horrible and these actors usually don’t even need it. They’re all Mashallah very good looking!”
Gohar Rasheed with his co-stars Bilal Ashraf and Urwa Hocane
In fact, Gohar is so focused on his craft over how good he looks on screen, that he actually gained weight for his role in Rangreza. “My character is a bit of a slacker so I thought it would look more convincing if I had a little belly sticking out. Nobody asked me to do it, but I wanted more believability so I put on a few pounds. I could have easily worked out and gotten a sick pack but can you imagine that if I had done that and taken my shirt off in the film, how big of an idiot would I have looked?” And we agree.
Everyone can agree that Gohar has stolen the show in Rangreza’s trailer. “I had a brilliant team with me, Aamir Mohiuddin (director) gave me a lot of margin to perform and we all have become really close to each other, almost like a small family. And I had great chemistry with my co-stars Bilal (Ashraf) and Urwa (Hocane) so that always helps. Bilal was so supportive; he would come to the sets even when he didn’t have any scenes, just to watch me perform and then give me feedback on what I had done. And Urwa was very helpful too. So if you say that I’ve stolen the scene, then it’s all because of their hard work and effort.”
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