He rose to fame with his major debut performance in Suno Chanda 2 but not many know his name to date. The reason is that his character, Subuktageen aka Mithoo, left an everlasting mark on viewers. Raza Talish is the son of renowned director Aehsun Talish and is frequently seen in his projects. He first appeared in his father’s drama Tabeer but realized that he is miserable at acting. However, he has a dream to become a director one day and he realized that he needed to understand the craft in front of the camera as well.
In an exclusive conversation with Something Haute, Raza shared that his journey wasn’t so smooth. He was initially rejected for Mithoo’s role and he gave three auditions to get selected.
“My family has a legacy of 60 years, with my grandfather veteran actor Agha Talish, then my father. So it is a lot of pressure and I don’t shy away from it. Up until the first 1o days of Suno Chanda’s shoot, there was a pressure cooker inside my brain. I embrace when somebody points out about nepotism because I know my journey; I gave three auditions for Suno Chanda 2 and had to leave my work as an assistant director on Tich Button. I had to go through a rigorous process and it wasn’t a smooth ride as I expected,” he said.
So what was the reason that he ended up with the role in the end?
“I got an advantage due to my Punjabi lingo. We’re from Lahore; Suno Chanda was being filmed in Karachi. You won’t find an actor with a Punjabi background or accent that he can carry throughout the show with ease. It would have been difficult to find someone so I think best things come in disguise,” he added.
Read: In conversation with Raza Talish aka Suno Chanda’s Mithoo
Wasn’t he cautious about signing another Aehsun Talish directorial (Mushk) after a lukewarm second project, Tum Ho Wajah?
“”I was not much concerned because I had shot two web series in the midst of that period; they have not been released yet. The first is a web series titled Dhoop Ki Deewar which stars Ahad Raza Mir and Sajal Aly, in which I’m playing an army officer. The second web series is Abdullahpur Ka Devdas which stars Bilal Abbas Khan, Sarah Khan, Anoushay Abbasi amongst others and is directed by Anjum Shahzad. I got to play a great character in it and it is much meatier role than the other series. Both of them will release on Zee5. So I had worked on different sets and with different directors and have gained other experiences than working under my father till I started working on Mushk,” he shared.
How he landed a role in Mushk?
“I always had my eyes on Saqib’s role when Imran bhai was writing the script,” he laughingly said, adding, “I knew the characters in the play as there used to be long discussions on it at our home. I knew that Saqib was the catalyst of the story. You won’t get to see him very much on screen but he is the reason behind the biggest twist in the story so I was very eager to do this role,” he said.
Watch the full interview to find out why he wanted to play Mithoo and how it changed him as an actor, his experience shooting for Mushk and much more:
