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Pakistani TV star Usama Khan on life lessons from Dubai

The actor currently appears in three popular TV shows

Like most outsiders in any cut-throat industry, it took a long time for Usama Khan to make it big in show business. Hailing from Gujranwala, a relatively small city in Punjab, Khan packed his bags and moved to Karachi (where most of Pakistani media industry is based) in the hopes of making his TV dreams into reality. But before he could become the heartthrob of the small screen, he had to go through a learning curve. Khan spent a while in Dubai looking for jobs, an experience he recalls as significant in building his personality.

“Dubai taught me a lot of things,” he recalls, reminiscing the time he spent here looking for jobs. “I had just completed my ACCA [accountancy qualification] in Pakistan, I was hoping to make it big, and I thought everything is just a piece of cake.” He remembers it was his friend who had pushed him to try different avenues outside Pakistan and that’s how he came to Dubai to try his luck. “I moved to Dubai and began looking for jobs and I remember sitting in parking lots with my friends,” he tells City Times, “and we would talk about nothing and everything. It was just that kind of time.” He smiles his kind smile as he recalls his time spent in Dubai. “When you live in a city like Dubai, you learn a lot. People work really hard, and you get a ton of exposure about how different people from all over the world live.”

He recently visited the UAE and posted about it on his social media. He wrote, “When you are dreaming big dreams, and when those dreams come true, it’s most rewarding when you get to experience the joy of those dreams being fulfilled with the people with whom you saw those dreams. My parents are among the people who I am so grateful for, that they see me succeeding today – but also my friends in Dubai who I still talk to and am friends with, I still hold a great connection with them and it’s very rewarding for me to share this new journey with them.”

Khan's three shows, Ghair (where he plays an indecisive Salis), Sunn Mere Dil (where he plays a lovesick Ammar) and Qarz e Jaan (in which he plays a strongheaded young lawyer named Burhan) are the top rated and watched shows in Pakistan and on digital platforms. Khan values his success; he knows it can be fleeting. “I am very careful now,” he says pensively, “because I know you can be up one minute and down the next. I also feel I have more responsibility now to choose characters. It is my hope that while I can do the commercial project that comes away now and then, I do characters that people can relate to, rather than a larger-than-life hero that they can only admire from afar.”

He began his journey in 2018, and he has come a long way since then. From doing small roles in the odd telefilm or a soap-styled TV show here and there, Khan is now leading two major projects (Ghair and Qarz e Jaan) and his track in Sunn Mere Dil is also garnering many eyeballs as he stars opposite Wahaj Ali (with whom he appeared in Ishq Jalebi, a romantic comedy) and Maya Ali. Khan's conversation highlights how deeply he thinks about his characters and how he pays attention to their nuances. He shows a diary where he has taken various notes about his characters, “These are my notes! I take notes about my characters. Salis wears a lot of colours,” he explains, “and it relates to his indecisiveness and somewhat self-involved attitude. Ammar is extremely possessive about Sadaf and Burhan is the opposite of Salis; Burhan is decisive and knows exactly what he’s doing.” Does he get a discussion room with his directors? Are there things he wouldn’t do in a script? “There is always room for discussion,” he replies. “And I do believe human beings are grey and characters are best portrayed when grey. I hope to showcase that. I wouldn’t do anything that is too toxic though.”

Fast becoming a household name, Khan's imprint on the audiences’ hearts isn’t going away any time soon. “People are really invested,” he admits reluctantly, unable to fully accept that he is still not ‘famous’. “I have a lot of Instagram messages where people tell me that they don’t want me to leave Wafa and why did I marry Sadaf (his female protagonists in Ghair and Sunn Mere Dil). I also meet people and they tell me how they want my characters to be. It’s great to see that they take them really seriously.”