FirstPerson: Saba Qamar wants to conquer cinema

why she waited so long to make a debut in films. “In fact, I had many from home and abroad. The lack of ‘quality’ films in Pakistan was one of the reasons why I stayed away. I couldn’t have done the kind of films that were being produced by the Gujjars and doodhwallas as that would have been below my level. I was waiting for a good script and a good director which I finally got in Lahore Se Aagey.”

The actress’ debut film, Lahore Se Aagey (LSA) is a sequel of a Pakistani film (Karachi Se Lahore) and the first film in which both Yasir Hussain and Saba Qamar are playing the lead role.

“People haven’t seen me dance, nor have they seen me in the kind of outfits I’ve worn in this film,” she adds excitedly, “They’re in for a surprise. I’m glad that I got a good director [Wajahat Rauf], good songs [Shiraz Uppal] and a good co-star [Yasir Hussain] — everything that I had hoped to find in my debut flick.”

In her new film, Saba plays a musician and it was a role she had to learn new skills for. “It was Wajahat who taught me how to play a guitar,” she says, “The mannerisms of playing the instrument and how to deliver dialogues for a film which is a different medium altogether from television. We used to discuss everything before the shooting and that’s the reason I never felt like an outsider on the sets and locations. As for the dancing and performing on songs, I enjoyed it all thoroughly!”