Getting a super start to his acting career with his debut venture and that too, at the age of fourteen, Faisal Rehman has come a long way in the three decade span of his showbiz career; but he feels there is many a mile to go still…… Here, in an all exclusive talk with HUMSAY, we unearth a facet of Rehman very rarely exposed to the media.

“The two things I always wanted to do from childhood were travelling and joining the Foreign Service” Faisal Rehman reveals, lounging back comfortably in his chair in the lawn of the house where he is busy shooting a comedy serial. But, obviously fate had other plans for him as he was thrown into showbiz while still at school.

“I got an opportunity to work in the film ‘Nahin Abhi Nahin’ – an extraordinary film that shocked people with its extremely out-of-the ordinary theme for the early ’80s – mainly because of the fact that my father was a respected cinematographer in the industry with films like ‘Heer Ranjha’ and ‘Dosti’ to his credit. I didn’t look at it as a career-making move, and in fact, had taken it for granted that this would be a one-timer and the chapter would be closed at its completion. I did not, in my wildest dreams, imagine that it would mark the beginning of a career that would stay with me these thirty years.”
With his characteristic dimpled smile, Rehman goes on to narrate how difficult it was for him to cope with studies and a career which though incidentally thrust upon him, had got him so involved that he couldn’t disengage himself. “My school – St Anthony’s – was a strictly Irish Brother Order and all my shootings were scheduled so I didn’t miss school even one day. The same schedule continued till I graduated – mind you, with flying colours!– from F.C College, Lahore.”

Faisal Rehman and Deepti Gupta in Malal

Although a difficult feat to achieve, not only did Rehman excel in his studies, he also became a roaring success on screen, performing in hit films such as ‘Yeh Zamana Aur Hai’, ‘Nadani’, ‘Love Story’ and ‘Doorian’. But in spite of numerous hits both on the silver screen, and in subsequent years, on the mini-screen, it is his debut movie that remains to date the foremost identification of his acting career.

Courtesy: Humsay