Sarmad Khoosat explains how Humsafar changed his Career

Sarmad Khoosat has spoken about his projects that he feels changed his career.

Talking to Rafay Rashdi and Misbah Khalid on The Director’s Chair, Sarmad spoke about the different projects he has worked on and said Humsafar enabled him to be more ambitious and work on Manto.

Sarmad said it was important for degrees aimed at young students who wanted to step into the world of directing.

He said: “The freedom you will achieve from an education degree is not something you would get in the practical field.

“Starting off in the field runs the risk of young talent wanting to live up to a certain directorial style, or to measure success based on YouTube likes, or who makes the most money.”

Sarmad went on to say that his projects Humsafar and Manto are two projects that he held very closely to his heart, but they were for separate reasons.

He revealed he did not earn much from Manto despite the fact that he worked as an actor, director, screenwriter and editor on the project.

“I think the project is close to my heart because I had established an emotional connection with it.

“So, when I look back at it, of course, it gave me financial damage, of course, it gave me a lot of heartache and trauma.

“But it is very close to my heart and when I think of its success, of course, I think of Humsafar.”

Although both projects proved to be popular, Sarmad admitted Humsafar was his least passionate work, but it did well due to the pairing of Fawad Khan and Mahira Khan in the lead roles.

He revealed that due to the success of the show, he was given the confidence to work on more projects that could be seen as provocative and different.

Sarmad Khoosat:

“It is important to get that kind of validation, but what you do with that validation matters.”

“I used that validation to earn the freedom to make Manto.

“Storytellers are dreamers. They might believe that their story is very good, but that belief is very important.

“To be that foolish, to be a dreamer, to take a leap of faith, I feel, is very important to telling stories, and it will perhaps keep our individual voices and styles alive.”

Sarmad Khoosat recently released the much-awaited film Zindagi Tamasha on YouTube after it failed to make its way to cinemas.