Saqib Saleem will be seen playing the reel brother of Huma Qureshi in Dobaara. The actor was last seen in Dishoom playing a cricketer. Saqib talks about his experience of working with his real sister Huma, films and why he doesn’t get jealous of his contemporaries.
How did you bag this film?
I always wanted to work with Huma but since we are siblings, we can only do certain kind of roles together. We were offered films together in the past, but it did not work as we did not like those scripts. I had seen the original film Oculus. So I thought it is a good role for us, because we are playing siblings and we both have interesting roles to play. It is film in the genre which has not been cracked completely in India.
Is it an advantage to work with your sister Huma?
I will say it helped me and it also didn’t help me. Sometimes you know a person too well so you have to unlearn few things about that person as an actor. It was difficult to maintain a balance because our characters are different than what we are in real life. There was a bit of conflict in my mind initially how to play it but eventually we did it. Huma and I didn’t rehearse for the scenes. We are very different actors. We would only do dialogue rehearsal on the sets. We gave space to each other and didn’t give inputs. We were very clear from day one that we will behave as if we have met one another on the sets of this film. It was hard to behave like that because we are similar, we like same kind of food, films and so on.
Was there any situation when Huma and you had differences of opinion?
All the time and that is not only in the film but in real life too. That is how siblings are or friends are. We are more friends than siblings. We are like best buddies; we discuss everything under the sun. There is no filter between us. When you start treating your sibling like your friend then there are no issues like my sibling should not be aware of what I am doing. But our arguments were like conversations which we knew it was only for our better.
So who makes the first move to resolve an argument?
I don’t, because I don’t fight that much. When I fight, I only fight when I think it is not my fault. I am very clear about these things. I am not a fighter, I like to reason out and talk about it. But sometimes she does get little difficult.
How was it working with Prawaal Raman?
I have seen his films like Darna Mana Hai, Darna Zaroori Hai. He let us do what we wanted, he had his interpretation and how he wanted it. He was always open to ideas and suggestions. He believed that everything is collaborative efforts. So he wasn’t a tough task master at all.
Do you take opinions before signing a film?
Yes, I take everyone’s opinion who matter to me, they don’t necessarily have to be from the film world. They are the people who I rely on in real life. I take their advice but do whatever I want to do. But I like to listen to pros and cons and everybody’s story to make a decision. I feel that you can’t do anything all alone. You have to work with people, take their ideas, and understand what they are saying. We are in such a profession that we need to get out and see what is happening in the world. We (actors) are normally away from reality as we don’t get to interact with everybody on daily basis. So we don’t even know what is happening, sometimes people give us sound advice. One person can learn from other person if he wishes to learn. I want to learn from best and become a best person.