{"id":24311,"date":"2022-03-09T06:30:59","date_gmt":"2022-03-09T06:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.somethinghaute.com\/who-does-naumaan-ijaz-play-in-mrs-mr-shameem\/"},"modified":"2022-03-09T06:30:59","modified_gmt":"2022-03-09T06:30:59","slug":"who-does-naumaan-ijaz-play-in-mrs-mr-shameem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.somethinghaute.com\/?p=24311","title":{"rendered":"Who does Naumaan Ijaz play in Mrs & Mr Shameem?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cLook at him carefully\u2026does he look like a boy to you?\u201d Umi asks the warden who objects to a boy picking her up from the hostel. The warden takes one look at Shameem and gives her permission to leave, dismissing him with a nonchalant, \u201cOh, haan<\/em>\u201d. Shameem is no threat; he isn\u2019t your average, conventional boy. In fact, he\u2019s not even considered boy enough.<\/p>\n

Who is Shameem, and what exactly is his gender? That\u2019s a question that has been on everyone\u2019s mind eversince the trailer for Mrs & Mr Shameem released. The 20-episode web series has been produced for ZEE5 and will be released for streaming on March 11.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In an interview for Instep, The News<\/em>, one spoke to the four people spearheading series, asking them this very question.<\/p>\n

Who is Mr. Shameem?<\/p>\n

\u201cShameem is a character that everyone comes across but is quick to dismiss,\u201d Naumaan Ijaz says, also adding that this is a character he conceptualized 13 years ago but no one would buy it. \u201cHe\u2019s the only boy in a family of several sisters and has picked up traits that make him gentle and sensitive. We all know such boys who are mocked for being \u2018sissy\u2019, as Shameem is. The story isn\u2019t about his orientation but about emotions. It\u2019s just a beautiful portrayal of emotions. It\u2019s just very intense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Saba Qamar and Nauman Ijaz play Shameem and Umaina in this unconventional love story.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cShameen\u2019s orientation is questioned several times but that\u2019s not the focus of the story,\u201d informs Saji Gul, who\u2019s written the story. \u201cThis story is simply of a man who is perceived as effeminate and how difficult it is for him to exist and survive in society. It\u2019s an unusual love story that has role reversals and breaks stereotypes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saji also added that this is a story close to his heart as he feels he\u2019s faced a lot of problems for being a sensitive man in a society that associates masculinity with muscle. \u201cThere\u2019s always pressure to \u2018man up\u2019. But all men aren\u2019t confrontational. Why is aggression always the solution to every problem?\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

<\/strong>\u201cFor a man like Naumaan to play a character like Shameem took a while to get used to,\u201d Saba Qamar shares. Saba is playing Umaina, or Umi, the love of Shameem\u2019s life. \u201cI initially felt it would be awkward. But he was on-point. I would forget my lines when I\u2019d watch him perform. He\u2019s a man raised amidst several sisters so he\u2019s grown up to be sensitive. Men like him aren\u2019t acceptable in society. We all look for Alpha Men in our lives. And maybe, on a personal level, a woman wouldn\u2019t mind being with a man who was different but then society lays the rules for what is acceptable and what isn\u2019t. \u201c<\/p>\n

\"\"
Saba Qamar with director, Kashif Nisar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Director Kashif Nisar wraps it up nicely.<\/p>\n

<\/strong>\u201cWe\u2019re telling the story of two people and our subject isn\u2019t who the man is or who the woman is. It\u2019s not about his sexual orientation. It\u2019s about the love between these two people. It\u2019s about relationships,\u201d he says. \u201cTake Naumaan\u2019s character, for example \u2013 haven\u2019t we type casted those characters? We add them for comic relief; we ridicule them. Why is mardaangi<\/em> only seen in muscles?”<\/p>\n

Why indeed?<\/p>\n

As we celebrate International Woman\u2019s Day this week, we can only hope that there will come a time when gender stereotyping will end and we see societies that are fair and equal in their treatment of men or women, gender non-specific.<\/p>\n

    \n
  • The original article was published in Instep on Sunday, March 6, 2022<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The story isn\u2019t about Shameem’s orientation but about emotions, says Naumaan Ijaz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":24312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63,39,214],"tags":[1057],"class_list":["post-24311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity","category-entertainment","category-featured","tag-kashif-nisarmrs-mr-shameemnaumaan-ijazsaba-qamarsaji-gulzee5"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.somethinghaute.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.somethinghaute.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.somethinghaute.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.somethinghaute.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.somethinghaute.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.somethinghaute.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.somethinghaute.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.somethinghaute.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.somethinghaute.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.somethinghaute.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}