{"id":24414,"date":"2022-04-22T09:41:22","date_gmt":"2022-04-22T09:41:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.somethinghaute.com\/atif-aslam-the-prince-of-laspiran\/"},"modified":"2022-04-22T09:41:22","modified_gmt":"2022-04-22T09:41:22","slug":"atif-aslam-the-prince-of-laspiran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.somethinghaute.com\/?p=24414","title":{"rendered":"Atif Aslam: The Prince of Laspiran"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reinvention, Atif Aslam feels, is the only way to stay relevant at a time when attention spans are short and an artiste\u2019s shelf life brief. The rest, he feels, is silence.<\/p>\n

There is a reflective calm to Atif Aslam today. It may be a guise, as there\u2019s nothing calm about the last six months of his life but he\u2019s in Shakespearean mode, thus there is method to the madness. This madness comes from the fact that he\u2019s everywhere. He\u2019s on TV and in film. He\u2019s on stage, in the studio and even in stadiums. He\u2019s on your airwaves and on video. He\u2019s in pop, rock, the serenity of qawwali and the disruption of hip hop. Everywhere, he says, is the only place he wants to be.<\/p>\n

Who is Atif Aslam today? He\u2019s Sang e Mah\u2019s<\/em> Hilmand, Prince of the fictional town of Laspiran. He\u2019s a man who spends his days and nights by his father\u2019s grave, planning and plotting to avenge his murder. He suspects his uncle, now married to his mother, and thus within him dwells a hatred for them both. Driven to par-madness, revenge is the driving force in life, which he lives in angst and addresses in lyrical verse.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Who is Atif Aslam today? He\u2019s Sang e Mah\u2019s Hilmand, Prince of the fictional town of Laspiran. He\u2019s a man who spends his days and nights by his father\u2019s grave, planning and plotting to avenge his murder.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Inspired by William Shakespeare\u2019s Hamlet<\/em>, Hilmand is a character that was written to be so complex that it would challenge the most seasoned of performers. And yet it was the only character Atif agreed to perform in 16 years, since his film debut in Bol<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I did Bol,<\/em> I wanted to act,\u201d he says as we catch up over the phone. Home for Atif these days is both Dubai and Pakistan and I\u2019m relieved to catch him in the latter, on a break from work. \u201cI wanted to try it out. But at that time a lot of my scenes didn\u2019t make it to the final cut; they were deleted. I was a little disappointed but took it as a learning. I realized that it was barely a performance and later I wondered why I even did it. But we got two good songs out of Bol<\/em> and I got the experience of working with Shoaib Mansoor. After that it took me 16 years to decide that I wanted to do it again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been getting acting offers all these years but I was waiting for something special. I wanted to do something crazy. I was initially skeptical as to why they wanted to cast me. But when I read the script I knew that this was something I wanted to do. It was poetic, there was a rhythm to it. I felt a lot of the character was close to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Had he read Hamlet<\/em> and was he aware of how complex the character was?<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually haven\u2019t seen Hamlet and when I asked, I was told not to,\u201d he says. \u201cSo I had to tap into my inner Hamlet. It wasn\u2019t easy for me; it was tough to set the level of madness in the character. The monologues were long and complex, often they were tongue twisters, and it was difficult to do it for the first time. I looked within and found the poet and the philosopher and just enhanced those qualities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not revengeful though,\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n

Atif has fit the role so perfectly that it\u2019s almost impossible to imagine anyone else playing the character. He\u2019s a thinker, a man who is philosophical and he is enigmatic. Hilmand is a character that the audience has fallen for hard, which is ironic, as his friends and family had advised him against it, he shares.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was scared, I was nervous and I questioned whether I should do it or not,\u201d he says. \u201cEveryone I met, from my family, to my industry, to my friends\u2026everyone said I shouldn\u2019t do it. I was the only one adamant that this is something I want to do. I didn\u2019t want to regret not trying. I was unsure of how it would turn out but then the feedback started rolling in and I realized that people are loving it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did he agree with critique on the near-perfect disposition of a character that lived in the wilderness? \u201cWhatever he goes through will throw him off track and his appearance will eventually get disheveled. But yes, I think right now he has too much hair spray on hand!\u201d he laughs again.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Where is Atif Aslam today? He\u2019s on TV and in film. He\u2019s on stage, in the studio and even in stadiums. He\u2019s on your airwaves and on video. He\u2019s in pop, rock, the serenity of qawwali and the disruption of hip hop. Everywhere, he says, is the only place he wants to be.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Because of the vacuum created by the pandemic, what Atif did find on his hands was time, something he used to make his TV debut and also to create a diverse sonic identity. One does look forward to listening to his contribution to the soundtrack of Sarmad Khoosat\u2019s upcoming film, Kamli<\/em>. But he wanted to step out of his comfort zone and reinvent himself; that vibe shift came with Raat<\/em>, he points out. Rafta Rafta<\/em> and Ajnabi<\/em>, that followed, were signature sounds but after navigating through Cricket Khidaye<\/em> with Faris Shafi and Agay Dekh (with Aima Baig) for PSL\u201922, Go<\/em>, with Abdullah Siddiqui, threw him into a completely new orbit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d been making music for 16 years and it was high time for me to move on and do something else,\u201d he says. He turned around his identity as a pop\/rock musician who\u2019d a penchant for ballads and a love for qawalli<\/em>, to a completely new genre: hip hop.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019ve been very daring in the kind of music I\u2019ve been making,\u201d he confessed. \u201cI believe in giving the audience a contrast. On one hand you see me as Hilmand, all poetic and lyrical and on the other hand you see me rapping. Hip hop wasn\u2019t easy but I got into the zone. You may wonder how someone doing qawalli<\/em> would represent hip hop but that\u2019s what the creative space does to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The creative space kept him busy, and once travel advisories eased up, he restarted his tours, performing at Harrogate, England and the Coca Cola Arena in Dubai this year. He\u2019s up for a major US tour in May and June. And on stage, the tributes he made to Lata jee<\/em> made headlines. \u201cI have a lot of respect for every musician of the world and I\u2019ve grown up listening to Lata jee<\/em>. She has been a part of my life,\u201d he says, adding that relationships once made cannot be damaged by divisive politics. He\u2019s heartened to see Bollywood stars like Tiger Shroff and Akshay Kumar constantly send him testimonials; he\u2019s trended in India more than a dozen times since the ban on Pakistani artists. \u201cPeople know my voice,\u201d he says, \u201ceven if my name is removed from credits.\u201d<\/p>\n

The last one year was all about creating new identities, forging new sounds and working with new heads. Atif was already on Pepsi Battle of the Bands, Coke Studio and Velo Sound Station, but then came the cricket anthems and the collaborative work with Faris Shafi, Abdullah Siddiqui, Tala Qureshi and Maanu. How did he feel about the new generation of musicians he was working with?<\/p>\n

\u201cI love it,\u201d he says without a pause. \u201cI think new talent should be embraced. We should be delighted with the talent we have and we should encourage it. This is the only way we\u2019ll be an industry. These boys are amazing and all they need is a little direction, which they\u2019ll figure out. Abdullah Siddiqui is amazing. Take Faris Shafi, for example, he was in his own experimental phase before Cricket Khidaiye<\/em> and had he toned it down before, he would have done much better. Make your way to the people first and then convince them with what you\u2019re passionate about. He\u2019s great and writes great rap and I don\u2019t think we have anyone like him.\u201d<\/p>\n

What now was his advice to the new generation of musicians?<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the industry is picking up on its own pace and doing really well. All we need is to get rid of the divide culture, which unfortunately exists even today. I don\u2019t why; it could be because of the corporate sector where people get too competitive. That needs to end. What everyone needs to believe is that content is magic. At the end of the day, that\u2019s what matters. Every artist is on Spotify but the audience keeps shifting unless you keep giving them something new. Collaboration is the way forward. Lyrics needs to be better. Most of the young boys tend to get stuck in writing the same kind of lyrics over and over again and don\u2019t experiment. We used to release albums that people listened to for a year. No one listens to the same music for a year anymore. Times have changed and these guys have it tough.\u201d<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Atif Aslam portraits by Shahbaz Shazi<\/em><\/li>\n
  • This article was originally published in Instep on Sunday<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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