Actor Amna Ilyas is riding high on the success of her last outing ‘Gunjal’. The film received praise from all corners and was well received by the audience and critics alike. We at Fashion Times Magazine spoke to Ilyas to share her thoughts on the entire filmmaking process of Gunjal.
For the unversed, Amna has a history of working with first-time directors. Be it Meenu Gaur and Farjad Nabi of ‘Zinda Bhag’, Hisham Bin Munawwar of ‘Ready Steady No’, or ‘Saqib Malik’ of ‘Baaji’. “When Shoaib Sultan (director) narrated the script, I was instantly sold to play Mehar.” Amna exclusively told Fashion Times.
She added, “At that point, the cast wasn’t decided. Ahmed Ali Butt, Resham, or Ahmed Ali Akbar weren’t a part of the film. I wasn’t aware that the cast would eventually become so big. I went through the casting process of signing a film and eventually became a part of Gunjal.”
In Gunjal, Ilyas plays a complex character that has a lot of weight. “I play Mehar, she is a strong-headed activist who works for an NGO. She stands for human and child labor rights. She has a close connection with Irfan (Syed Muhammad Ali) and the film is mainly about their relationship.”
Elaborating on the above, she added, “Activists all alone fight against the corrupt system, with no support. Their life is very difficult and they face opposition from all corners. Resultantly there’s a lot of anger, guilt, and regrets in Mehar’s life. The harsh realities of life have made her a difficult person. She doesn’t smile as she has seen so much misery in the world. She is in another zone. Although she is young and has the opportunity to get married, but she cares about the wellbeing of others.”
“I am a fun person, with no emotional baggage. However, Mehar has a lot of emotional baggage. So it was tiring to shoot, to feel and connect with her. Shoaib helped me create the character, her look, even her walk and backstory. It was fifty percent him and fifty percent me. Many times while shooting a scene we used to share the same thoughts so we were on the same page.”
Ilyas paired up with veteran Lollywood actor Resham for the first time. “I have earlier worked with Meera. It was a great experience to work with Resham, we had a couple of powerful scenes, arguments and confrontations. She is a graceful person with an amazing personality, I was very comfortable working with her.”
Talking about her journey so far Ilyas said, “My journey has been very complex, I have done around seven to eight films to date. I like doing films with strong subjects with different treatments. Although, I have done commercial films and item songs as well. But my heart is in films like Gunjal that are rarely made in Pakistan.”
