Qatil Haseenaon Ke Naam – a desi noir that has been making waves nowadays and for all the right reasons! It has a star-studded, fierce female Pakistani cast including, Sanam Saeed, Sarwat Gillani, Meher Bano, Eman Suleman, Beo Raana, Samiya Mumtaz, and Faiza Gillani – Need we say more?
Directed by a British-Indian director Meenu Kaur, it is a Zindagi Original, currently airing on ZEE5. The show, featuring these 7 women, highlights the ‘unapologetic side’ of women in a 6-episode anthology.
While the Pakistani audience is often hesitant to watch an overseas production with Pakistani actors, the cast of Qatil Haseenaon Ke Naam sheds light on how comfortable they felt with the makers of the show. Beo Raana, Sarwat Gillani, and Sanam Saeed tell FUCHSIA all about the show and their experience shooting for this newly released desi noir.
Sanam Saeed Was Able To Improvise Scenes & Dialogues As Zuvi
Sanam Saeed says she had a lot of room to improvise with her character as ‘Zuvi.’ Zuvi’s high pitch and tonality were a result of her own improvisation of the character, just to add another layer to the character. Courtesy of the director Meenu Kaur, who gave her the creative license and room to improvise and explore.
I haven’t done a role like this before and it was something I always wanted to do and it was an opportunity that randomly came my way and I was more than thrilled to be a part of it.
Sanam Saeed
According to Sanam, Zuvi is a very sorted person. She knows what she wants to do and has full control over what she’s doing. She is ambitious, calculative, manipulative but all of this is justified. The story will also tell us why Zuvi does what she does and it won’t seem invalid. The actress also expressed that it was very liberating for her to be playing a character who isn’t a damsel in distress (for once).
Sharing more details about the story, Sanam Saeed told us that her episode/story in the show is not based in androon sheher and has a different setting. Qatil Haseenaon Ke Naam has one main storyline streamlined by Samiya Mumtaz and Meher Bano. It would be interesting to see how these two characters will make an appearance in each episode with their own backstories. Sanam’s episode is a short story that is woven into the bigger picture Samiya Mumtaz’s character talks about.
Whenever there’s a reference to a hurt woman, or a woman’s wrath, pained women or an ambitious woman, any example of the stories by Mai Maalki (Samiya Mumtaz’s character) are given, a visual reference is given with each episode played by Faiza, Beo and myself and Sarwat.
Sanam Saeed
She feels that this kind of genre (desi noir) hadn’t been explored previously and we usually see men in roles such roles of murderers and psychopathic killers.
The storyline follows women who would actually go to extreme lengths to get what they want, whether it’s justice, their ambitions, or their dreams. You cannot pursue these desires in real life because it’s not ‘legal’ or ‘morally correct.’ Qatil Haseenaon Ke Naam is a fantasy world where each woman is shown diving into her deepest desires in terms of vengeance.
When asked if people are right for comparing Qatil Haseenaon Ke Naam with Churails, she revealed that besides some of the cast members and a female-driven narrative, both shows are nothing alike.
“They are very different stories. They are very different worlds. The treatment is different.”
However, Sanam feels that Churails did kind of pave the way for makers and writers who had similar stories waiting to be told. Moreover, she talks about a certain ‘twist’ at the end that people are really enjoying but don’t worry, we are not here to give spoilers!
Lastly, calling it an ‘easy watch’, Sanam Saeed hopes people enjoy the fact that it’s an anthology and has just six episodes so people don’t get caught up in one long story.
Sarwat Gillani Sheds Light On What Her Character ‘Mehek’ Taught Her
Sarwat Gillani told us that her character is initially shown as a damsel in distress however, the kind of situation she is put in and what she chooses to do would be interesting to watch. Mehek, according to Sarwat, depicts a real woman. She’s weak, she’s strong, manipulated, disoriented, hopeless but she picks herself up and changes her life.
That sort of a woman exists everywhere around us. We are not perfect. We are black, white and grey and that representation of Mehek I think was very true to the women around us.
Sarwat Gillani
Mehek taught Sarwat that no matter how bad things are, you can always rise from the ashes, like a Phoenix, and get to a much better place.
Sharing more details about the scripts, we learned that Sarwat did not feel the need to improvise even a single word. She felt that the script was so beautifully written and had a rhythm of its own so she did not want to take away from that narrative. However, where she did feel like her improvisation would come was in her expressions and acting.
I thought I could put my two cents in the expression and make her better as a character.
Sarwat Gillani
Viewers were quick to compare Qatil Haseenaon Ke Naam with Churails but Sarwat thinks they are both completely different except for the fact that both have a feminine approach. Churails was a contemporary story of women living in the city whereas, QHKN has a completely different genre and treatment. However, she thinks Churails was a very good step towards storytelling.
In this day and age, people are wanting to move away from the typical romantic love stories and saas bahu problems because there are other things we need to address. Churails helped us think in a very different way when it comes to story telling on the web.
Sarwat Gillani
Moreover, Sarwat also expressed how the web has given us the kind of freedom local television cannot. Web series/shows on OTT platforms have a particular audience that chooses to watch those shows. Television does not give this choice to its audience. According to her, television is not ready to accept the kind of ‘bold’ and less sugarcoated content we want to show.
So yeah definitely more freedom visually, more freedom in terms of acting, performance, all of it.
Sarwat Gillani
Beo Raana On Why Her Character Came Naturally To Her
Beo Rana was approached by Meenu for her role and it was very easy for her to pick up because her character was like so many of the ladies who were her teachers in her convent for 12 years. She was familiar with the accent and the lingo so the character came very easily to her.
She also had the room to improvise as long as it stayed within the story and she added everything in the accent and lines that she thought her character would put into it. She quotes a particular scene on which she is threatening a character and says “I’ll give you a tight jhaap.” Everyone had a big laugh about it.
She also shared that the environment on the sets of Qatil Haseenaon Ke Naam was very amicable. They would sing, eat and practice their lines in between! They were hyping each other up and had a great camaraderie.
The set is amazing, you are all hyped up, all creative, you are a bit nervous, a bit anxious and you are propping each other up. It was great energy, it was wonderful.
Beo Raana
Beo Raana hopes the audience recognizes the creativity, originality, and sincerity with which the show has been made. “It maintains its noir quality throughout,” she added.
