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Did you know? Sarwat Gillani is learning Hindi for her next drama

Did you know? Sarwat Gillani is learning Hindi for her next drama

The Jawani Phir Nahi Aani star will be playing an Hindu character in Seeta Bagri
19 May, 2016

No, the bindis aren't a misplaced fashion statement.

Sarwat Gillani and Bushra Ansari have snagged roles in one of actor Adnan Siddiqui's first productions, Seeta Bagri, "a play on the Hindu minorities, the Bagri clan."

"I play Seeta, who believes in women's education and wants to promote it by giving classes to underprivileged girls of her community. She is the epitome of calmness and honesty," Gillani tells Images.

Sarwat as Seeta, a champion of women's education
Sarwat as Seeta, a champion of women's education

But there's more to the plot than Seeta's education ambition. There's also a love twist.

"Bushra Ansari plays a rich Hindu bangle factory owner named Nandani Daas, who comes into Seeta's house and marries Seeta's tenant/love interest, Ruttan Laal, played by Jibran. She wants to have a child with him soon as she never married and had kids. Meanwhile, Seeta's father Badri Naath (played by Qawi) takes Ruttan Lal and his cousin Mala Rani (Shameen Khan) under his wings and gives them a place in his house," explains Gillani.

Gillani clearly loves working with this team!
Gillani clearly loves working with this team!

She appreciates that this is a drama with a strong message.

"The story has many underlying messages and lessons for the viewers. Written and directed by Iqbal Husain, this beautifully knitted story is a breath of fresh air among the typical monotonous drama stories. Adnan Siddiqui's first ever production looks very promising. We all are very excited for it to go on air on TV1."

The drama is expected to air in September. The cast is currently hard at work.

"We have a Hindu girl Soorita teaching us Hindi and their traditional [customs]. Since Adnan is an actor himself, he truly knows how to pamper his actors and crew. We get what we need," added Gillani.

Comments

shubs May 19, 2016 10:47am
"We have a Hindu girl Soorita teaching us Hindi and their traditional [customs]." All in good faith of course, but it just shows how different the two countries are. If an Indian actor were to play a character from any faith at all, I doubt if s/he would need to get a person of that faith to teach them customs. It shows how alienated minorities are in Pakistan that a so-called "mainstream" person has no clue how the the person lives.
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Salman May 19, 2016 10:48am
Learning Hindi - for someone whose mother tongue is already Urdu ? Isn't Hindi just a variant of Urdu ? Ask her to learn Pushto, Kashmiri, Bengalli..., now that will be an achievement.
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Rashid Sultan May 19, 2016 10:53am
Why are we claiming that Hindus and Hindi is not 'us'? We've had Hindus in this areas that is now a country for a mere 68 years for thousands of years! Hindi and Urdu are pluralistic language from the same stem and root. Only difference - Urdu (imported from India as our national language for unifying the different non Urdu speaking subas) has loan words from Farsi & Arabic while Hindi has more loan words from Sanskrit. These loan words only matter for literary works not for everyday use. Also, as far as I know Seeta is written as Sita, Ruttan as Ratan (as in Ratan Tata), etc. Please get the spelling right.
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Satt May 19, 2016 11:00am
How the Bindi has become Hindu or Muslim,Bindi is the culture of the region,Just like Bangles.In India specially in east Muslim women stick Bangles on their forehead.In Bindi a women looks calm and modest and their are other benefits to it and its better than black hot wrap of Burqa.
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CasualObserver May 19, 2016 11:04am
Wow! Seems very promising. I hope it will continue to uphold the charm Pakistani dramas are famous for. I love the fact that directors are now experimenting with new storylines and plots in drama serials.
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Nidhin Olikara May 19, 2016 11:18am
Very Good. Keep it up. Most Pakistanis of this generation have never met or seen a Hindu in their lives. This will give them a glimpse of that.
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Mike May 19, 2016 11:19am
It's nice to see a minority in Pakistan being portrayed in such a positive manner, unlike in Hollywood or Bollywood movies where the opposite occurs, with Muslims being portrayed as fanatic extremists.
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joop May 19, 2016 11:30am
WAAAOOOO seems to be a block buster serial... good luck Adnan :)
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Tito May 19, 2016 11:48am
Muslim girls look good wearing bindis
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Shadow May 19, 2016 11:56am
Why our artists are so inspired about Hindu culture? There are so many Islamic histories which could be performed.
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Huma May 19, 2016 12:02pm
So happy to see dramas like udaari and seeta baagri
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Atif Khan May 19, 2016 12:42pm
Not sure if there is any actor as talented and vesatile as Bushra Ansari. She make everything grand with her 110% in very role.
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Kiran Akhtar May 19, 2016 01:50pm
Bushra Ansari is at her best In these " hut k " roles, like Sheedan in Udaari. If the team is putting up so much hard work , the outcome must be worth watching.
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rahul1 May 19, 2016 03:09pm
Whats there to learn in Hindi for Urdu/Punjabi speaking person?
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Mady May 19, 2016 03:19pm
I assume Bagri in Pak mostly speak Sindhi not Hindi.
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Muhammad May 19, 2016 07:41pm
I am axiously waiting to watch this one. Its good to see that we are finally giving some focus to the Hindu community in Pakistan. However I do have a questionr egarding the need to learn hindi in this case most Pakistani hindus are Sindhis, Rajasthanis, Gujaratis, Seraikis or Balochi. I doubt hindus in Pakistan speak Hindi on a daily basis.
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Satish Kumar Dogra May 19, 2016 09:29pm
Pakistani plays are popular in India. A little touch of Hindi and Hinduism will make them even more popular.
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Vivek May 19, 2016 11:20pm
@Salman Hi mate, Hindi's mother tongue is not Urdu, it's Hindustani (Khariboli), scripted in Devanagari. Hindi as well as Urdu both link themselves to Sanskrit, the mother of all Aryan languages.
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Muhammad May 20, 2016 03:16am
@shubs Learning Hindi is not learning customs of another person's faith. Even Indian actors had to learn urdu vocabulary to prepare for their roles e.g. Rekha for Umrao Jaan. Lata and Asha had to get their pronunciations right as most songs r in Urdu and they being Marathi were not fluent in that language and thus required Muslim Urdu teachers to tech them the language, does this mean that Muslims are marginalized and alienated by Indians as the Hindus of india have to reach out to Muslims to learn their language? I dont think so, despite the fact that many hindus in india know urdu, majority of the ppl who have command over urdu are Muslims over there and same is the case with Hindus in Pakistan. Hence I feel that ur analysis is not just wrong but pretty stupid.
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Banu May 20, 2016 05:46am
@Muhammad that's what I thought too...
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Hassan May 20, 2016 11:36am
@Mady mostly Urdu is spoken here, not even sindhi.
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Irfan ul Huq May 20, 2016 10:50pm
The whole thing is silly.The language used by a character is according to the demand of the character which is guided by the language spoken at home and shaped by the envoirnment he lives in. A muslim women in India uses bindi more frequently than a hindu woman living in Pakistan.If a character lives in Pakistan and in Karachi will have the same behavier as a muslim living in the area with some religious influence. Re legion has nothing to do with language.Great Udu writers such as,Krshan Chander,Kanahiya Laal Kappoor,Munshi Prem Chand and Jagan Nath Azad are all Hindus. Recently Gulzar who has visited Pakistan many times to attend Urdu literary conference is also a Hindu
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