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Naeema Butt is quickly becoming everyone’s favourite villain. Her role as the villainous yet complex Rubab in Kabhi Main Kabhi Tum has captured people’s attention and, at times, even overshadowed Hania Aamir’s character.

Although Rubab is perceived as a confident, empowered woman, she is equally conniving and manipulative, which often eclipses her positive character traits. Butt defends her role, claiming that viewers need to watch the drama till the end to find out what Rubab really has to offer. “Right now, it’s a halfhearted or half story. There’s no conclusion. There is no full impression of Rubab,” she told Images.

She added that with the approval of the director, she interpreted Rubab’s character according to her understanding. “I have improvised for sure, and made the character justifiable.”

Butt argued that Rubab was initially very kind towards Sharjeena (Aamir’s character) when she moved into her husband Adeel’s house, but it was Sharjeena who showed arrogance and villainised Rubab. According to the actor, Rubab intended to befriend Sharjeena. “I personally think that if someone is greeting you with kindness, you should also respond with kindness and forget about the past. The uncalled for disrespect Sharjeena gave to her in the beginning pushed Rubab’s limits. She didn’t deserve it,” she reasoned. “Adeel left Sharjeena. What did Rubab do?”

She argued that in Pakistan, people often paint one woman as an angel and the other woman as a demon, which is a false equivalence. The actor drew a parallel between the characters of Rubab and Sharjeena, claiming that Sharjeena had her demons that manifested in her egoistic attitude towards Rubab, and Rubab had her demons — her ego — that was hurt because of Sharjeena and she eventually got triggered.

An actor at heart

Butt has been playing strong characters since 2019, establishing her unique identity as an artist with her performances in Fraud, Jindo and, most recently, Kabhi Main Kabhi Tum — her breakout drama.

As a newer actor, Butt has no authority over the kind of television scripts she can choose. However, moving forward, she hopes to play larger-than-life characters and accept scripts that involve more science, spiritualism and history.

Raised in Lahore, she received a degree in Media Sciences from the University of the Punjab, and gained international exposure through the Global Undergraduate Exchange Programme at West Liberty University in the United States. The actor also revealed two fun facts about herself — she possesses the abilities to predict future events (clairvoyance) and perceive sounds that ordinary people may not be able to hear (clairaudience).

“What drew me to acting was my sensitivity to human emotions — [it’s] a platform I can use to channelise those emotions,” she shared with Images. She also recalled being discriminated against as a young girl for her interest in outdoorsy activities. “I went through a lot of trauma. So, I think acting gave me a platform to express myself as a woman and nobody would really judge me because they will think that she’s acting, you know?”

An activist at heart, Butt’s initial drive to become an actor was to advocate for marginalised groups, especially young girls, through a creative medium. Although she is widely recognised for her roles on-screen, her work in theatre often goes unnoticed. She received a residency training scholarship at the Mandala Center for Change for theatre of the oppressed, a technique that informs and mobilises the community through theatre. Mentored by Julian Boal, the son of Augusto Boal, founder of theatre of the oppressed, Butt put this training into practice by taking the initiative to launch the Pehlaaj StoryCenter For Change, a platform she created to introduce street theater to tell real stories of common people going through life struggles.

This area of work allowed her to encourage spectators watching street theatre to become part of the stories as real-time actors. The actor has worked on numerous important themes, such as interfaith harmony, accountability and transparency, gender equality and human rights. “I always came back to Pakistan after getting trainings to help empower people using interactive theatre and theatre of the oppressed to raise their voices, help them get a platform to act, and to create a safe space so everyone can help each other,” Butt explained. These earlier accomplishments as a theatre actor also won her recognition by UN Women.

A confident woman

After transitioning into mainstream television, a key struggle for Butt was to maintain her confidence as an empowered and opinionated woman working in a male-dominated industry. “I was not going to sell myself for anything, and that triggers people because they can’t take no for an answer,” she said. Confidence can serve as a trigger for people’s masculinity, and even misogynistic tendencies, according to the actor.

However, Butt went in to acting with the intention to never compromise on her values and ethics for television roles. “People don’t like people who are very strong, firm and confident about their values or their ethics,” she remarked. “I wasn’t going to compromise on my values to be someone’s part-time girlfriend and then get a role.”

Along with the culture of casting couch, which continues to be a growing problem in the entertainment industry, personal setbacks and family crises facing cast and crew members on-set can also affect a production, causing a ripple effect. “Everyone is going through their own struggles,” Butt said. “If people are mentally struggling, which a lot of them are, that can affect the whole team because it’s teamwork.”

The actor shared that on some occasions, directors would want to film scenes in a rushed manner, and more established actors would want to film their scenes ahead of time and be done with work. For Butt, being new to the industry also meant drawing more eyes, especially on set, and that meant competition. “They [actors] do feel triggered,” she remarked. The initial days of filming are usually tough, the actor said, where more experienced, senior co-actors often question, “Who is this girl?” In a few plays, Butt genuinely felt that her costars were trying to distract her while acting and not giving her good cues during scenes.

“This has happened to me on different projects,” she said. Despite these hurdles, Butt was blunt enough to take directors into confidence and tell them what other actors were doing to her between scenes. But she learned her lesson when a director suggested that she needed to learn how to play the game. “You need to learn how you will control yourself, not the other person. You can’t control the other actor,” she explained. “I learned to not focus on someone else and to focus on myself [instead].”

All in the family?

Butt doesn’t belong to a family of actors and is the first in her family to step into the industry. What does she think about the issue of nepotism in the entertainment industry? “I personally believe that what’s written by Allah, you’re going to get it. Yes, the path will be of more struggles and it will be more challenging compared to others who are getting things on a plate,” she said.

Nepotism has affected Pakistan’s entertainment industry like a disease, often preventing newer actors with no family connections from securing work. Artists such as Bushra Ansari, Javed Sheikh, Naumaan Ijaz, Zeba Bakhtiar, Asif Raza Mir and Wajahat Rauf all have close relatives starring in big dramas. While that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not talented, it does mean they didn’t have to fight for the roles like other, less well-connected actors. It also means they often get opportunities that wouldn’t otherwise be available to them.

“This life is a test overall, but this is a test for the person who is promoting their son or daughter. This is also a test for the person who’s on a path of struggle. So, it’s a test for both of them. Who will pass in this test and who will fail? That only Allah can judge,” Butt said, philosophically.

The actor laid bare the reality of being an actor with no family connections. “My journey, of course, 100 per cent has been of struggles. It has not been easy. It has been very hard. I’ve been doing theatre for 15 years, and I started TV in 2019. I was given a lead role and that was taken away from me and given to someone else,” she revealed.

If she had someone powerful supporting her, perhaps her path would have been different. Butt shared that her journey has been very lonely, very tiring, and very frustrating. “Allah put me through that test. That was my test and I’m here today, and I think those people are going through their tests too. Now it’s up to them to be answerable to Allah, and I can’t judge them. I cannot say that it is because of this person that I didn’t get this role. I feel like it was not written for me by Allah, so that’s why I didn’t get it.”

Butt explained that her journey as a television actor was delayed because of family restrictions. She belongs to a family of doctors, therefore choosing a career as an actor went against family tradition and initially drew a lot of pushback.

The upside to her story is her willingness to empower herself to continue to create her own opportunities. Case in point — she launched NB Media Production House in New York to produce inspiring films for a younger demographic.

Her drama short film HOME, which centres on realism and fictional perceptions, won acclaim at international film festivals, including the Lighthouse International Film Festival and Los Angeles Women’s International Film Festival. She also wrote, directed and appeared in a YouTube short film, Guest House.

Her upcoming podcast, Clarity with Naeema, will explore the complexities of life to foster clarity and wisdom. It will be available to stream on her official YouTube channel.

“I trust in God’s plan. Today, I’m here, tomorrow I may be elsewhere. Only He knows. I strive to live in the present, and though hardships have tested my resolve, they’ve strengthened my faith.”

All photos by MHM