It’s fast becoming a standard procedure for the actors to announce their new work with either pictures of them donning the skin of their new characters or sharing the picture of a script’s title page. The latter piques the interest, while the former ignites excitement.
However, when two different actors end up posting a look of their upcoming characters that not only look similar but also have the same name, things become very curious.
As it is in the case of two of brilliant actresses of the industry – Saba Qamar and Sonya Hussyn.
What Went Down?
A couple of days ago, Sonya Hussyn posted a picture on Instagram where she can be seen wearing a police uniform. “It gives me great honour to be announcing my next disposition, SP Sara Sikandar!” read a line in the caption followed by the detail that the script is written by Umera Ahmed.
A day later, Saba Qamar also posted a picture on Instagram of her in a police uniform with a nametag that reads “SP Sarah”, announcing her next project with Umera Ahmed titled ‘Serial Killer’. Huh?
Naturally, this seems like too big of a coincidence to be left uninvestigated, no pun intended. So, we did what we do best. We reached out to both Saba Qamar and Sonya Hussyn to get to the bottom of this mystery.
Their Say
Saba Qamar was all praises for the script that she had been offered as it was one that she “could not say no to”. Her previous collaboration with Umera Ahmed was the superhit drama ‘Maat’that aired on Hum TV back in 2012.
Umera Ahmed also commented on Saba Qamar’s post as well posted about the project on her personal Instagram account. This new project brings these two powerhouses of the Pakistani drama industry together after almost a decade and it is definitely something to be excited about. This project also perfectly aligns with Saba Qamar’s impeccable track record of always doing something drastically different and pathbreaking with her each new project.
When asked about the coincidence of her upcoming project sharing such blatant similarities with the one that Sonya Hussyn has announced, Saba very frankly denied having any interest or inclination in getting into any such drama.
“I have nothing but love for all my fellow artists in the industry,” said Saba.
On the other side, Sonya Hussyn shared with us that the project that she talked about in her Instagram post had already wrapped its shooting, as opposed to the other one, which has just started shooting.
“My project has already wrapped up in June,” said Sonya. “I was very excited that my character in this project would be something completely different so I am also a bit confused about the similarities in the characters.”
Sonya was also all praises and love for Saba Qamar. “Saba is a wonderful actor. I am sure how we both have portrayed the character in our own ways.”
What We Know
Did writer Umera Ahmed really write two different projects with similar protagonists? Or are things shadier than they appear? The answer is the latter.
Sources close to Galaxy Lollywood have revealed that there is only one Umera Ahmed script featuring SP Sara Sarah which was earlier shot with Sonya Hussyun, but is now being reshot with Saba Qamar.
Replacing actors in projects after look tests, and at times even after shooting a few scenes/episodes is not a new phenomenon but to reboot a project once it has been fully shot is definitely something that has never been seen before. What prompted the creators to reshoot an entire drama serial is something only the makers can answer.
It is indeed a curious case, and we shall bring to you more details as we get them. You stay tuned to Galaxy Lollywood.
