Winner of this year's META Best Actress Award, Ahlam Khan looks back at her decade-long career in theatre and her current prolific phase as an actor
Winner of this year's META Best Actress Award, Ahlam Khan looks back at her decade-long career in theatre and her current prolific phase as an actor
When you watch her in a play she comes across as a fragile, almost ethereal being, with a firm stage presence. Off stage, occupying an entire bench at Prithvi Caf ufffd, she looks you in the eye while answering every question to the point. A mischievous streak comes across, once in a while, but mostly, she is in command of her space. Very few actors exhibit an air of confidence like her. 
Ahlam Khan at her home in Bandra. Pic/ sayed sameer abedi
To most people, Ahlam Khan is better known as the late Amjad Khan's daughter. Theatre has witnessed many celebrity sons and daughters on stage but less than a handful who refrain from mentioning their lineage. Throughout our interaction, not once does Ahlam drop her father's name. Even the recently won META Best Actress Award barely makes it into our conversation. Instead, the prolific actress takes us on a journey of her twelve-year-long career in theatre.
Starting off with experimental productions under playwright and director Ramu Ramanathan and the group Not Quite There, Ahlam has, over the years, worked with young and old directors ufffd Makarand Deshpande, Manoj Shah, Denzil Smith, Akarsh Khurana, Purva Naresh, Gopal Tiwari and others ufffd in English, Hindi, Gujarati and Urdu plays. "I want to do a Marathi play next," she quickly adds.
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She has written plays too ufffdModd and Cast Party. And she intends to return to writing soon. But writing for Bollywood does not cross her mind. "You will not believe the kind of idiots I've met. I've come across people who'd give me four DVDs and say I want this character from here, that one from there, so put it together and I'd say, 'Why do you need me?' One's sensibility has to be like that. Mine isn't," she confides.
Refusing to take the easy way out, Ahlam puts in a lot of effort to develop each of her characters. Whether it is the role of a Gujarati magician from Ghatkopar in Chaitanya Tamhane's Grey Elephant In Denmark (for which she spent time with a Gujarati housewife from the suburb, recording her voice, listening to her intonation, etc.), or the character of Rano Bua in Aaj Rang Hai (for which she received the award), Ahlam spends considerable time on research.
The inspiration for Rano Bua emerged from her mother's friend and her mother, who live in Lucknow. "I'd randomly call her to listen to her. Her mother is an invalid like my character in the play and she doesn't get out of the bed but she has a habit of talking to people irrespective of where they are. If somebody's on the phone, she'll yell and add in her two bits just to be heard," she says, her kohl-lined eyes brimming with excitement.
u00a0For most people around her, being part of theatre is a way to be spotted by a Bollywood casting director. Ahlam agrees, but adds, "They want to move onto the next level and consider theatre as a stepping-stone. For me, it's not. This is it for me. This is where I want to stay."
Catch Ahlam in Ansh's Miss Beautiful till March 24, 9 pm at Prithvi Theatre, Janki Kutir, Juhu Church Road, Vile Parle (W). Call 26149546
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