There are two kinds of actors in this world; those who excel in positive roles and those who love playing the bad guy. However, Ahsan Khan is one of those actors who are at ease whether the character is positive or negative, as long as it’s impactful. He is currently starring in Qissa Meher Bano Ka with Mawra Hocane and Mashal Khan and carves a separate identity for himself in the negative role.
This is clearly not the first time the light-eyed Khan has crossed over to the dark side. Long before his contemporaries went from good to bad side, he was ‘been there, done that. Be it the guy who violates his friend’s sister in Pani Jaisa Piyar, or the narcissist Ismail in Mahira Khan’s debut drama Neeyat, Ahsan Khan has been taking the flak for his negative characters for a dozen years now. The character of Rashid that he played in Qayamat also became very popular because of his conveyance of the character.
However, his character Imtiaz in Udaari was perhaps his career’s biggest highlight, for that year no other actor could come closer to his performance, and he ended up winning each and every award for his role in the drama. Unlike TV villains, he began the Ehteshamuddin – directed play as a good guy but showed his true colors after marrying the mother of his future victim, and made the whole world hate him for that.
But there is a method behind Khan’s madness as well, something that not many people know. He did not choose playing Imtiaz for the sake of acting but he went for the role after one of the people he knows went through a similar issue, thus he chose to educate the audience. The way he portrayed that character made his fans and detractors realize that he is not just an ordinary actor but someone who can put heart and soul to portray a character at the drop of the hat.
Ahsan Khan hasn’t always been this versatile actor who is very good at what he does; he made his film debut long before he appeared on TV. With the ability to dance and film songs, Khan soon became one of the few successful newcomers in the industry who were paired with the most beautiful ladies.
Through Ghar Kab Aao Gay he showed the world that he could play an army officer as well as a romantic hero, while after Tere Bin Jiya Na Jaye he explored another side of his personality as an actor which was comedy. Udit Narayan and Sonu Nigam did playback for these movies and it was only Ahsan Khan who could do justice to the songs.
As a growing actor, Khan wanted to reconnoitre the drama industry which made him switch from films to TV. He hit the jackpot on his very first appearance and took to TV as a fish does to water. He filled the gap left by the advanced age of his predecessors and fitted the boy next door kind of characters easily. Be it a private TV drama or a PTV play, Ahsan Khan looked at ease at both. Not only a good actor but Khan proved himself as a great dancer.
An actor who doesn’t limit himself to acting is a true performer and Ahsan Khan proved himself to be just that. His BOL Nights with Ahsan Khan is still one of the most-watched celebrity talk shows on YouTube while he has been hosting Ramadan transmission for leading TV channels for a long time. Add to that his Knorr Boriyat Buster and his profile is complete, as the perfect entertainer for audiences of all ages. And that’s not all, he has even sung a handful of soundtracks for his dramas and loves to sing whenever and wherever he can!
Khan has turned 40 and in such a short span of time, he has achieved more than he could imagine. He is amongst the few Pakistani actors who have performed stage abroad; he played Heer in the Heer Ranjha a few years back in London and is hopeful that soon he will get to act live in Pakistan as well. He doesn’t let his experience go to waste and has used his all-around abilities in his TV productions, winning multiple awards for his different projects. He recently co-hosted the Lux Style Awards 2021 alongside Ahmed Ali Butt, Mehwish Hayat, and Mansha Pasha and hopes to be on the receiving end of the award instead of the presenting one, next year.
Ahsan Khan hasn’t left films like most of his contemporaries, who either act on TV or limit themselves to films. Despite achieving success on TV, he kept returning to films among which a Punjabi film Ishq Khuda in 2013, Sultanat in 2014, telefilms Chashm-e-Num and Momal Rano in 2016, Chupan Chupai in 2017, and animated flick Tick Tock in 2018 to name a few. With Rehbara and Chakkar he is all set to hit the screen soon and to rule the platforms that launched him in 1998.
