Cover Story
Revisiting the diva

By Aneela Mahsud

One, two, three…Shahnaaaaaaaz!!! Yes, she is right here, the sweet girl from the drama serial Alpha Bravo Charlie (ABC). Shahnaz Khawaja has carved a niche in the world of fame and stardom, with her strong and single performance in ABC, one of the masterpieces ever created by PTV. ABC reminds us of the glory days of the Pak Army. The four lively characters in this serial were Captain Faraz, Captain Gul Sher, Captain Kashif and the one and only, Shahnaz!

Her role in ABC can be a role model for every female, a strong character with a determined mind, who could choose her destiny and change her fate without waiting or counting on her stars above. She performed the role of a girl who is very bold, independent and confident. She achieved in her solo performance a feat which is the dream of every actor: to rise to the height of success and fame.

        She is a strong and determined lady, with a clear head and a humble and warm heart. Currently, she lives in New York, and is completing her Masters in Counseling from Wake Forest University, NC. She also works as a Human Relations Commissioner for the city of High Point, NC. And she is also a Board Member for the American Red Cross High Point chapter, and a member of the Davidson Diversity Council. She is a member of the Ethics Committee at a local hospital and a Community Contributor for the local Newspaper (she does all of the above as voluntary work!). She is a single mother of an eight year old daughter.

Star and Date of birth

Pisces, February 22nd, 1978

The best thing about being a teenager

Amidst the trials and hormonal ups and downs of adolescence the best things were:

1-My friendships. I remember beautiful days going water skiing and sailing. Picnics planned at the last minute. Biking and swimming. Late nights at concerts. Anything and everything felt great with friends around to share the fun.

2-Falling in love. I had quite a few crushes spaced across my teen years...but I fell hard only twice during that time. They never knew at that time that I was in love with them. I am still in touch with both. And they are both happily married ;) I am not in love with them anymore, and we are still great friends.

3-Self Discovery. The greatest moments were those when I learned things about myself. I discovered my strengths during my teens. I knew I could make a difference in life if I tried. I believed in myself and that is perhaps the single secret to success. Believing in yourself!

4-Saving the world. I believed it could be done then...I still believe it can be done now. I am a hopeless optimist.

I was always listening to

U2, New Order, Bonnie M, Chris Isaak, Bon Jovi, Duran Duran are some of my favourites!

I was glued to the TV for

Moonlighting - Bruce Willis/Cybil Sheppard

Crystal Maze

90210

Dhuaan

My favourite movie was

Legends of the Fall - Brad Pitt!!! What can I say...

Chocolat - Johnny Depp

Braveheart - Mel Gibson

Scent of a Woman

My favourite actor

Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt

My room was full of

Books, paints, more books and did I mention books?

My room walls carried the

posters of

I had no posters. I had an abstract collage I made myself of my favourite images - movie stars, rock stars, models, photos, lithographs. I had an entire wall covered with the stuff. It looked very art deco, chic and contemporary.

My closet was

full of

The latest fads. I had fishnet cutoff gloves. I had jelly bangles. There were lots of tights. Lots of sleeveless clothes (my mamoos got angry at me for wearing sleeveless shirts!) Ripped, fitted, straight leg jeans! I got in trouble at OPF for wearing my ripped jeans to school on my first day there. Denim skirts and baggy sweaters. I love churridar, tung pajamas. Flared pants with long layered shirts. And when the styles changed, lots of short shirts. I designed my own clothes and my derzi was a long suffering soul who used to indulge my every whim. He made all my designs come to life and they looked great. Never quite like the new fashions, but my version of the new fashion. I hated looking like everyone else. I wanted to stand out.

My friends were

I had great friends. My "Wahabs" as I called them...lived down the road from me. Lots of fun times. Sally and Omer Nasir. Tayyaba and Bilal Masood. Major Tintin - my conscience and the woman who always knocked sense into me (and still does!)

My first crush/My first date

My first ever crush was when I was in first grade! It was my teacher. He had green eyes and he smelled nice. My first teen crush was a beautiful guy from Lahore. My family knew his family and the families travelled to Swat together on vacation. I fell in love with him somewhere along the way.

I was not allowed to date. And since I cannot tell a lie to save my life I never could do anything once my parents told me it was out of the question. But I generally got to hang out with a bunch of guys and girls because my brother and I had a lot of common friends. I did not really care to date anyone in particular. The people I cared about were part of the "gang" and I got to hang out with them.

What hurt me the most

The criticism from my aunts and uncles.

My dream was to become

Famous! I wanted to be a famous actress and have everyone know me!

I wish I had known then

I would not change a thing. I am what I am today because I was what I was then. Every experience has taught me something. If I knew different then, how could I be me now? I am content in who I am now.

Relations with siblings

I have the most amazingly fabulous brother in the world! When I was little my brother tried to sell me to the milkman in Uganda (I was born there). But that wasn't the insult! The insult was that he only asked for ONE bottle of milk! He could at least have asked for a crate!

As a kid I hung out with him and his friends and I suppose I must've been a nuisance. I remember that there was this tree and everyone was climbing it, so I also wanted to. Well, my brother and his friends pushed and pulled and finally got me up the tree. The problem was getting down. My brother told me to jump and that he'd catch me. I jumped. He missed. There was blood and a lot of crying - no broken bones! He got in trouble. BIG trouble. I guess I can see why he would want to sell his kid sister.

He is my "big" brother and I have admired him from the day I could make sense of things. He is strong, talented, genuine and has a heart of solid gold! Shahamat, I love you, bro!

Relations with parents

I look like my dad and we have the same personality. I was spoiled rotten by him. I always have and always will be his "princess"! In his eyes I can do no wrong. And he stands by me no matter what. I love him for that and much more! My mother is the greatest. She knows me inside out. We bicker and fight and argue but the greatest thing is that she knows EVERYTHING about me and accepts it all and loves me as I am. She has grown from parenting me as a child to parenting me as an adult. She understands what I need – whether it is a word of advice or just an ear to vent out to. I always spilled my heartbreaks out to her and she always listened. She never judged me. Not once. To me that is the greatest love...unconditional and accepting.

My parents were hippies! My dad used to wear his 70s shirts to school to pick me up and I remember being so embarrassed by him. He did it on purpose to embarrass me. My friends thought he was so cool but I was just humiliated by those large collared shirts! They were really weird too, my parents. Mom is a sociologist and when she was researching the Kalahari Bushmen, we lived in a tent in the East African desert for six months. All four of us. Mom, Dad, Shahamat and I! They were globe trotters so we travelled all over the world. Fun times. But back then I just thought my folks were weird! I remember when my brother started taking karate, he hung a ping pong ball from the roof and practised high kicks. My dad was convinced he could do that too. So he tried. It was the most comical sight in the world. My dad, with his sunnati beard, getting ready for a high kick! He tried. He failed. He pulled his back. He was in bed for a week!

My school

I went to OPF for O' Levels. I went to ICG for F.Sc, Pre Med!!! I did my BA from ICG; my majors were Applied Psychology and English Literature. I failed Pak Studies! I guess the ratta system did not work too well for me. I finished my Bachelors in the US with a 4.00 GPA! I guess that makes up for the fact that I flunked Pak Studies.

My first day at OPF was full of trouble. I had just moved to Pakistan and was living in the hostel. I got in trouble for wearing ripped jeans and having coloured hair wraps in my hair! The teachers pulled me out after the assembly and insisted I take out the wraps. One of the teachers started to unwind the coloured threads and after a painstaking 15 minutes sent me off to class with lot of scolding and two wraps still in and one half undone!

In my Pak Studies class I told my teacher that I disagreed with her opinion and that our book was biased. She sent me to the principal's office because I was being insubordinate! The principal told me I should be on the student council. I was their sports secretary and president for the three years I was there. :P

ICG was also interesting. They had no desks! Only chairs with arm rest thingies. I kept dropping my books and things on the floor. The most embarrassing thing at ICG was my first day at the canteen. I don't like sodas. I love milk! So I walked into this noisy canteen full of girls and asked the lady if she had milk. The whole place became quiet and everybody turned to stare at the girl who wanted milk. I was mortified! They didn't have milk but she did order me some the next day and that is what I drank everyday I was there. I had my first chat samosa at ICG. I choked on it! I ate them everyday after that, with lots of chilli chips on top. I took salees Urdu. We translated stuff.

Ragging at college/university

I don't recall any.

I couldn't stand

A bunch of girls ganging up on one girl and bitching her out. They did that once in OPF and I remember being the only one who spoke up for her and stood by her side. She was shaking. It was horrible. I cannot stand that sort of thing to this day.

My favourite hangout

I was an outdoorsy girl. Loved hiking, biking, sailing picnicking – Khanpur Dam had it all. I lived in an Army cantonment so there were the usual club activities – tennis, ping pong, swimming pool. I hung out there with my friends a lot. My brother's friends and my friends were the same. We just got together and hung out. Good old days!