- Maria Wasti
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Maria Wasti 
Maria Wasti in 2010Born Maria Wasti
August 14, 1974
Dar Es Salaam, TanzaniaYears active 1997–present Awards Lux Style Awards
2006 Best Satellite Actress
[citation needed]Maria Wasti (born 14 August 1974)[1] is a Pakistani film and television actress. Most of her roles in television serials portray her as a Pakistani woman going through difficult times and have landed her great respect in the eyes of critics and fans alike.
Contents
Biography
Early years
Wasti was born in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, where she lived and went to school for 7 years. She has originally wanted to study Business Management but instead started acting by chance.[2] In her early days, Wasti's parents wanted their daughter to become a doctor.[3] In the day, the only television network active in the country was the government-owned Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV). It would be later in the 1980s that Network Television Marketing (NTM), the country's first privately owned channel, showcased content specifically targeted to the younger generation and Wasti got interested in acting.
First teleplay
In mid-1990s,[4] she was approached by Bakhtiar Ahmed, the programme manager PTV Lahore Centre to be cast in a play called Sarah Aur Ammara alongside Resham, a film actress. The teleplay highlighted a story around two sisters going through the turmoil of arranged marriages.[3] The show was received well with the critics as never before had a show captivated the true essence of gender divide and Wasti's acting admired. She has since done over 50 serials and around the same number of assorted plays.Rendezvous: Maria Wasti</ref>
Acting as a career
Where her parents initially wanted her to be a doctor, they were supportive after her acting skills were adorned. Wasti recalls that her first experience in acting was for the passion of art, but later her parents told her to pursue the career in a professional manner.[3] After her first stint, Wasti began receiving roles in various other plays in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad centres for PTV. In a short span of time, she was commended for being an extremely exceptional actress. She reminisces that people were sceptical when she stepped into acting, but once she proved herself they started accepting her.[3]
She considers Bano Qudsia's Kallo[5] one of her most memorable plays where she had to ‘put on tonnes of make-up to look really dark’ to play a dark-skinned girl who falls in love with a fairer man.[3] This role brought her instant success. In other equally applauded roles, she played a woman victim in Baadlon Par Basera, who is forcefully led into marriage with a man in the United States of America on the phone and when she meets him for the first time, she realises the man is older than the picture she saw him in.[6]
Maria is usually seen playing unglamorous roles involving sensitive issues regarding women in Pakistan. She has played roles depicting prominent women like Salma Murad and Lenin Peace Prize winner[7] Bilquis Edhi.[3][8]
Maria is known for being outspoken on various of issues women's rights, gender equality and prejudice.[9]
Recent ventures
Wasti has expressed that newer Pakistani plays should portray issues in today's Pakistan. She names drugs and AIDS being amongst the most sensitive.[3] She also cites the reason for the decrease in the quality of drama serials as being the lack of a supply of actors, actresses, writers, directors and producers.[10]
In view of these thoughts, Wasti opened up a production house in 2002, where she has successfully produced several serials and a dozen plays.[4] Her productions aim at the revival of television in Pakistan through better quality and content rivalling the glamour filled television plays from across the border in India.
Filmography
Drama Serials
Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV)
- Aashiyaana
- Kabhi kabhi
- Moorat
- Sarah Aur Ammara
- Boota from Toba Tek Singh
- Neend
- Baadlon Par Basera
- Kaali Aankhain
- Dharkan
- Ahsaas
GEO Television
- Buri Aurat
- Kuch Dil Ne Kaha
- Barish Kay Ansoo
- Sheeshay Ka Mehal
- Ruswa
- TV3 Karachi
- Tere Liye
- Tujh Pe Qurban
- Aangan Bhar Chandni
- Kuch Ankahi Baatain
- Riyasat
- Diya Jalay
- Khandaan
- Aey Ishq Hamain Barbad Na Ker
- Woh Chaar
- Love Kay Liye
- Thori door Saath Chalo
- Jab Hatheli Per Chand Likhna
Telefilms
- Kallo
- Parinda
- Ae Bhai Zara Dekh Kay
- Lunch with Lubna
- Mama I Love You
Film
- Ramchand Pakistani, 2008
References
- ^ "Rendezvous". The Saturday Post. http://www.thesaturdaypost.com/rendezvous_139_maria_wasti.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-01.
- ^ Spotlight: Maria Wasti
- ^ a b c d e f g "Oh, Maria!". DAWN Newspaper. http://www.dawn.com/weekly/images/archive/050731/images1.htm. Retrieved 2008-06-27.
- ^ a b "Playing the field". DAWN Newspaper. http://www.dawn.com/weekly/images/archive/040307/images1.htm. Retrieved 2008-06-27.
- ^ Hotstepper of the week Maria Wasti
- ^ "Maria Wasti's biography". http://www.mariawasti.info/. Retrieved 2008-06-27.
- ^ "Bilquis Edhi". Femina Pakistan. http://www.feminapk.com/mom.php#section7. Retrieved 2008-06-30.
- ^ "Maria Wasti". Mag4U. http://www.mag4you.com/spotlight/Maria+Wasti/3260.htm. Retrieved 2008-06-27.
- ^ Rendezvous: Maria Wasti
- ^ Interview: Maria Wasti By Irim Ahmed for Raw Magazine
External links
Categories:- Pakistani Muslims
- 1974 births
- Living people
- Pakistani expatriates in Tanzania
- Pakistani female models
- Pakistani people
- Pakistani television actors
- People from Lahore
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