Face Of Kashmir-QAZI TOUQUEER

l Qazi Tauqeer

He's a born star and he knows it. This 20-year-old has loads of attitude and oozes phenomenal confidence for one so young. But that's probably what worked in Fame Gurukul winner Qazi Tauqeer's favour. "I knew I could do it. When I saw the ad, I told my family that I was going to apply for the contest. I was destined to win the show. I had the support of the public," he says. Tell him that the judges didn't think too highly of him and he cheekily retorts, "Sometimes even when a critic rips a film apart, it still goes on to become a box office success, doesn't it? My situation is very similar to this. The public voted me back eight times."

Right now the cool dude is riding high on his success, "I have been getting fan mails from all over the world, from countries like US, Bangladesh, France, Italy and even Nigeria. There are girls writing love-letters to me in blood. It is unbelievable," says the youngster who tells you upfront that he wants to become an actor. He is quick to tell you that, "I have no time for girls in my life. Even when I am with a girl, I am always talking about my plans of becoming an actor, so none of these girls take me seriously. They think I am mad."

That he is mad about acting becomes more than evident as his conversation is peppered with constant references to his original dream. "I remember performing at a show at the Mughal Gardens in Srinagar three years back, on April 13 to be precise. It was the festival of Baisakhi. I sang and danced to numbers from Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan's films and the crowd went gaga over my performance," he proudly states. Needless to say he is a big fan of Shah Rukh Khan, but ask him whether he would like to meet the star and he retorts with his characteristic cheekiness, "Right now I don't even get time to meet my parents, so how will I meet Shah Rukh Khan?"

If he sounds cocky and conceited, you can just put it down to the brashness of youth. "I have a flair for singing. I want to be like Kishore Kumar, who was not a trained singer. He sang with passion. That's what I want to do. Sing from my heart." There is no stopping Qazi however. Ask him about his wonder years in Kashmir and he proudly tells you, "I've changed five schools because I was very naughty. I grew up in a joint family and we all live in a haveli. I remember being obsessed with acting since my childhood days" In order to brush up his acting skills, he roamed around the gardens of Kashmir with a video camera, practicing his art.

"Once I even went to PVR cinema in Delhi and posed as a TV reporter, quizzing people on their opinion about a movie. They all answered my questions earnestly and must have only realised the next day that they had been fooled," he laughs at the memory.

But before you dismiss him as a fun loving kid, a sensitive side emerges. Ask him about growing up amid all that turmoil and unrest and he says emotionally, "Kashmir is home to me. I'm here in Mumbai lekin Kashmir ki mitti aur Dal lake ki khusbhoo bahut yaad aati hai. I don't know much about politics but whatever is happening is not nice. Innocent people are getting killed and I wish that would stop. It hurts when you hear about or watch bloodshed. It is so unnecessary and futile."

He cheers up quickly enough to tell you that, "The people of Kashmir are my biggest fans. They are very proud of me and waiting for me to visit home." And when will that be? "As soon as I can find time," he says. One thing's for sure, Qazi Tauqeer is here to stay.

l Iqbal Khan

Self reliance is a positive word. It helps boys evolve into men of character. Television heartthrob Iqbal Khan who has the nation gripped with his role as Angad in Kaisa Yeh Pyar Hai, has struggled hard to get where he is. So what's the big deal you may ask? This 25-year-old Kashmiri lad was determined not to burden his retired bureaucrat father and decided to fend for himself. "My father was surviving on a pension. He's an honest man and even if I become half the person he is I would be happy. So while doing my English Literature honours at the Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, I took to modelling to earn money. Things just fell into place. I remember getting paid Rs 2,500 for a day's work, and it seemed like a good option," he recollects.

But life in Delhi was not all hunky-dory. "I struggled to get accommodation for nearly six months. I was a Kashmiri and a Muslim and this was enough to make prospective landlords wary. I lived with my relatives before getting my own pad." Undeterred, fired by ambition and fuelled by his brief success, Iqbal dropped out of college in his final year and chose to move to Mumbai to give acting a shot. "I was working out at a gym when director Anubhav Sinha's executive producer spotted me and asked me to come over to his office. I did my first music video, Dil Ne Kaha with Nandini Singh and Raima Sen and this was followed by six other music videos. And then began my days of struggle. I had to do the rounds of producers' offices. There were days when I had no money to eat or take a cab," he says solemnly.

What sustained him during this phase? "When you have no money, you learn to travel by bus. But it is important to struggle in life. It always keeps you grounded and you never get carried away when you achieve fame," says the wise young man. Somewhere in between all this he met his sweetheart, Sneha, who he has been going steady with for the past six years. "I met her at a music video shoot in Hyderabad. We lost touch, met up again in Mumbai and over time realised we were in love."

Sneha has stood by him through all his struggles where he even did stints as a production guy before signing two films Fun2ssh and Bullet, both of which didn't do too well at the box office. And it was back to square one. But not once did he think of packing his bags, "I knew I just had to make it. Soon I got a call from Sony who offered me Kaisa Yeh Pyar. Initially I was very hesitant about doing television but when I realised that it was a lead role for Balaji films, I decided to accept the offer and have been with the serial from eight months," he says.

Ask him how he feels about being called the new face of Kashmir, and he's utterly delighted though his childhood memories of his hometown are hazy. "I was nine years old when I was sent to boarding school first in Shimla and then to Lawrence school in Sanawar. What I do remember of Kashmir is growing up in a huge home with a long driveway. I enjoyed winters because it would snow heavily. During my early childhood, the situation was very normal in Kashmir. Militancy came much later," he says.

Iqbal always went back to Srinagar for all his holidays and during the later years it was very normal for him to hear a bomb blast outside his house. "We had become so desensitised to the situation that every time we heard a blast, we'd be like 'oh, another one'. The situation just became a part of our lives. I was lucky I got out but when I go back and meet my old friends I feel bad for them. Their education got disrupted thanks to the constant conflict. As children, whenever there is a holiday from school, it is always fun but as one grows older one realises how important education is.

These guys have got into a routine, but their minds have stopped evolving. I just feel they could have done so much better if they had better opportunities," he says. Iqbal is also dismissive of the inter-religious conflicts that these problems were supposed to have created. "Look, all these issues are only in the minds of politicians. Every religion has its share of fanatics and there is a Taliban in every religion. On a personal level, we have never encountered any negative feelings with our Hindu neighbours. All of us have always bonded well," he says.