Actor and singer Danyal Zafar has taken to social media to address the criticism of his performance as Sarbuland in the hit HUM TV drama Zanjeerain. Reflecting on his approach to the craft, Zafar addressed the broader industry expectations of performance on social media.
He stated: “Side note: considering becoming an actor / but only ‘loud’ acting here is considered ‘acting’ / they want you to ‘act’ and not ‘be’ / ‘being’ in real life is much more subtle than we realize / glycerine has ruined ppl’s perception of real tears and breakdowns / can grounded nuanced approach make a breakthrough?”
Zafar further addressed the nature of online hostility directed toward public figures in a separate post: “You keep obsessing over a celebrity that does not know or care about your existence – you let the insecurities of your own life be projected upon others in the form of ‘hate’ – failing to recognise your projection is a reflection of your own deep-rooted insecurities”.
He concluded by highlighting the potential impact of such behaviour: “Meanwhile the celeb you hate keeps working towards more inevitable success – now you got a kid – and that kid gets bullied at school and gets called things you once said to the celeb you hated – now it sinks in – there’s no inherent difference between you and the bully bullying your kid”.
Zafar stars in the series alongside a prominent cast including Sajal Aly, Sahar Hashmi, Ameer Gilani, Ahsan Khan, Samya Mumtaz, Usman Javed, and Adnan Siddiquie etc. While Zanjeerain remains a major success, Zafar’s acting style has become a point of contention among viewers and social media users.
The discourse surrounding his performance was previously punctuated by comments from Ali Syed, the brother of co-star Sajal Aly, who wrote regarding a scene: “That’s not how you’d react if you saw your best friend being killed. He could’ve shown a lot more emotion and made the scene absolutely missed opportunity”.
Following the reaction to his words, Syed later clarified his stance: “I rarely even watch dramas, let alone comment on anyone’s acting. I only made that comment because I know how talented he is, so as a viewer, my expectations were probably a little higher for that particular scene. It was simply my opinion!”.
