Actor Raeed Muhammad Alam has shared a memorable behind-the-scenes moment from early in his career, revealing that veteran actor Nauman Ijaz once slapped him on set to help him cry for a scene.
Speaking as a guest on a recent podcast, Raeed said that he holds great respect for senior actors like Nauman Ijaz and Faysal Quraishi, from whom he has learned a lot over the years. He recounted a particular incident where he struggled to cry during an emotional scene with Nauman, and the veteran actor’s unconventional solution ended up working.
“I got slapped so hard that tears instantly came to my eyes. They said, ‘Now the kid will act,'” he recalled.
“When I first started my career, I didn’t know how to cry on camera. I was doing a scene with Nauman Bhai. I had a few emotional lines where I was supposed to cry, but I just couldn’t do it. We did one take, then another, then a third, and I kept laughing instead. The director kept saying, ‘Tell him to cry,’ but I couldn’t do it. Then suddenly, I got a hard slap… and after that, the scene was done,” Raeed said.
Raeed is not the only actor to speak about Nauman Ijaz’s intense, hands-on approach to bringing authenticity to a scene.
Nauman’s son Zaviyar revealed in an earlier interview that his father slapped him for real during action sequences in the drama “Sang-e-Mah”, warning him in advance in one scene that the hit would be genuine. Zaviyar said that he was slapped multiple times during filming and that the resulting tears on screen were real.
Raeed Muhammad Alam began his career as a model in 2010, making his first appearance in a Sony Ericsson commercial directed by Saqib Malik.
He went on to work in several major advertising campaigns before transitioning into acting, taking on the role of Ali in “Jo Tu Chahay.” He gained wider recognition through dramas including “Zindagi Tere Bina,” “Badnaam,” “Kuch Na Kaho” and “Mujhay Jeenay Do,” before landing a breakout role as Farhad in “Dil Ruba” in 2020.
He also featured in “Fitrat,” “Dil Awaiz,” “Siyani” and “Kaffara.” Alongside acting, he spent seven years working as an assistant to director Saqib Malik and launched his own production house, DNA Films, in 2018.
