complaining.

I need to see the director giving attention to details. I know that my actors get very irritated when I take pains and it irritates me. It is that kind of work which takes time. Imagine if they had to go to Hollywood and sit on a real production where they shoot half-a-scene during the entire length of a day.

But that’s how they work and that is the kind of discipline they follow. Even if you have done your homework, it may not be enough. It easily takes 2-3 hours to set up and you have to give people that much margin.”

The debutante of Shahzad Khalil’s Rashid Minhas of the Nishan-i-Haider series of the mid-80s, the cutesy Sanya of Tanhaiyan, and the somber Dr Zoya of Dhoop Kinaray may have come of age but at some point in her career, the flawless actress disappeared and instead Marina appeared wearing different hats: environmentalist, animal activist, anchor and director.

“I woke up one day and realised that I hated acting. I love to watch good acting and I am a huge fan of people who are good actors. But myself, when I had to do certain things, I always felt foolish. I could never do romance.

Sometimes I really feel like doing something and really letting go but the ‘letting go’ part is very difficult for me. I would love to do romantic comedies. If I died today doing a romantic comedy, I would be happy but there has to be an element of realism in it.”

Being a senior artiste who has had the fortune of working with the crème de la crème of PTV, Marina says, “I want drama to come back. We have totally killed it. I don’t want to see Indian drama on our channels. I have issues with that and I don’t watch them so I can’t comment about them. We had a very strong identity with drama at one time.

They were plays with real issues and real people. When I was growing up I remember that I believed in these characters. Now you can find a lot of plays on so many channels but they don’t hold you. Either it is a copy or there is no individuality at all. Mehreen Jabbar did a series titled Kahaniyaan on Hum TV and Atiqa’s done a series recently, that is what drama and individuality is all about.

We have some brilliant actors but we just want to see glamorous, unrealistic stuff. Every woman looks the same. They are competing to look good, they have layers and layers of make-up, everyone including the maid and the chowkidar wears designer outfits in the play.

I absolutely hate that. We have become a nation of copy cats. Actually we have become that way in everything we do.

We had a lead in drama but we have lost it completely. If one thing is shot, then it is better to focus on unsung heroes who are doing work, which is real-life drama.”