Many local musicians including the likes of Fawad Khan, Farhan Saeed, Asim Azhar, Hadiqa Kiani and even Atif Aslam have given acting a chance and it seems like Aima Baig is next in line to make her big debut!
The Baazi crooner made a guest appearance on Shahveer Jaffry’s podcast and opened up about lost opportunities, health struggles and upcoming ventures not just locally but also in reference to Bollywood and the streaming giant Netflix. The 28-year-old, who refused an acting offer with Mahira Khan’s Barwaan Khiladi, now has an offer for a web series for Netflix.
Talking about other acting opportunities, Aima revealed that she’s been getting offers for movies and dramas for a while now but she is now thinking about finally caving in. “Barwaan Khiladi was not the first offer that I received, before this I got an offer from several movies and dramas. Lately, I am also thinking about another one. No, no, I can’t say this, it’ll get me in trouble,” she said, to which the host asked if it was a “movie or drama.”
“It’s actually a web series for Netflix,” she announced. However, the top priority in life for the pop singer is releasing original music right now. “I want to establish myself as a musician. I really want my original music to be out there in the world before I step into something else,” she said.
Moving on to why she rejected a lead role in Mahira’s Barwaan Khiladi, Aima opened up about her struggle with arthritis and how it compromised her mobility during her Punjab tour. While she was already in extreme pain, the medications given to her to reduce inflammation and pain flared up to such an extent that they limited her to a wheelchair – something that only the Humsafar star knew about until now.
Aima was apparently offered to play the love interest of Shahveer Jafry and Danyal Zafar whom Hina Ashfaque plays in the series. Sharing her painful journey with arthritis, she revealed, “I was literally in a wheelchair for about six months and I was also doing the Punjab tour at the same time. It got so worse that I couldn’t even pick up a glass of water, my bones were so inflated,” she said, adding that it got worse. “It got to a point where I was taking Methotrexate, a chemotherapy medicine. I lost most of my hair and I was just gaining weight because I was taking 12 steroids every morning, just to be able to do things. It was quite major and I went to a doctor in New York.”
Between all the chaos around her illness, she knew she had to refuse the cricketing web series. “In those days this was triggered so I told Mahira Khan this,” she said adding that she wasn’t comfortable sharing this with the other creators of the series. “Mahira is the nicest, I don’t know why is she so nice. I have never met anyone sweeter than her. She even told me a personal story about how her uncle also suffered from the same so she understands how it works.”
The Malang singer gave a shoutout to Mahira for understanding her. “That’s how the whole problem got settled very subtly and we have no beef between each other. Thanks to Mahira for actually understanding my situation back then,” the singer remarked.
While Barwaan Khiladi was a project she had to refuse due to her health concerns, there are other projects that slipped through her hands due to political circumstances. The Coke Studio singer revealed that she has sung five songs for Bollywood that never got released due to the 2016 ban on Pakistani
“Me, along with some of my fellow members, who you all might know as well, recorded five songs each, and then the incident (the 2016 ban) happened,” she said. Upon whether the songs will ever release, Aima is hopeful. “They will… one day.”
She revealed that one of the songs is for a movie starring Kareena Kapoor Khan and Saif Ali Khan. “We recorded the songs in Dubai. They never let me enter India. I worked with amazing producers, with whom I always wanted to work with. If they don’t get released there then I’ll just release them here,” she said, adding that she doesn’t have the rights to the songs. “But I’ll find a way,” Aima laughed.
