Yasir Nawaz belongs to the breed of newcomers who have been raised in a thespian environment due to one or both the parents being involved in the performing arts. In Yasir's case it was his father Farid Nawaz Baloch who happens to be a veteran actor.

A sudden change in Yasir's engagements had a domino effect on his schedule, resulting in his going off to a recording. His entire family felt guilty when I arrived on time with no Yasir around. He arrived later, apologized profusely and left again to change his formal dress shirt to a casual T-shirt. One could'nt help noticing his fresh looks and youthful energy, mixing normal conversation with quick repartees.

Asked as to how he came into showbiz he quickly replied, "Sifarish!", and laughed heartily.

"My father took me to different producers. I eventually got a role in a long play, and a few more plays later things got rolling. That was around four and a half years ago, and today I can say that I am still on the scene because I have the potential to act, as recommendation can only get you one or two chances. After that you are on your own. And specially these days its very difficult to get a share of telly fame amongst so many glamorous young people."

Though he wasn't particularly interested in acting, it was his father's idea of keeping him busy with a challenging preoccupation which worked in his favour.

"My younger brother is a dentist and the youngest one an engineer. I didn't have an inclination towards any profession so my father decided that I better do something before it got difficult for me to do anything! Initially I was so camera-conscious that I used to start shaking and sweating at the sight of the camera, but gradually I overcame the fear."

Yasir seems inclined towards this field now but says that eventually direction will be his fulltime preoccupation.

"I already have directed two long plays, Jadoo and Yeh gharri hay milan ki, of which the latter was quite well received."

Recently Yasir got engaged to Kazim Pasha's daughter Nida who also acts. Yasir says he liked Nida when he met her a year or so ago on the set of a play called Muhabbat, even though the families had known each other for a long time. He says, "I am not of the age now where you see a girl and in the blink of an eye fall madly in love. We worked in some plays but never opposite to each other.

It was either her entrance at my exit or vice versa. But I felt that their was something about her that made her different from all the rest." He adds after a moment, "She belongs to a family involved with showbiz and so would understand my unpredictable schedules because she herself acts too. She would know that I'm not out for fun and games. Plus I feel that she has all the qualities to become a good wife."

Yasir believes in the good old love-after-marriage. "I told my family about her and then proposed to her myself. She replied that she would do whatever her parents decided for her, and so the usual sequence of events followed between our two families till we got engaged. The wedding is due sometime in January next year."

And would the good wife continue with her acting after marriage? "I don't think she would." Is that because he doesn't want her to? I asked pointedly. Yasir replied grinning, "No, she told me she wouldn't like to work after marriage. Maybe hosting a few programmes here and there, but not full-time acting. Besides, it wouldn't be good for the home if both of us are constantly busy with non-stop recordings and shootings. And then after kids it will be all the more difficult."

Were there any pretty lasses before Nida? "Many!" He explodes into laughter and then sobers up, "Well of course not, I'm not the type who goes to a dozen houses looking for girls holding tea trays. And I can say with satisfaction that I've never been involved in scandals either."

The junior Baloch has a lot to say about the roles he plays.

"Sometimes I'm fed up of the usual crying roles I have had to play. If you get to see them all, there is a crying scene or two in nearly each of them! I wonder whether something is wrong with my face! But now I am trying to do different characters such as in the upcoming play in which I act as an effeminate guy about whom people are really confused."

He doesn't want to do comedy. "I avoid comedy roles because I feel that comedians don't command respect in our society. No matter how brilliant they are, or how serious they are about their work, somehow they face discrimination. And I also feel that I won't be able to do justice to such roles."

On the home front, Yasir faces a lot of criticism.

"My father really encourages me but my sister and brothers refuse to believe that I am a good actor."

Yasir, however, feels that he is lucky to have gotten good serials from the beginning. "I like doing good roles even if they are only for a single scene. Luck has been kind to me in getting me good directors, teams and heroines!"

Yasir Nawaz is reasonably goal oriented and committed to his field despite his happy-go-lucky temperament. No wonder he has managed to make his presence felt in a short time on the tube.