The auditorium was hushed silent with occasional whispers before there were shy giggles of fangirls and boys. Emmad Irfani’s entrance made the whole place look more alive. Hair sleek and set, blue denim shirt or was it cotton? and glasses made him appear more handsome, more charismatic. Maybe it was this mystique and raw magnetism that I too skipped a beat.
Pleasantries were exchanged, the introduction was made and finally, Emmad took the stage. What’s he going to talk about? I wondered. What possibly he could know about struggle or failure? I made the same assumption, many of us would make seeing a successful person because we rarely make an effort to look beyond the strong, shiny and in Emad’s case handsome exterior.
He started by sharing his parents’ expectation about him, they wanted him to graduate from LUMS or IBA, have a white-collar job and live a stable life. Little did they know the profession Irfani was going to end up would neither have stability nor subtlety.
“In my life experience, I believe there are three types of people. Those few, who are very clear about what they want. They go through life with a certain zeal of confidence, self assurity, and much to the envy of other people they know what their goals are.” shared Irfani and added, “Then come the masses, who go through the learning process, go through the setbacks, challenges but they eventually set their life straight. And then there are few who absolutely have no idea what they want to do, who they are and what’s their purpose. They wear a mask to hide this conflict until the time comes when they realize that the mask has to go.”
But why Emmad will go into existential philosophy, while he was there to talk about his life? The question was answered as he began to share more:
What was next?
“Unfortunately, the society we live in doesn’t appreciate dreams that are deemed unconventional. Children are asked to cut down on their dreams and encouraged to not dream big. It was these circumstances, that I had to go through and eventually caved in. Did my bachelors, my masters, got a stable job at a marketing company but I knew it wasn’t right. I kept living like that as long as I could and one day I knew the mask had to come off.”
After shedding whatever mask society made him wear, Emmad made an effort to take back control of his life, to live on his own terms. What started as a promise to self to go to the gym every day for a year, became the bearer of good opportunities. The determination and lots of hard work eventually paid off and Irfani became a household name for his contributions towards the entertainment industry.
Was it easy to overcome all the obstacles?
It came as a surprise but Emad has been a shy person. In his words, it took a lot of hard work and constant effort to overcome the shyness. Nothing comes easy, you have to put in some work, be motivated and only then you can be what you want to be, only then you can explore your potential, know yourself.
