SHAHZAD ROY

Shahzad Roy, the young heart throb of millions of teenage girls, is a down to earth person. This I can say with certainty. He showed no hesitation in returning my call after I had left a message with his mother requesting for an interview. Regretting that he hasn't much time as he was too busy before leaving for UAE for a concert, he himself proposed that the interview be conducted on phone then and there. Shahzad Roy is an Aquarian, born on February 16. He studied till class V at St. Jude's School, Karachi, after which he went to America but returned to finish High School from St. Jude's, and later, B.Com from Karachi University. "How were you at studies?"

"Excellent, before starting on music," came an unexpected reply. "Basically I was a guitarist, which was my inspiration from childhood. You can say it was the beginning of music for me," started Shahzad, telling me about his childhood. "In school, I used to stay with my own group. We were a bunch of four or five students. My childhood can't be defined in a word. I was neither shy, nor aggressive, I think I was pretty normal." How he started professional singing? "I never thought I could be a singer. I thought I was just a good guitarist. Then my friends suggested that I should sing as well, and so upon their insistence, I started singing professionally in 1995." He said. When asked whether he composes the music or writes the lyrics first, Shahzad said, "I work both ways, sometimes the music is composed first and sometimes the lyrics are written before the music." And what he have been if not a singer? "God knows what I would have been if I were not a singer; may be doing a job or running a business or would have gone abroad for higher studies, who knows?" came a bizarre answer. "My honesty, my God, my parents' prayers and the hard work I did, all combines to form the Shahzad Roy which I am today!" says Shahzad while talking about the secret behind his achievements. Shahzad's views about acting are great, "I am willing to act and model whenever I get the time (which he won't for a long time because of the long line of concerts). I have acted in a serial Lamhay because Mahnoor Balooch asked me to and I also had some free time then. It was my first and last serial which was pretty famous too. Though at present I am not acting in any drama, working in music videos is also like acting. Take the example of Khudi, which is a four minute video. The same thing stands for films. If I have time, and if the script is good, I would act in films." And which co-stars would he prefer to act with (provided he gets the time, of course)? "I would love to act with Mac Sean". Shahzad defined himself in a nice way, he said, "I am sometimes very loving and sometimes a very angry person!" About his present engagements, he said, apart from the countless concerts ahead of him, his new video CD has been recently released which include all the videos from his first to the last song. He is also working on a new album in which he has sung alongside Abida Parveen (Teray Dil Main Kya). What would he wish for if a genie grants him three wishes? "My first wish," he said, "would be that I could fly, because I love to fly, my second wish would be that if Pakistan is at war I would get hit by unlimited bullets and still not be harmed. And my third wish," he said after thinking for a while, "would be that God remains kind on me forever." Celebrities, specially singers get a lot of fan calls. He told me an interesting incident in this regard, "It was about 2 am in the morning and I had returned from a concert when I received a call where someone asked, 'Kya aap ka fridge chal raha hay?' When I said, 'Jee chal raha hay', he said, 'Agar chal raha hay to ja kar pakreay, woh to bahar nickal gaya ho ga!'" An unforgettable moment of his life was when he got the PTV Award, the credit for which he gives to his fans. He also wanted to say sorry to those fans whom he can't give autograph after his concerts. For this reason he has also made a website: www.shahzadroy.com. Shahzad loves his younger fans a lot. His message for them is: "Always try to give small contributions for your country, because we ourselves are our country!" SHAHZAD ROY'S FAVORITES: Food: Chicken chilly dry (but his tastes change from time to time) Dress: Anything that's comfortable Song: His own song, Aag (now), Teri Surat (previously) Pakistani male singer: Adnan Sami Khan Pakistani female singer: Abida Parveen International singer or group: Sting TV actor: Noman Aijaz, Nadeem Baig TV actress: Sania Saeed Pakistani film actor: Shan Pakistani film actress: All Foreign film actor: Anthony Houstin Foreign film actress: Umath Serman Colour: Black & Grey Place: Virginia Source: Daily Dawn.