15-year-old Saleha Aref, who plays the title role in Afia Nathaniel’s recently released Dukhtar, started acting on PTV with Sim Sim Hamara, the Pakistan version of the hit children’s TV series Sesame Street, when she was 12.
“I had a lot of fun shooting for it, even though I was scolded a lot because everyone was much older than me. I used to cry, get scolded and would cry even more,” Saleha reminisced.
In Dukhtar, Saleha plays Zainab, a 10-year-old girl living with her family in the mountainous area of Northern Pakistan, whose father plans to wed her off to a rival tribe’s leader to settle a dispute. Clinching the part wasn’t much of a struggle for the child artist.
Her acting career began with a print ad for a local kids’ wear fashion label. Later, it was her mother’s friend who suggested she audition for Sim Sim Hamara. And it was that break which led to Dukhtar.
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