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Eager to tuck into some wholesome warmth, a group of us head out to Café Flo when the Miss Veet show ended on Wednesday night. It was late but that’s usually when you tend to find the rare and unexpected, as we did run into a gorgeously casual and yet impeccable looking Iman Ali. Poised at a table with a couple of her friends, she had a tall glass full of broken meringue, strawberries and whipped cream in front of her, making the rest of us envious of how she could down the calories without donning the weight! But Iman was picture perfect. Her favourite high heeled, knee high boots covered her skinny jeans as a thermal tank top kept her cosy under a stylish camel coat. Bespectacled and perfectly poised, Iman looked every bit the diva one knew her as.

What was she up to these days, I was curious to know, as the last I had heard was that she was on the cast of Humayun Saeed’s Punjab Nahin Jaungi and then she wasn’t. I did know that she had been living between Lahore and Karachi for quite some time and in the absence of a film, she had kept herself busy with music videos and endorsements. Omega, for recent-most example.

“I’m waiting for the right moment,” Iman smiled as we sat down to chat for a bit. She said she had refused 7 films in 2016, and she even sent out an apology to all the filmmakers she had said “no” to. I’m assuming Humayun Saeed must be one of them. But she didn’t want to play the love interest in a hero-centric film. She wanted to be ‘Queen’, quite proverbially referring to the Bollywood hit. And so she was waiting.

What would she do while she waited, besides the endorsements and music videos?

“I just might start writing,” she responded. “I want to begin with scripts and then eventually write a novel.”

I just hope she finds a role that she likes before she gives in to life behind the camera because in the spotlight is where she belongs. ‘Aphrodite’ is what a fan once called her and that she is. Beautiful and talented, I do hope there is a role out there that will appeal to the artist in her!

  • Look out for Iman’s full interview, coming soon!
Aamna Haider Isani

Editor-in-Chief, The author is a full time writer, critic with a love for words and an intolerance for typos, although she'll make one herself every now and then.