'At least 8 actors from India & Pakistan were auditioning...': Humayun Saeed on starring in 'The Crown'

Pakistan’s A-list film star Humayun Saeed opened up on the long audition process for his role in the Netflix series ‘The Crown’, revealing that he was chosen from eight Indian and Pakistani actors for the part.

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In a recent outing on ARY Digital’s talk show, ‘The Knock Knock Show’ with host Mohib Mirza, Humayun Saeed shared that he went through the whole audition process, to essay Dr Hasnat Khan in ‘The Crown’, despite his stardom.

“I do watch The Crown with great interest, but I couldn’t believe that I got this character in such a hit series. I had no idea where Diana’s character arc was headed in the story, or the fact that since Dr Hasnat was a Pakistani, someone from Pakistan could actually be approached to portray him,” Saeed said. “That thought even didn’t cross my mind ever in four seasons.”

The ‘London Nahi Jaunga’ star continued, “So when I was approached, I was certainly really happy. But then they told me that I had to give an audition and that’s when I was like, ‘Damn it! Can’t you tell from my face or my previous work whether I fit the bill?’ But they must have watched some other projects of mine. The director also told me that he had seen some of my work but they wanted to see how I would look in the particular character.”

“So they sent me a scene to do, after which my agent told me that I along with four others had been shortlisted from the eight actors, from India and Pakistan, who were auditioning for the role,” he recalled.

Saeed shared that he only got to know about one person, from that group of eight, which he refused to name on air.

The actor shared that then those shortlisted five did another scene, and he performed it while suffering from Covid, which he believed was probably the reason he got the role, because of that look.

“After that scene, I and another actor were shortlisted, who then had to do a first scene rehearsal with the lead actor Elizabeth Debicki, on the Zoom call,” Saeed shared, adding that after almost 20 days of the final audition, when he had lost all hopes, that’s when he received the congratulatory call from the team.

Pertinent to note here that Saeed appeared in the fifth season of Netflix’s cult series, and essayed British-Pakistani heart surgeon Dr Hasnat Ahmed Khan, a close friend of Princess Diana of Wales, played by Debicki, in the final two seasons of the show.

Well-deserved: Humayun Saeed lauds co-star Elizabeth Debicki on Golden Globes win