Widely-appreciated Pakistani actor, Ahad Raza Mir recently sat down with Variety to talk about the success of the second season of his WWII drama, World on Fire.
Created by Peter Bowker, Season 1 of the PBS Masterpiece production premiered on the BBC in 2019 and dealt with the war in Western Europe. In season 2, the action shifts to the North African theater of war, and one of the protagonists is Lieutenant Rajib Pal of the British Indian Army, played by Ahad Raza Mir.
The show is a ratings smash for the BBC, pulling in more than 3 million viewers when it debuted earlier this month.
Mir, who most recently starred in Netflix’s “Resident Evil,” shed light on the war show and told Variety,
Peter has created real characters that feel real, and each character gets the importance that they deserve. Most of my learning came from actually being on set because our set was basically the desert. And that was a character on its own, which really helped feed into the fear and the action element of it. And then the words on the page helped define the character, it organically came to life.
Filming for the North African setting took place in Northern Ireland at a former Michelin factory in Ballymena. Mir described the experience of shooting in the desert-like set and dealing with explosions as intense and frightening.
He recalled, “When we got the call, I assumed we’re either gonna shoot in Spain or Abu Dhabi or Africa. And then they told me we’re shooting in Belfast, to which I went, ‘That makes no sense at all. What do you mean, they’re gonna do it all on set?'”
He further revealed that when he got to the set, he saw that the factory was filled with sand,
It wasn’t a small little setting, it was just so huge that if you sprint it, it took you at least three or four minutes just to reach the end. There was a lot of running around, and a lot of panic because we dealt with a lot of explosions. And doing that level of pyrotechnics and stuff was a first for me. So I was terrified, to begin with. I didn’t have to act much when it came to the fear and the sweat on my face.
One of the objectives of season 2 was to present the conflict from various global perspectives, including that of India and the British Indian Army’s involvement. Ahad highlighted the importance of giving proper importance and depth to South Asian characters in the series which was rather ignored in films like ‘Dunkirk’ and ‘1917’.
“In this series, they really did give importance to it and I think there’s still more room for other characters and other people to join, I would say, if it goes on to do another season. We’re going to tell everyone’s story.’ And that’s one of the reasons I’m so proud to be part of this show.” Mir said.
Known for his remarkable performances in various Pakistani TV dramas, Ahad Raza Mir has garnered widespread acclaim for his talent and versatility. After captivating fans worldwide with Netflix’s Resident Evil, Ahad is all set to intrigue his fans with the epic period drama series.
Next for him is another chance to play Hamlet at the Rose Theater in Brampton, Canada in October. In 2019, he starred in “Hamlet: A Ghost Story” for Canada’s The Shakespeare Company, and his interpretation won him a Betty Mitchell Award for outstanding performance by an actor.
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