Farhan Saeed

Farhan Saeed (born 14 September 1984) is a Pakistani singer-songwriter, actor and entrepreneur. Saeed is the former lead vocalist of the Pakistani band Jal and owns the restaurant Cafe Rock in Lahore. He sings in Urdu and Punjabi. He made his acting debut with the drama De Ijazat Jo Tu (2014).

Farhan Saeed
فرحان سعید‬ بٹ
Born	(1984-09-14) 14 September 1984 (age 40)[1] Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
Alma mater	National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences
Notable work	Udaari (2016) Suno Chanda (2018–2019) Mere Humsafar (2021–2022)
Spouse	Urwa Hocane ​ (m. 2016)​
Children	1
Musical career
Origin	Lahore, Pakistan
Genres	Pop Rock
Instruments	Vocals Guitar
Years active	2003–present

Saeed had his breakthrough with Udaari, for which he received the Hum Award for Best Supporting Actor nomination. He earned wider recognition with his portrayals in Suno Chanda (2018), Suno Chanda 2 (2019) and Mere Humsafar (2021-22). The former won him Hum Award for Best Actor Popular. Saeed made his film debut with Tich Button (2022).

Early life and career

Farhan Saeed was born into a Punjabi Kashmiri family. Both his parents are practicing doctors. A music fan from the very start, he used to listen to Vital Signs and Junoon and centred his music around pop, and at times folk. In his teens, he took A-level from the Keynesian Institute of Management and Sciences (KIMS) and then enrolled in Computer Science at the National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences, after which he discovered his future band members Atif Aslam and Goher Mumtaz. The band took off and became famous across Asia.^{[citation needed]}

In 2011, reports broke out that he had parted his ways from Jal, which left his fans stunned. He pursued a solo career and became regular to feature in Bollywood. Saeed opened Cafe Rock restaurant at Hussain Chowk, situated off the M. M. Alam Road, Gulberg, Lahore. His restaurant's theme is in a similar vein to that of the Hard Rock Cafes, providing underground bands and young aspiring artists with a platform to project themselves and perform in front of an audience.^[2]

Music career

Jal the band

Saeed during Jal band days

Saeed first rose to prominence when he joined the Lahore-based pop rock band Jal, at the age of 17, as a vocalist.^[3]

Saeed replaced Atif Aslam in 2003, who quit because of musical differences with Jal's founding member Goher Mumtaz.^[4]

Solo music career

In September 2011, in an exclusive interview with The Express Tribune, Saeed shocked the fans claiming that he had left Jal to pursue a solo career despite Goher Mumtaz offering him to continue his solo career while being a part of Jal.^[5] On 8 September 2011, Saeed's departure was confirmed by Jal's guitarist Goher Mumtaz who wished him luck for his solo career. He did a collaboration with Aima Baig, Adnan Qazi and Bilal Saeed for his super hit song "Na cher malangaan nu". His recent song was with Hania Aamir for Asim Jofa that was directed by Qasim Ali Mureed.

He made his Bollywood-singing breakthrough in 2014, by contributing a song to Vikram Bhatt's Creature 3D. The song, Naam-e-Wafa, is a romantic-duet with Indian vocalist Tulsi Kumar as the co-singer and Mithoon as the composer.^[6]

Acting career

Saeed started his acting career by debuting in a leading role in the 2014 Hum TV drama serial De Ijazat Jo Tu alongside Sohai Ali Abro, Saba Hameed and Javaid Sheikh. He then played the lead role as Mohid Shuja in ARY Digital's Mere Ajnabi alongside Urwa Hocane who was the female lead.^[7] He has also played the lead role of Arsh in the drama Udaari as a lawyer along with female lead Urwa. Apart from acting in the drama, Saeed has also collaborated with Hadiqa Kiani for the OST that has topped music charts all over Pakistan.^[8]

In 2016, he also played the lead role again in ARY Digital's Teri Chah Mein, alongside Maria Wasti and Saboor Ali, and Hum TV's Sila alongside Ainy Jaffri.

In 2018 he grabbed the leading role of Arsal Jamshed Ali (Arsal) in Hum TV's critically and commercially superhit drama serial Suno Chanda, with Iqra Aziz as the leading female role, and due to the critical success of the show, a season 2 was immediately announced by the producers. He reprised his role as Arsal Jamshed Ali in the second installment of Suno Chanda alongside Iqra Aziz in 2019. The season was also a hit and a critical success.

He had the leading role in Karachi Se Lahore 3 with Kubra Khan as co-star, the third installment of Wajahat Rauf's successful series including the box-office hits Karachi Se Lahore and Lahore Se Aagey which would have been his feature film debut, but he had to quit the project because of music tours and concerts he was already committed to.^[9]

In early 2019 it was announced that he'll get his first lead role in a movie in Tich Button, a rom-com co-produced by his wife Urwa Hocane under their joint new production company Shooting Star Studio.^[10] After some delay, the movie was eventually released in 2022.

Other work

Director

He turned to direction with the 2018 music video of O Jaana from the singer-songwriter Hamza Malik, starring actress Iqra Aziz and featuring musicians Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Sahir Ali Bagga.^[11][12]

Personal life

Saeed married Urwa Hocane on 16 December 2016, in Lahore, Pakistan.^[13][14][15] On 6 October 2023, Saeed and Hocane announced their pregnancy through social media.^[16] On 3 January 2024, the couple had their first child, a daughter, who was named Jahan Aara Saeed.^{[citation needed]}

Discography

Film songs

All films are Pakistani except where noted

Year	Film	Song	Music	Lyrics	Co-singer(s)	Note
2012	Dil Tainu Karda Ae Pyar	"Kyun Gayee"	Jaidev Kumar	Kumaar		Punjabi film
	Qasam Se Qasam Se	"Meethi Yaadein"	Sayanti-Shailendra	Shailendra Kumar		Hindi film, as member of Jal
2014	Creature 3D	"Naam-e-Wafa"	Mithoon		Tulsi Kumar	Hindi film
	Main Aur Mr. Riight	"Bhool Na Jaana"	Astiva Band
2017	Punjab Nahi Jaungi	"Rab Rakha"	Ali Mustafa	Himself
	Half Girlfriend	"Thodi Der"	Himself	Kumaar	Shreya Ghoshal	Hindi film
2018	Parwaaz Hai Junoon	"Musafir"	Azaan Sami Khan	Shakeel Sohail	Zenab Fatimah Sultan
2023	Tich Button	"Ehsaan Hai Tumhara"	Adrian David Emmanuel		Jonita Gandhi

TV series songs

Year	Serial	Song	Music	Lyrics	Co-singer(s)	Note
2014	De Ijazat Jo Tu	"De Ijazat Jo Tu"	Sohail Haider
2016	Teri Chah Mein	"Teri Chah Mein"	Sohail Haider	Samina Ejaz
2017	Mere Ajnabi	"Mere Ajnabi"	Adrian David Emmanuel
2018	Suno Chanda	"Suno Chanda"	Naveed Nashad	Aehsun Talish
	Aangan	"Haari Haari"		Imran Raza	Naveed Nashad
2019	Suno Chanda 2	"Suno Chanda"		Aehsun Talish	Damia Farooq, Rimsha Khan
2020	Prem Gali	"Prem Gali"	Adrian David Emmanuel	Shakeel Sohail, Ahmad Farad	Nish Asher
2023	Jhok Sarkar	"Meri Matti"		Sibtain Khalid

Non-film songs

Albums

Year	Title	Note
2004	Aadat	as member of Jal
2007	Boondh

Singles

Year	Song	Album/Single	Notes
2011	Khuwahishon		Single
	Ik Arzu		Single
2012	Pi Jaon		co-singer Momina Mustehsan; Nominated – Lux Style Awards for Best Song of the Year
2013	Tu Thori Dair(Original Punjabi Version)		Single
	Halka Halka Suroor
2014	Roiyaan		Lux Style Awards for Best Song of the Year, Hum Awards for Best Music Single
2015	Sajna		Single
2016	Saathiya		Single
	Ji Jaun		Single
	Sajna Ve Sajna	Udaari	co-singer Hadiqa Kiani
	Jab Se Miley Tum		co-singer Maryam Fatima
	Bol Ke Lab		co-singer Hadiqa Kiani
	Koi Rokay Na Mujhe		Nominated-Hum Award for best music video
2017	Dekh Tera Kya/Latthay Di Chaadar	Coke Studio 10
2018	Dil Hua Panchi		Single
	Maula		collaboration with Rishi Rich
2020	Baliyay	In The Box by Saad Sultan	Single
2021	Pyaar Sufiyana Ft. Hania Amir		For "Asim Jofa"
	Na Cher Malangaan Nu		co-singer Aima Baig
2022	Khush Bichar Ker	Kashmir Beats S2
	Naukar Shah Da	Kashmir Beats S2	co-singer Shuja Haider
	Kadi Kadi		Single

Music video director

Year	Song	Singers	Company
2018	O Jaana	Rahat Fateh Ali Khan & Hamza Mallik	Zee Music[17]

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2017	Punjab Nahi Jaungi	Himself	Special appearance in song "Rab Rakha"	[18]
2022	Tich Button	Kaka Saab		[19]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2014	Daay Ijazat Jo Tu	Sarmad		[20]
2015	Mere Ajnabi	Mohid Shuja		[21]
2016	Udaari	Taimoor Arshad "Arsh"		[22][23]
2016-2017	Sila	Taimoor Ahsan
	Teri Chah Mein	Faisal Khan		[24]
2018	Suno Chanda	Arsalan "Arsal" Jamshed Ali	Also playback singer for title song	[25][26]
2019	Suno Chanda 2				[27]
2020–2021	Prem Gali	Hamza Hatim		[28]
2021-2022	Mere Humsafar	Hamza Raees Ahmed		[29][30]
2022	Badshah Begum	Pir Shahzaib		[31]
2022-2023	Meri Shehzadi	Dr. Hasan	Special appearance	[32]
2023	Jhok Sarkar	Arsalan		[33]
2024-present	Kaisi Hai Ye Ruswai	Baaris		[34]
2024	Shamsher	TBA

Telefilms

Year	Title	Role	Ref.
2017	Pyar Ki Love Story	Haadi
2018	Iss Dil Ki Essi Ki Tessi	Azhar	[35]
2020	Luv Di Suan
2021	Love Vaccine	Nadeem

Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
2013	Lux Style Awards	Best Song of the Year	"Pi Jaun"	Nominated	[36]
2014	Hum Awards	Best Solo Artist	"Kyun Gae"	Nominated	[37]
2015	Lux Style Awards	Best Song of the Year	"Roiyaan"	Won	[38]
	Hum Awards	Best Music Single		Won	[39]
2017	Hum Awards	Best Supporting Actor	Udaari	Nominated	[40][41]
		Best Onscreen Couple (with Urwa Hocane)		Won
		Best Onscreen Couple Popular (with Urwa Hocane)		Nominated
		Best Music Single	"Koi Ruke Mujhay"	Nominated
	International Pakistan Prestige Awards	Best Supporting Actor	Udaari	Nominated	[42]
		Best Onscreen Couple (with Urwa Hocane)		Won
2018	Zee Cine Awards	Best Music Director	Half Girlfriend	Nominated	[43]
2019	Lux Style Awards	Best Original Sound Track	Aangan	Nominated	[44]
	Hum Awards	Best Actor	Suno Chanda	Nominated	[45][46]
		Best Onscreen Couple (with Iqra Aziz)		Won
		Best Actor Popular		Won
		Best Onscreen Couple Popular (with Iqra Aziz)		Won
	International Pakistan Prestige Awards	Best Actor – Jury		Won	[47]
		Best Actor – Viewer's choice		Nominated
		Best Onscreen Couple (with Iqra Aziz)		Won
	Pakistan International Screen Awards	Best Television Actor		Nominated	[48]
		Best Original Soundtrack		Nominated
2021	ARY People's Choice Awards	Favourite Actor	Prem Gali	Nominated	[49]
		Favourite Actor in a role of Damad		Nominated
		Favourite Jodi (with Sohai Ali Abro)		Won
2023	Lux Style Awards	Best TV Actor	Mere Humsafar	Nominated	[50]
		Best TV Actor – Critics' Choice		Nominated
2024	Hum Awards	Best Actor Popular	Badshah Begum	Nominated	[51][52]
			Jhok Sarkar	Nominated
		Best Onscreen Couple Popular (with Hiba Bukhari)		Nominated

References

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External links

• Official website
• Farhan Saeed at IMDb
• Farhan Saeed on Instagram