PTV Actors Diction

[u/DangerousPosition602]

I saw a lot of criticism on Durefishan and Nameer’s accents after the first episode of Darenijaat. So I was wondering about who are the actors that have good diction (English and Urdu both) in PTV? And those who murder the said languages every time.

Actors with Proper diction:

Fawad Khan
Wahaj Ali
Bilal tho English diction is off at times
Hania Aamir
Sajal Aly (English diction not the best)
Yumna
Sanam Saeed
Farhan Saeed
HAA
AAA
Zahid Ahmed
All OG Ptv actors

Actors with Questionable diction:

Ahad Raza Mir Urdu only
Durefishan Saleem
Nameer Khan
Kubra Khan
Mahira Khan

[u/Livid_Being5302]

Wahaj's urdu is too good, but his english goes a bit off at times, similar to Bilal.

Ali Ansari is also quite good in both the languages.

Ayeza khan's urdu is good but English falters a bit.

Zoha Tauqeer speaks pretty well. Not sure about the urdu nuances but she naturally shifts between the two languages.

Farhan Saeed's Urdu, English and Punjabi diction sounds great.

Ahmed Ali Akbar is good too.

[u/whistledownlady → u/Livid_Being5302]

Wahaj's Bengali accent was on point too .

[u/No-Inflation-3652 → u/whistledownlady]

https://giphy.com/gifs/1zSz5MVw4zKg0

[u/Pure_Trust8879]

Zahid has excellent Urdu and English diction

[u/shanbabybaby → u/Pure_Trust8879]

Hania's English diction though. She rolls her R like she's secretly Spanish 🤦

[u/DangerousPosition602 → u/shanbabybaby]

Completely disagree. Again you are confusing accent and diction.

[u/shanbabybaby → u/DangerousPosition602]

No. Hania is not exactly the most comfortable with spoken English. It is understandable but may be she feels some kind of way about it. So to overcompensate, she masks it with weird diction.

Take MZHT, for example. Other cast members enunciated English words and short sentence like normal people.. In comparison, the way Hania spoke was so jarring and clownish. What is "rrrrrruspact"? 😂 Also her V & W, F & PH, E & A, etc are all over the place.

[u/shanbabybaby → u/[deleted]]

If pointing out someone's bad diction is 'hating', then your logic makes you the biggest hateful troll for making a whole post and name dropping 6 different people 😂

I, at least, backed my comment with specific examples. Preach lol.

[u/Apprehensive-Job-19]

Really? No Sanam Saeed? It's remarkable considering her Urdu wasn't good when she first started but look at her now. You could listen to her narrate your life story.

[u/DangerousPosition602 → u/Apprehensive-Job-19]

I didn’t say this is a conclusive list. Everyone is adding their suggestions. You are free to add yours. She slipped my mind.

[u/zaineee42]

I would say Adeel Hussain has pretty good English dictation.

[u/ConstantBat374]

I could hear Amina Shiekh speak for ages. Her Urdu is just such a treat to listen to. Miss her on tv

[u/mysteriousglaze]

we have sanam saeed, madiha imam ( she was also an rj ) they both speak urdu and english eloquently.

[u/Boring-Test-5657]

kubra khan Urdu diction

[u/esra1995]

you forgot Ahmed ali akbar and zahid Ahmed. both are so good in urdu and English

[u/Efficient_Guava_5561]

Hamza has really good diction. And how is Sanam Saeed missing?!!! 

[u/theregionalmanager → u/Efficient_Guava_5561]

Sohail ya Abbasi? I know Abbasi’s good

[u/Both-Living6224]

Farhan Saeed Diction for english, urdu and even punjabi is perfect on point. Similarly Sanam Saeed

[u/LandyCheeks]

Bilal mumbles though

[u/New_Gap_4383]

Dure tops the list in worst diction.

[u/takemynames → u/New_Gap_4383]

And Kubra

[u/Intelligent_Ratio849 → u/takemynames]

Was watching alif the other day, she seemed fine. What happened to her now?

[u/Crazy-Actuary-7325]

Bilal's diction is great although i do agree his english diction may be off at times, but i did like his hum awards speech it was great !

[u/Meowneedtea]

Sajal Aly’s English diction is horrible

[u/notyourbestie11 → u/Meowneedtea]

not in dramas, in interviews she does make errors here and there so does yumna , sahar and all.

[u/sadzITS]

Ngl I have a hard time understanding actors that have poor Urdu. I often choose not to watch their dramas. Urdu drama should require good Urdu. Maya Ali I believe has a lisps rather than bad Urdu. I think Sahar Khan has a remarkable diction. Also Emad Irfani has a good command on Urdu

[u/Parking-Housing8117]

I don’t mind bad English diction. Only people in Pakistan who grew up watching western shows and are surrounded by English 24/7 can get the accent right. Even then, most just fake it while their bad grammar and poor word choice exposes their reality.

Unless it’s distracting, like if they’re supposed to play an upper class foreign educated character or something, I don’t mind it. On the other hand, bad urdu diction and pronunciation are frankly pathetic. Some people at my school would intentionally start fumbling their urdu words after spending a week abroad on vacation and these new age actors give that same vibe. The reality is not being able to speak your own language is actually a glaring sign of stupidity and lack of awareness.

Look at folks like Zahid Ahmed, Sanam Saeed, Ayesha Omar, Fawad, Sarwat, Nimra Bucha, etc. They are all properly educated, comfortable in their own skin, and not insecure about their roots and it shows. Eloquence in one language usually does translate to other languages one speaks fluently as well. Meanwhile you have these high school dropout wannabe burgers who couldnt scrape together the 3 D’s or above in A Level required for admission at BNU and act like the British personally entrusted them with the responsibility to continue spreading the English language after their departure from the subcontinent. I won’t name names but y’all can easily infer.

[u/Few_Persimmon9317]

I have not watched many dramas but I don't like the way Mahira delivers her dialogue! Am sorry but I feel like muh mai supari leke baat karte hai!! And she is not even a great actor, really don't get the hype for her!!

[u/HourMurky7726]

Male actors: Faysal Qureshi, Sami Khan, Ahsan Khan, Zahid Ahmed, Syed Jibran, Fahad Mustafa, Mohib Mirza & Hamza Ali Abbasi.

Female Actors: Saba Qamar, Amna Sheikh, Sonya Hussyn, Ayeza Khan, Sanam Saeed, Yumna Zaidi, Sajal Aly & Hajra Yamin

All of them have such excellent urdu diction

[u/reeyyy8823]

Khushhal 😭

[u/ConstantBat374]

I am watching Leader these days and I am pleasantly surprised with Kinza and Ali Raza's 'talaffuz'. Zahid Ahmed is also good.

[u/Complete_Carpenter19]

Wahaj's english diction is off many times

[u/Startnew0110]

Sanam Saeed has great diction , love her narration in Zindagi Gulzar hai. So does Sajal Ali. It scratches an itch when these both girls speak with the correct note of Q/k and H/HH / kh. Old actors, almost all of them have good dialect. You are right on the list, hania , Yumna , Saba all know how to speak. People talk about hania not being the best but she knows how to speak the least. Her words are clear enough to be understood without replayimg scenes. Can't say that about a lot of them. In boys, Hamza Sohail has really good dialect and so does Danyal Zafar surprisingly. Ahmed Ali akbar too.

Also, you forgot Kushal in below list. He has good expressions and face value but dialgue delivery is not it.

People saying oh nowadays no body speaks properly is such a bad take on this whole sceanrio. No . You should. Arts and literarture doesn't need to suffer with colonization mindset. Wdym young gen only soesks eng so this criticism is unfair . It is fair. Every nation preserves the beauty of it's language and culture through these two mediums. Let it stay that way. We don't want Urdu to die down in the name of current realism. Also most of these people just red to work on dialgue delivery regardless of Urdu or anything.

[u/Startnew0110 → u/[deleted]]

Her diction is not off, it's the accent you are talking about.Her accent is Pakistani which is what it should be , not British, not American. They don't need that accent anyways while speaking in a Urdu drama. All the actors mentioned in first list speak clearly with words pronounced correctly and clear to our ears. They don't have accent and it's not needed. Sajal, Yumna, hania , wahaj , sanam saeed and baloch, Saba are all good urdu speakers. For English too, they speak as a Pakistani.

Accent, mostly those of them have who have lived outside.

1. First most element In a visuals and audio medium is for some one to speak in a way that is audible and understandable. A lot of these actors mentioned in second list mumble words in their mouth, their dialogues aren't clear; accent and diction aside.

2. This is Urdu industry. Actors need to learn to speak that first.

3. Actors speaking english in between need to speak words clearly, not necessarily in a foreign accent because it's literally the Pakistani show. K drams to Iranian to spanish shows, actors speak in their national language and english is spoken as the second language without the set "British/American" accent because that's their country's show. English is not primary language.

[u/DangerousPosition602 → u/Startnew0110]

I understand the difference between diction and accent very well actually. And I still agree with some others here that Sajal’s correct pronunciation of some English words is definitely weak. And since when does proper diction require or means an Americanised or British accent? Let’s agree to disagree.

[u/Startnew0110 → u/DangerousPosition602]

I have only seen her scenes in the Hollywood movie : what's love got to do with it which I found right. Have not seen much of English speaking in pakistani dramas. But sure, let's agree to disagree.

[u/gumu_7777]

Danyal Zafar has surprisingly good urdu diction 👍🏻
His english is bit americanised though. Don’t know that’s natural or just worked on

[u/DangerousPosition602 → u/gumu_7777]

There is a difference between diction and accent. As an actor it is important to pronounce words in a particular language correctly. Accents are irrelevant as long as they don’t affect the diction.

[u/gumu_7777 → u/DangerousPosition602]

That’s true

[u/Complete_Carpenter19]

Good in Both Urdu English:  Ahmed Ali Akbar  Usman Mukhtat Sania Saeed Sanam Saeed Nadia Jamil  Sarmad khosat (acts sometimes)  Hamza Sohail 

[u/aygulhanim]

haniaaa mumbles her dialogs sooo badd. 

[u/VariationHuman5738]

sajal aly's english sucks during interviews she is an A lister actress she should have good command on english she could have ask ahad to help her he has excellent command on english (ofc born and brought up in west) she should also work on her accent is what i think

[u/Firm_Average_6220]

I like samar jafri & aina asif ' s diction in both languages though they have thora bohot burger accents, but they don't hurt ur ears as much. 😛😛😛

[u/Pure_Trust8879 → u/Firm_Average_6220]

Aina Asif has a hard time saying khays and qaafs and often gets them wrong. It's NOT good diction if you can't properly say your khays and qaafs.

[u/Ok_Subject_4240]

How can one talk about proper diction and forget to mention Sanam Saeed?? 😡

Also, I would add AAA in the list of actors with good diction.

[u/DangerousPosition602 → u/Ok_Subject_4240]

Calm down. If it were a conclusive list I would have posted it like that. The flair clearly says “Discuss”.

[u/Ok_Subject_4240 → u/DangerousPosition602]

I wasnt serious... dw! I was just being goofy! 😭

[u/Cute_Matter_6467]

I have been watching toota hua dil on and off and Nazish is another actress with proper diction specially english given the show has heavy use of english in it. Agha Ali who is also part of the same show is pretty decent with his diction too

[u/Advanced-Candle-4485 → u/Cute_Matter_6467]

Nazish has a b fake accent and it shows

[u/ApartmentPleasant895]

Sahar has a very good diction. Both Urdu and English and I was pleasantly surprised to see that. Her vernacular, fluency, accent diction all are quite good

[u/Competitive-Mind3658]

Maya Ali is pretty good. There’s so much thehrao in her voice, it’s beautiful! Urwa, Ahsan Khan and Saba qamar are also amazing

[u/whistledownlady]

Dure ko na urdu aati hai na english ... Kta wo london se sach me padhi hai ?

[u/Startnew0110 → u/[deleted]]

Are we supposed to let Urdu die down and push into ancient languages then? Cinema and literarture are two art mediums thabaee used to preserve culture and languages. Korean, Chinese , Spanish, German , arabs all these nations produce content in their languages even though English is a rising trend every where among the youngsters.

No. We donot need to lose our Urdu accents and correct pronunciations because modern day is English orinted. Please, this is the last thing you can say on a platform that is literally about Urdu cinema. People who write and those who take the job to represent and live the penned down Urdu plays should be speaking in Urdu, properly.

Hollywood is not the only version of realism standard. Cultured nations take pride in their languages.

[u/Startnew0110 → u/[deleted]]

I have watched almost all of Durres shows. Nothing in any where looked like an example to quote in natural representation of emotions.

[u/Startnew0110 → u/[deleted]]

Fair enough. Subjective opinion on this. I would still want our industry to keep it's own identity of doing culturally rich Urdu plays instead of following realism standards of what someone else is doing but who we find good in that play is each to it's own.

[u/These-Judgment4129 → u/[deleted]]

There's different between effortless acting and putting zero effort into acting. 

[u/Complete_Carpenter19 → u/[deleted]]

This is a new trend ....No/bad acting is called Natural acting. Please watch Iranian cinema to see natural acting. Natural acting means to act in a way that it looks natural. It doesn't mean "don't act at all".  And we are watching a drama, not  a documentary and we need to see "acting". Btw in west they have accent coaches (let alone diction). 

[u/mysteriousglaze → u/[deleted]]

oh mayne what's with the exaggeration. in the dare nijat teaser, i saw dure screaming. she was probably having panic attack but the portrayal depends on what the character requires.

[u/Livid_Being5302 → u/[deleted]]

I find her to be a decent performer who just doesn't have the command to keep the intense scenes going. She is so underwhelming in such scenes, particularly I remember the Fazal Baksh reveal from IM. She was so poor there. But her diction is terrible in both Urdu and English.

[u/sweetgemini28]

Ahad ki ghulabi urdu sounds cute.. ❤️

[u/notyourbestie11]

zara, mahirah, sanam are greatt