When Reema was first introduced on the screen with Shaan, young and slim, everyone knew actresses like Anjuman were soon to be out of business.

With her lustrous hair, perfect teeth and legs which were ready to be showed off in the big screen, Reema was the talk of the town. Even more, when rumors flared about Shaan and her, Reema was raised above ground level.

I once encountered Reema at a private concert at a café in Lahore, only to be amazed at how beautiful she was in real life. With gorgeous, silky hair, a perfect complexion which glowed without any-make-up and with the grace of a princess, she managed to get everyone's head turned when she walked in.

Reema, definitely outdid everyone else in that room. This was a decade down her career in Lollywood, a career which was just about over at that time; and looking at the beauty in that room that day, I wondered how and why directors let her go from this industry.

It was no surprise to know that directors seemed keener to cast new and young heroines like Noor, Zara Shaikh and Sana, whereas the decade old heroines had been shrugged off.

Reema seemed to be losing her charm as well as her market value like other senior film heroines. Directors began to believe that in the presence of Zara Shaikh and Noor, Reema could not be the first choice.

Other than that, Reema was called manipulative, scheming, conniving and all that by the industry people. Rumors of amorous associations with one co-star after another were a molehill compared to how she destroyed their careers if they dared to star with other actresses.

Her more than decade-long career in the film industry was brutally victimized by a few who controlled and ran it. "You don't know how cruel this industry is and how difficult it is to survive here. It is full of leg-pullers and backstabbers."

Her detractors here might have written off her career out of sheer spite. However, they could not control the pitch of applause Reema received when she was asked to perform live at the Bollywood awards, held a few months back in New York (pre-Sept 11 period of course).

She was the only actress invited from Pakistan, and certainly not because her career was on the wane. Anybody who saw her performance at the PTV Awards, held in Lahore earlier, would think twice before writing her off as a 'has been'.

Reema is not one to be conquered: she knows when to stop and when to move on. You won't find this cool-headed girl substantiate her defeats by scorning.

or over praising her detractors, be it concerning events brought forth in her career, or regarding issues of love. When Shaan got married, every eye was focused on Reema, who handled the situation more than well

"I wish them both well and as for Shaan, I'd just like to advise him that marriage is a very different contract from the ones made in the film industry. Treat this more seriously than you have treated your previous contracts and Insha Allah, you'll have a long and happy married life."

Reema is not defeated as yet. She has bigger plans and higher hopes "I am learning classical dancing from Khanu Samrat and want to go to the States to learn western dancing.

Nobody knows the effort I have put into improving myself. I believe there's much to do for me. I'm thinking of going to Hollywood. I want to go out of Pakistan and want to be known as a good Pakistani actress."

Lets see how well Reema surfaces in the near future. She has been cast in Samina Peerzada's latest venture Shararat.

Even if she doesn't surface at all, we know one thing for sure: Reema will make up for it in some other area. Or atleast, that's what she thinks she will do.