On a warm sunny morning, Sajid Hasan's servant wouldn't let me in, insisting that he was asleep, while I insisted that I had spoken to him on the phone for the directions to his house, five minutes ago!

Before the argument could reach an alarming intensity, Sajid intervened from his balcony and shouted in his familiar, booming voice to let me in while flashing a semi-embarrassed grin.

He sauntered into his drawing room later with a cricket ball in one hand and a Spanish pointer following behind. Dressed in khaki jeans, a black T-shirt and sporting a salt and pepper stubble, this was Sajid Hasan - the famous actor.

He entered into the thespian field some 20-years ago. "I began as a stage hand and gradually moved into acting. Since then I've been involved with media in one capacity or the other. Because acting takes all your energy away you need some respite from it. Occasionally, I get thoroughly tired of it", he explains his 20 years in the field.

These days Sajid has donned the writer's cap, and a few direction ventures might materialize as well. He feels he has been around far too long when told that he hasn't yet made viewers sick of him with overexposure.

"Au contraire. I feel I have been on TV a lot," he says, adding with a half self-conscious, half smug smile, "well people have been really nice to me."

Sajid has a notorious reputation amongst the TV people. "(They) don't want to work with me because they feel I bulldoze their projects and I take charge."

But surely there must be a reason if everyone thinks so? "No" Sajid says. "I feel that I should be left (alone) to understand and deliver my (lines) in peace rather than being told what to do all the time. I am mature enough to know how to act."

Does acting come naturally to him? "I think you learn over the years. Believe it or not, two days before a certain recording I'm miserable at the prospect of acting," he says rolling his eyes. "Because waiting sort of puts you in limbo. Once I start doing (the serial), it seeps in and then I enjoy it and that shows."

The subject of Sajid's marriage to Shakila had to come in the conversation of course. He got married 12 years ago and is content regarding his domestic life.

"I married Shakila because she was (the one for me). She is the best thing that happened to me. She was an aerobics teacher and I found her very different from the rest. She was very sporty and that is rare in our part of the world. Even today she is a friend first and anything else later. We have a four year old son named Sahir and he has given me all the more reason to be fulfilled. It is a wonderful feeling being a father."

Doesn't he miss not having a daughter?

"Well for now I'm enjoying the son so much that I never got the time to think (about) that!"

He remembers his parents as a supportive duo. "My mother had left me to my own devices and my father was extremely progressive. He never stopped me from doing anything." He repeats the word anything thrice for maximum effect. "He was a sufi at heart with a tasbeeh in hand. All he asked of me was to remove Syed from my name if I was to venture in this field and I did that."

Sajid is gregarious. He drowns any other voice when he animatedly talks about the artist community. "I have been fortunate to have worked with luminaries like Yasmeen Ismail, Latif Kapadia, Anwar Maqsood and Rahat Kazmi.

We have people like Anwar Maqsood and Talat Husain who do not work for a certain project because they don't feel up to it despite depending wholly on showbiz for their bread and butter. You can see that they have completely given themselves to the performing arts not caring for the incentives. This isn't the case in other countries like India."

Yet he adds, "Our actor has been robbed of a voice (far) too long now. He needs freedom of expression. The system has made us complete pygmies. Our showbiz is like an imbecile. It is pathetic and idiotic, we need a tremendous amount of discipline."

What could be the solution, one wonders.

"There is so much that can be done. Simple things can make a difference. The PTV board for one can be opened to artists. Be they writers, directors or actors. For God's sake, let them in now. The Arts Council needs to be looked into. The government needs to give some importance to the artists. They aren't just fools out to amuse people. They can change entire societies if given a voice."

And why didn't he get a hair transplant done we ask, trying to lighten the mood a bit. "Well, I didn't get the time" he says, giving a mischievous half smile. "But hardly a day passes by when somebody doesn't cry out loud O ganjay!. I have gotten used to it now. People have been really nice to me so why bother" he adds with a full smile now.

So back again on the serious track, he speaks about politics, Palestine, society, film and what not. Sajid, at 40, has strong opinions and is flexible about them only when he sees logic in them. One catches a brief glimpse of his sensitive side when he talks about all the loss of life in war-torn areas.

"Somehow sane voices are being drowned deliberately. You feel as though all the conspiracy theories against Muslims might have some truth to them. It's a (terrible) loss for all people at large."

As he walks me back to my car parked several houses away, he seems the ordinary guy next door. Greeting neighbours, the dog following close behind, the cricket ball still in hand. Well not entirely ordinary. A halo of confidence and an air of self assurance makes him stand out. He's got charisma.