Mani (actor)


Salman Saqib Sheikh, credited as Mani, is a Pakistani television actor, host and VJ. Mani is mostly known for his comic roles. He started his career as a junior anchor and host before becoming a sitcom and comedy actor. He is known for his roles in Meri Teri Kahani, Bandish and the telefilm Dil Toh Bacha Hai.

Life and career

Mani was born and raised in a locality of Gulshan-e-Iqbal in Karachi. During an interview with Samina Peerzada, Mani explains that despite his father Saquib Sheikh was an actor and his elder sister Ayesha Mirza is an actress, he was interested in sports during his early days and did not think about venturing into the television. His initial interest grew after his minor appearance in a theatre with a theatre group Katha stars Sania Saeed and Nadia Jamil. He started his career in television as a junior anchor and host before becoming an actor. He wrote scripts for Fakhar-e-Alam's show Boom Boom Bastic aired on PTV.
In 2001, he hosted the first ever Road Show in Pakistan Television's history called Streets, aired on Indus Vision in which he conducts the show by asking issue based questions to general public of Pakistan. He started the trend of road shows in Pakistan. He also hosted two other road shows called Road Romeo and Sarrak Chhap aired on ATV and Geo TV respectively. After that he collaborated with Azfar Ali, Adnan Shah Tipu in a sitcom Sub Set Hai and also did a Radio Show with Azfar Ali. After that he collaborated with a music channel called ARY Musik and started the Political Satire show Mani-ism which was based on current political and social news. A similar show Ulta Seedha, penned by Faisal Qureshi, co-hosted by Mani was also aired on Geo TV. Mani then hosted the first Talkshow Casual for newly founded Hum TV in 2006. After that Mani hosted a game show called Hero Ya Zero scripted by Asif Rasheed Bony. He started a brunch show called Hum 2 Humara Show co-hosted by his wife Hira. He also produced sitcoms Zerooos and Khala Surayya aired on Geo TV.

Television

As host

As producer

As actor

YearTitleRoleNotes
2000Mera Ghar Aik WhirpoolWriter
Sub Set Hai
Ulta Seedha
2013Shilae MaseenTelefilm
2013Meri Teri KahaniManiInspired by American series Curb Your Enthusiasm
2013Hum Sab Ajeeb Se HainBehtreen friend; International
2014Firaaq
2014Jab We Wed
2015Mr. Shamim
2017Lollipop
2017Yaqeen Ka SafarHaroon
2019BandishDr. Abhiyaan
2019Dil Toh Bacha Hai''Telefilm

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
2019The Donkey KingRangeelaAnimated film
2020Ishrat Made in ChinaTBA

Personal life

He married fellow actress Hira Salman in 2008. Their marriage ceremony took place on 18 April 2008. They frequently work together in most of their projects after marriage. The couple has two sons: Muzammil and Ibrahim.