Mani (actor)

Salman Saqib Sheikh, credited as Mani, is a Pakistani actor, politician and host. Mani is mostly known for his comic roles. He started his career as an anchor and first roadshow 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.

Early life
Mani was born on 22 March 1977 and was 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.

Early career as actor and scriptwriter
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 the early 2000s. We mention some of them, including Sarak Chapp, which aired on Geo TV and ATV. Mani amog Azfar Ali also created the Azfar Mani Show on AAG TV. The show also experienced significant growth within the community and among the general public. This airing made them popular among such TV channels.

Mani played a generous role by participating in campaigns run by Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital. His excellent behavior and attitude drew a lot of attention from people watching commercials. They came forward to contribute as much as they could. He also contributed to various commercials and campaigns for Pepsi, Tepal, Ufone, and Mobilink.

Host
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 introduced road shows in Pakistan. He also hosted two other road shows called Road Romeo and Sarrak Chhap aired on ATV and Geo TV respectively.

Mani is also known as the pioneer of roadshows. It's an honor for him to be part of the golden generation, in which he gained much attention for sweating his hard work. He was the one who changed the audience's viewing ability with his brilliance at acting and genuine character indulgence. The cast of the TV show Sub Set Hai includes Mani, Adnan Shah Tipu, Salma Hassan, and Azfar Ali. This TV show became a world sensation among everyone, despite its borders. Mani had been part of various music channels, such as Indus Music and The Music.

He gave his best at street shows, where he asked for country issues. That was fantastic, and people loved it for being so real and oral in the community.

A similar show Ulta Seedha, penned by Faisal Qureshi, co-hosted by Mani was also aired on Geo TV. Mani then hosted the first talk show Casual for newly founded Hum TV in 2006. Hira and Mani initiated the show at Hum TV, specifically the Hum 2 Humara Show. Both of them served as the show's hosts. They upheld their reputation as an ideal couple, receiving widespread affection from both the audience and the public. This show aired for about three years, during which different actors and actresses came together and found pride in being part of the TV show.

Production
Mani produced a sports show Champions on ARY Digital. He also produced sitcoms Zerooos and Khala Surayya aired on Geo TV.

Politics
Besides being an actor, Mani is also very active in politics. He actively supported Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and attended several processions across Pakistan before joining Pak Sarzameen Party in 2018. He and his wife, Hira Mani, have criticized Imran Khan and Altaf Hussain on several occasions. He also did the polio campaign for UNICEF.

Personal life
He married fellow actress Hira Salman in 2008. Hira Salman, commonly known as Hira Mani, in her interview at Speak Your Heart With Samina Peerzada on 19 Oct 2018 explained interesting story how she met Mani. She grabbed Mani's contact number from her friend's cellular phone (who was Mani's girlfriend) secretly & started talking to him on phone by name Mariam while she was also engaged to a Banker in Dubai at that time, whom she left afterwards and married Mani. 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 (born in 2009) and Ibrahim (born in 2014).