At a recent event at Aga Khan University, Mahira Khan, who made her Bollywood debut with Raees alongside Shah Rukh Khan earlier this year, spoke at length about her experience(s) as an actor in Pakistan and India and in what ways people from the two states are connected.
CultureVulture
The actor recently spoke about her experience of working in India, among other things, in a speech at Aga Khan University that has stirred a new debate on the Indo-Pak phenomenon.
At a recent event at Aga Khan University, Mahira Khan, who made her Bollywood debut with Raees alongside Shah Rukh Khan earlier this year, spoke at length about her experience(s) as an actor in Pakistan and India and in what ways people from the two states are connected. Those in attendance were quick to ask about her days in India while she was shooting for Raees that caused quite a stir in both the countries as Pakistani artists were banned from working in India and the film didn’t even release in Pakistan.
Reflecting on her experience of working there, the actor noted in her speech, “The experience was so good that I can’t even explain in words. I was very comfortable there.”
She also spoke about things that Indians and Pakistanis have in common. Sharing the similarities between the two, Khan stated, “We, in India and Pakistan, mourn and celebrate the same way. Our language is similar; we connect on a huge scale. Even though you feel that they (Indians) are strangers but they never make you feel aloof. When I felt uneasy about something, I was always heard and respected.”
While Khan was in good spirits and had only positive things to say about India, a bunch of local and Indian publications chose to extract only the negative out of her speech that would ignite hate for the actor.
Reflecting on the subject post-event, Mahira Khan took to Twitter and asked “papers” to focus on the good things and report them instead of promoting hate. Khan’s tone was slightly sarcastic but certainly not offensive.
“Dear papers, there is already a lot of hate in this world, pick up the good. Report it. Won’t lose the click-bait audience, promise!” she tweeted.
While sensationalism, particularly in the digital age is commonplace, Khan’s words have a ring of truth to them. One can only hope that the press on both sides of the border learns to report things as they stand and not incite hate for the sake of publicity.
