After having a busy year with the release of 7 Din Mohabbat In on Eid and her exalted appearance at Cannes in May. Mahira Khan talked about this latter milestone in an interview with BBC URDU.
Her recent trip to Cannes Film Festival became grist for the gossip mill, as many people said good and bad things alike. However, Mahira Khan claimed that she doesn’t mind criticism at all, ”…because I know they aren’t said with any malicious intent.”
Asked about her fashion choices for Cannes, she mentioned that ”it was very difficult as a first timer because I didn’t know what to expect”, further adding that ”We were very short on time and my other dress got stuck in customs.”
Mahira is planning on to do something more traditional for her next year’s appearance at Cannes, as much as she loves wearing traditional clothes, stating that ”If it were up to me I would wear a peshwas and a gharara everywhere.”
While addressing criticism, she said, “I wish I had gone to Cannes with a film but I had gone there for L’Oreal Pakistan. I cannot tell you the people that I was around, from Helen Mirren to Jane Fonda. It was a proud moment on the red carpet when they announced my name and said ‘Mahira Khan from Pakistan’.” She showed her patriotic side when she said, “I feel like Pakistan is my last name now.”
In her interview with BBC she talked about how an artist’s needs to represent responsibly, Mahira shared with BBC why she was one of the few celebrities who came out in support of law student Khadija Siddiqui when her attacker Shah Hussain was acquitted of all charges.
Mahira was compelled to speak up because an unarmed girl was stabbed in daylight and then denied justice. Mahira also mentioned that, she reached out to Khadija. “I spoke to Khadija myself, I wanted to see her and I wanted to somehow help her.” The two are still in touch on WhatsApp and speak from time to time.
She indicated that it’s not the job of artists to raise voices because it doesn’t help professionally. “We are known for our films, our albums and our work. We’re not politicians, we don’t do this for votes. We do it because we just feel the need to do it. We put ourselves out there by speaking about issues, by going out and protesting and I think we deserve… I don’t think respect is the right word… but we should get that sort of nod from the people.”
