News Desk |
Mehwish Hayat believes the dressing of woman is not proportional to the level of molestation she confronts in the society. In an Instagram post, she shared a clip from her movie, ‘Actor in Law’.
In the caption, she wrote: “There is a misconception that the way a woman dresses is what attracts abuse. This is something we dealt with in my film Actor in Law when a woman wearing a “burkha” also attracted vilification… The way that a woman dresses has no bearing on the way she is treated. This is simply down to the mentality of some of the misogynistic elements in our society.”
This is not the first time the actress has raised her voice to bring an end to the subjugation of women in society.
She became the first actress to introduce Hollywood’s campaign ‘Times Up’ in Pakistan. In her early post, she wore black to express her solidarity with the victims of sexual abuse.
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Mehwish Hayat is one of the rising names of the Pakistani film industry. After proving her mettle on the silver screen, she began her career with the song ‘Billi’ in Fahd Mustafa’s ‘Na Maloom Afraad’.
She was heavily criticized for her bold representation in the movie. The actress defended herself by saying that item songs are not a new inclusion to the Pakistani movies, even older Pakistani movies had ‘mujra’ in them.
“I think criticism comes with appreciation. Again, that very situation in Na Maloom Afraad was a goons’ after-party. Billi was a character – she represented the lust of a certain class and none of it was forced,” she justified.
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Her song stirred a debate countywide that should Pakistani movies follow the culture of sensual representation of women for the sake of ratings and popularity or not.
While a certain section of society opposes the sensual portrayal of women in movies, another section defends it as a mere form of art.