An Evening with Mahira Khan was organised by Arts Council Karachi hosted by writer and intellectual Anwar Maqsood. Evening was full of witty exchanges on politics. Welcoming Anwar Maqsood and actress Mahira Khan President Arts Council Ahmed Shah said that everyone knows Mahira Khan and Anwar Maqsood. it is matter of happiness for us that Mahira is among us, I would like to thank Fiza and Nabeel.

Anwar Maqsood said, whenever I have spoken to anyone, he was politician or soldier. Today is first time I am speaking to an actress like this. I have written lot for TV actors including Uzma Geelani, Khaleda Riasat, Samina Ahmed, Sania Saeed, Rubina Ashraf, Bushra Ansari, Badar Khalil, till now I have not written any play for Mahira because since I stopped writing.

Mahira Khan said that I wanted to become an actress since childhood, my grandmother objected to this, when I was offered to be VJ, she said that I want to work in films, I took permission from my family to become VJ, when I got call from Shoaib Mansoor, I did not believe that he would do film ‘Bol’.

I told Shoaib that I have just had baby, I got answer that there is no problem, in our time, babies used to be on set, then I, mother, Abu and my son Azlan went to Lahore. Mahira Khan said that scripts are too long these days to which Anwar Maqsood said that when I wrote Sitara and Mehr un Nisa, there was no forced dialogue in it. Mahira Khan said if girls are not financially independent then they can’t do much.

During talk, Anwar took his chance to ask Mahira about her political affiliations. After asking three times, starlet finally responded, “I’m with Pathaan.” She then talked about need for an honest leader in Pakistan.

“Everyone wants to go abroad, wants their children to study abroad and even get their treatments from foreign countries, we know all this can’t be done honestly. Let’s forget about dishonesty, that’s present in flourishing nations too, it’s not just about honest leaders.”

Before concluding, superstar actress revealed an interesting memory about Shah Rukh and her nose. “When I joined industry, many people advised me to fix my nose and I said, No! If I cut my nose off, then what’s left? But I’m being serious once Shah Rukh Khan and I were doing scene and he said, ‘Look, this is war of noses!’”

I tried very hard to speak good Punjabi in Mola Jat, Anwar Maqsood said, I watched your movie ‘Mola Jat’ thrice in which Mola Jatt drinks lot and becomes Fawad Khan while romancing on social media. Mahira Khan expressed her desire and said that any politician should be honest, to which Anwar Maqsood said that an honest person can make everyone dishonest. 230 million population is, if state becomes Madina then 190 million people will have their hands cut off. the end, Mahira Khan was given Cultural Ambassador of Pakistan award by Ahmad Shah.

Published in The Daily National Courier, March, 21 2023

Like Business on Facebook, follow @DailyNCourier on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.