Actor Mahira Khan has responded to the criticism being directed at her over the television drama ‘Hum Kahan Key Sachey Thay’ admitting that a lot of what is shown in the play is regressive and that there should have been trigger warnings.
A lot of fans have criticised the drama serial for being slow and glorifying toxicity.
While doing an interview with Something Haute Khan said “When I read the first 10 episodes, I was like this is fantastic. Mehreen had such swag, you know. She is lonely and alone as a woman but she is a fighter. She used to reply back to the mumani [maternal aunt]. She’s ironing clothes for her nani [maternal grandmother] but is still giving a reply. She had a lot of self respect and I loved that. So then I called her [Nina Kashif] and I was like ‘I have read the first 10 episodes and they are fantastic’. I also loved Mashal and said I want to do Mashal. She [Nina] was like ‘are your crazy? who wants to do Mashal when I am offering you Mehreen’. Mashal was such a character you know. There was much you could do with her. So that’s it, one day I got up and I was like I’ll do [the drama].”
While responding to the criticism that the drama was regressive Khan said, “The thing is, obviously I get so much feedback and [I get it] quickly. I understand [people’s responses]. Even when I was reading [the script], I was feeling like ‘I want to kill Aswad’ and ‘why doesn’t Mehreen get up and do something about it. But you see, to show such abuse exists, to show trauma like this, you have to portray it”.
Khan admitted that There is a regressive nature to a lot of what is happening in Hum Kahan Key Sachey Thay but was it like that from the start? It wasn’t. Was she [Mehreen] this person from the start? No, she wasn’t”.
She added, “There is no one who takes criticism more seriously than I do,” she said. “I agree that there should have been trigger warnings”.
