Once more, men think they’re too entitled to age-shame actresses

Picture of Mahnoor Jalal

Mahnoor Jalal

Sub-Editor

Doesn’t matter if Pakistan has seen a rise of horrific murder cases, there is a genocide happening in another country, all men seem to think they’re entitled to is lecturing women about how they should dress and what they should do with their lives. Like, the audacity is astounding.

And who is the man this time who decided he knows better than anyone else about how women should dress? It was Firdous Jamal, a senior actor who made an appearance at a GNN talk show where he made an unflattering comment about Mahira Khan. Jamal said that Mahira has grown too old to play lead roles in romantic dramas, and should now solely stick to playing roles that involve being the mother.

 

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This is not the first time apparently that Mahira has lived rent free in Firdous’s mind. Previously in 2019, the actor caused a social media storm when he expressed his distaste for the ‘Maula Jatt’ actress and advised her to stick to the role of a mother, as apparently she cannot play heroines.

But it looks like Firdous hasn’t still learned his lesson that it is never appropriate or okay to age-shame actresses.

But we do have a question for Mr Firdous, why does he have a problem solely with Mahira playing lead roles rather than with the other male actors who are crossing 50 and still considered as romantic heroes? If he seems to assume that Mahira’s age means she should play motherly roles, then why doesn’t he have the same issue with Fahad Mustafa, Humayun Saeed or Adnan Siddiqui, all of those who are crossing 50 and still playing lead roles in romantic dramas?

Or is it only the fact that women are considered to be in their prime in their twenties, and once they reach their late thirties its only considered right to discard them to the backseat.

Time and time again, senior male actors have proven their gross entitlement towards treating young female actresses with disdain, that proves how the film industry still has a long way to go in regards to how women are respected. Back in May, Ali Gul Mullah made a disparaging comment towards Dur-e-Fishan Saleem by commenting on how she needs to lose more weight. It’s like this isn’t the same actress who had won over the entire country with her spectacular performance in ‘Ishq-e-Murshid’.

We’d like that for once, men stopped inserting themselves in to every single woman’s life, and instead focused on the things need more attention on more urgent matters like the ongoing genocide in Falasteen, or the hit and run incidents in the country?