Just a few days ago, a video of veteran actor Firdous Jamal making sexist and ageist remarks about Mahira Khan went viral. His comments received severe backlash from almost all of the people in the industry. While most people showed their support for Mahira in a few words, CEO of MD Productions Momina Duraid stated that her company would not be working with him again in any capacity. She further went on to say that she was ashamed that Firdous Jamal was part of the fraternity.
You can read Momina’s full statement here.
Hamza Firdous Reacts
Reacting to Momina’s statement, Firdous Jamal’s son, Hamza Firdous released a video message. In his video, he said that he respects Momina’s decision of not wanting to work with his father again but he felt disappointed on her statement, of saying that she was ashamed that Firdous Jamal was part of the industry. He further went on to say that Momina should not forget his father’s stature and the respect given to him by God and the public, not MD Productions. Moving on, he said that he was ashamed to have ever been a part of Hum TV’s productions. Hamza called the matter a nonissue that was being unnecessarily dragged. He also stated that his father had been getting calls from various channels to further comment on the situation but stayed quiet. Hamza urged everyone to not ridicule, defame or hurl abuses at his father while starting a support movement called #SupportFirdousJamal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdK9dVpfBpo&fbclid=IwAR0nww5NbEqf68wzMkCr0EABfOUbXjlzGQFhFuSoeEWn6VJ1knDzc9Eu_uM
Celebrity Attention
As the matter gained momentum, many celebrities came forward to give their opinion. Iffat Umar, Feroze Khan, Bilal Ashraf, and even Mahira Khan spoke up.
When asked in an interview about Firdous Jamal’s opinion, Mahira commented that while she was thankful for the support from the industry, she had already spoken on the matter, it had been blown out of proportion mainly due to social media. She also said that she feels as an artist, everyone should respect each other. Ending her comment, she said she had already played a mother in Humsafar and plans to stay in the industry until she plays a nani dadi or par-nani even.
’میرا ارادہ ہے کہ میں شوبز میں رہوں اور نانی دادی بلکہ پڑنانی کے کردار بھی ادا کروں‘
انڈپینڈنٹ اردو کے ساتھ ماہرہ خان کا خصوصی انٹرویو@TheMahiraKhan @indyurdu pic.twitter.com/y2zxtuvDbs
— Independent Urdu (@indyurdu) August 1, 2019
While Bilal lent his support towards Momina’s decision, Feroze left no stone unturned to call out the producer on her statement. Here is what he said “my question… is this what freedom of speech gets you ?! Getting someone’s bread and butter cancelled?? If it does … then I want every single bastard out there bashing any human being on the internet get cancelled the same way !! Coz you can’t ! 🙂 Enough is enough !”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0nqkh1F4kn/?igshid=1fqbox869amfp
While the remarks made by Firdous Sahab were certainly unfavorable, we applaud Mahira’s graceful response. Nonetheless, we feel the matter has been blown out of proportion.
What do you guys think on the whole scenario?
