With her powerful performance in Meray Paas Tum Ho Ayeza Khan managed to steal the thunder from among a stellar list of powerhouse female actors who have been making waves on television recently. While the Pyarey Afzal star was already a household name courtesy a series of popular television serials, it was her turn as the cheating wife in the Nadeem Baig directed venture that propelled her fame and stardom to the next level.

However, that is only half the story.

Starting the ‘do takay ki’ movement?

Following the conclusion of the play, rumors started doing rounds over social media that Ayeza was slut-shamed for her role when a crowd of onlookers at an airport allegedly started chanting ‘do takay ki aurat’ as she quickly passed by. For those not in the know, this is the infamous slur used in MPTH against Ayeza Khan’s character, which many critics have accused of reflecting a misogynist bias.

Well, as the airport story started gaining more traction, Ayeza quite emphatically denied that anything at all had taken place. The social media user who originally tweeted about the alleged incident maintained his account of events.

https://twitter.com/itsthepianoguy/status/1233110351996170245

Now, as one reflects upon the legacy of the hugely popular television play, the nagging concern remains that it has given more currency and acceptability to a problematic refrain that will be embraced by misogynists. That MPTH’s writer publicly launched into a series of misogynist and transphobic tirades recently only confirms the suspicion.

Death by stoning, version 2020

All the hullaballoo surrounding Meray Paas Tum Ho aside, it seems with the play Ayeza Khan has found her new niche in enacting regressive, overly-filmi situations involving problematic gender commentary. In the teaser of her upcoming play for Geo TV, in which she performs against husband Danish Taimoor, Ayeza cries and beseeches like no other playing the cornered damsel (bahu?) in distress. As Saba Faisal scorns her for being the ‘Shadi ki raat talaq leni wali dulhan’, Saif-e-Hassan one-ups her by melodramatically calling the crowd of onlookers to – and we are not making this up – stone her. After some rapid dramatic zooms, pans and loud music that put drivel from across the border to shame, our hero Danish Taimoor arrives to save the day, with Ayeza kneeling and clinging to his knees as she bawls her heart out.

Sounds like something from the medieval ages? We kid you not. Seeing is believing, and it seems Ayeza is more than happy to embrace such problematic situations and themes, rather than using her star-power and influence in a more positive way.

There’s nothing else to say, really.

Watch the teaser here and let us know what you think in the comments below!