Mehwish Hayat, one of Pakistan’s leading actors, has been acting since she was a child. She had managed to garner a huge fan following worldwide, because of her bold personality and phenomenal acting skills. In a recent interview with a local TV channel, the Actor In Law star shared her thoughts on sexual harassment, marriage and item numbers. When asked by Wajahat about her chemistry with her co-stars on screen, Mehwish, without any hesitation said, “I have been lucky enough to share an ideal chemistry with almost all my co-stars, be it Fahad Mustafa or Humayun Saeed. I am absolutely comfortable working with them because of our strong bond.” The Dillagi actor also shared her views about the most controversial topic that is ‘item numbers’ and said, “Item numbers are nothing new; they’ve been going on in our industry since forever, however I chose to do an item song because I wanted to break the image of being the girl next door, get away from dramas and do something different. I took permission from my family and made sure it was not vulgar.” The conversation then took a turn and shed light on the most sensitive topic – sexual harassment – to which Mehwish said,“ It does not matter what you wear, be it a burqa, you are bound to be harassed because it is in the mentality of people.” “Whether you wear burqa or don’t wear one, it’s your personal choice, you shouldn’t be judged, objectified or harassed based on what you wear”. Mehwish recalled a scene from her film Actor In Law where Fahad Mustafa wears a burqa and goes out in the market, and ends up being harassed even in an attire like that. She shared her thoughts about Meesha Shafi and Ali Zafar’s case too and said, “I would have handled the situation differently. Meesha being a strong woman should not have taken social media’s help. However, I am in no place to judge who is right and who is wrong; it takes a lot of courage for a girl to speak up if she has been harassed and I pray that the right person may get justice” She further spoke about going into direction. The Punjab Nahi Jaungi actor said she was half a director already but she would want to go to a film school and study direction. Mehwish expressed her dislike for the Bollywood movies that are being produced in the new era. “They do not appeal to me to work in Bollywood, the recent Indian movies have lost their charm. They need to make more movies like Devdas, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham.” “I don’t say that I will never work in Bollywood, I am an actor and be it an Irani cinema or Hollywood I don’t mind as far as it is a suitable role.” The interview, which according to Mehwish was her most candid interview to date, ended on a sweet note where she sang a few words from her upcoming song for her beloved fans. The starlet has recently been in the limelight when the news of her starring in a Benazir Bhutto biopic went viral on social media; it wasn’t taken well by Benazir’s daughter, Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari. Mehwish, however, was quick to respond. “There is a project at the very early stages of development about your amazing mother. This cannot and will not be done without the consent or blessing of the family. I am sure that the team involved will be in touch before they progress further,” she tweeted. So let’s see if the biopic will ever become reality or not. We are waiting anxiously! Published in Daily Times, June 27th 2018.