Mahira Khan breaks silence on Pakistani actors' ban in India & how it affected her career

Pakistani actress Mahira Khan had made a dream Bollywood debut alongside superstar Shah Rukh Khan in 2017 with the film Raees.The audience liked her on screen, however, she could not do any more projects in the Indian film industry.

After the Uri attack in 2016, Pakistani artistes were banned from working in Bollywood. In a recent interview, Mahira opened up about the ban and told Film Companion:

“I guess, having experienced it firsthand, it’s just sad. When I think about it… I mean, we have all moved on. That’s what we do, if we don’t have this, we do something else. That’s what happens. But I feel like a great opportunity for the entire subcontinent to come together and collaborate was lost. I think it might happen again. Who knows?”

Mahira shares how the ban affected her career and while she was offered to be a part of web series that would stream on Indian digital platforms, she let go of them because she was ‘scared’.

“A lot of the other series were offered to me and at that time… I don’t know if anybody will understand when I say this, I was scared. I was genuinely just scared. It wasn’t about what people say, I was just like, ‘I don’t know if I want to go there.’ And there was some content which was amazing, and I didn’t want to miss out on it.”

However, Mahira adds that now she does not want it to affect her career choices and hopes to collaborate with the Indian industry even if it’s on digital platforms.

Mean, Mahira Khan and Fawad Khan made their comeback on the Indian screen with a Zee series titled Yaar Julahay. The 12-episode series brings to life stories of writers such as Gulzar, Saadat Hasan Manto, Ismat Chughtai, Munshi Premchand, Amrita Pritam, Qurratulain Haider among others.

The show aired on Tata Sky Theatre on the 15th of May, and will appear on other DTH platforms as well.