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Novelist, actor and noted feminist Mira Sethi made it clear she doesn’t work with problematic people. Speaking to author Muneeb Qadir on women’s rights at a talk in August, Sethi said she was offered a role on the ARY Digital show Main Manto Nahi Hoon, but decided to turn it down because of the misogynistic views of the show’s writer, Khalilur Rehman Qamar.

A video of the interview was recently shared on social media by Qadir. In the video, the actor said she had really wanted to take the role and work alongside Humayun Saeed and Sajal Ali, whom she previously worked with on Kuch Ankahi. However, she said she turned down the offer because she felt her vocal feminism would be pointless if she worked with someone who “said such strange things about women” as Rehman has.

The role Sethi declined was a major one too — it’s that of Miss Maria, a close friend and confidante of the main character, Manto (Humayun Saeed). Sanam Saeed went on to play the role, which recently received backlash for attempting to justify a romantic relationship between Manto, a university professor and Mehmal (Sajal Ali), his student.

Sanam said in an earlier interview that she had apprehensions working on the project, but accepted the role promising herself to contest anything she found conflicting with her principles.

The drama itself has been the subject of criticism ever since one of its initial episodes had a fat-shaming joke that sparked furore on X. Fans weren’t really surprised that such a tasteless attempt at humour had landed in one of Qamar’s scripts, but they were upset to see Ali delivering it.

Sethi’s refusal to work with Qamar makes sense when one considers just how unapologetically anti-women he has been throughout the years. From abusing activist Marvi Sirmed on live television, to blaming feminism for the gruesome murder of Noor Mukadam, his misogyny knows no bounds.

The actor has previously spoken about Qamar, saying, “He has done a disservice to himself, though he doesn’t think so, because now he is a cheerleader for very, very ugly conservative, problematic thoughts in this country. He has unmasked himself and what he has revealed is deeply ugly.”