I wish I had gone to Cannes with a film, says Mahira Khan

Mahira Khan's had a busy, busy year with the release of 7 Din Mohabbat In on Eid and her much-publicised appearance at Cannes earlier in May. She talked about this latter milestone in an interview with BBC Urdu.

Her recent trip to Cannes became quite the talk of the town as many people came out to say good and bad things alike. However, Mahira Khan claimed that she does not mind criticism at all, “…because I know they are not said with any malicious intent.”

When asked about her fashion choices for Cannes, she mentioned that it was very difficult to attend Cannes as a first timer because she didn't know what to expect, further adding that “We were very short on time and my other dress got stuck in customs.”

Mahira plans on doing something more traditional for Cannes next year because she loves wearing traditional clothes, stating that “If it were up to me I would wear a peshwas and a gharara everywhere.”

Addressing criticism that one should represent Pakistan at Cannes for cinema, not fashion, she said , “I wish I had gone to Cannes with a film but I had gone there for L’Oreal Pakistan. I cannot tell you the people that I was around, from Helen Mirren to Jane Fonda. It was a proud moment on the red carpet when they announced my name and said ‘Mahira Khan from Pakistan’.” She showed us her patriotic side when she said, “I feel like Pakistan is my last name now.”

Talking more about an artist's need to represent responsibly, Mahira shares with BBC why she was one of the few celebrities who came out in support of law student Khadija Siddiqui when her attacker Shah Hussain was acquitted of all charges.

She claimed that she was compelled to speak up because an unarmed girl was stabbed in broad daylight and then denied justice. Mahira also reached out to Khadija herself. “I spoke to Khadija myself, I wanted to see her and I wanted to somehow help her.” The two still remain in touch on WhatsApp and speak from time to time.

She pointed out that speaking up is not the job of artists because it doesn’t help them professionally, “We are known for our films, our albums and our work. We’re not politicians, we don’t do this for votes. We do it because we just feel the need to do it. We put ourselves out there by speaking about issues, by going out and protesting and I think we deserve... I don’t think respect is the right word... but we should get that sort of nod from the people.”

Speaking up about her own political leanings, she said “I’m not interested in joining politics, but I was very happy to see Jibran Nasir standing for elections again this year.” She also revealed that she voted for him last time as well.

On the subject of Hamza Ali Abbasi and their recent conversation on Twitter, she said, “I did not disagree with Hamza, in fact I agreed with him. I like Jemima a lot and yes, we can all learn a lot from her but why can’t we say that we should just be like Jemima Khan, period. There is no need to make it a competition.”

She asserted that she has known Hamza for quite a few years now and they’ve worked a lot together but they are different people. However, she does agree with Hamza’s core values. “I think he is honest and believes fully in the cause that he supports and I like that about him. He is a good person but his political ideas differ greatly from mine so we just agree to disagree.”

However, she did not back down from giving her own opinion on the matter and further stated that “We should know that it is not about men and women, and I agree we should not support a woman just because she is a woman because then we are no better than the patriarchy and misogyny that we talk about. We cannot base our judgment on binaries such as a person’s gender. Hamza is my friend, which is why I took the liberty to say what I said.”