Firdous Jamal’s ageist comments about Mahira Khan reveal our double standards

Firdous Jamal has something to say about Mahira Khan's age and it's not okay.

The veteran actor made an appearance on Faysal Qureshi's morning show, Salaam Zindagi where they played a game giving advice to different actors.

Upon Mahira Khan's picture, Firdous Jamal blurted, "You didn't even ask me what I think. I'm sorry to say if someone likes it or not, but Mahira is not heroine stuff. She's a mediocre sort of a model, she's not a good actress and is not a heroine.

"She's quite aged as well and we don't have heroines at this age, they only play the characters of mothers", added the 65-year-old actor.

First of all, "Heroine stuff" just sounds weird.

Moving on from that, can we please get rid of this dated idea of having 'heroines' from a specific age bracket? The fact that are our male actors not viewed with the same scrutiny is an argument we should not have to make in 2019.

Also, Mahira's made it this far on her own and she is here to stay, not to adhere to your norms. No amount of age-shaming can change that.

We expected a better reaction from Faysal Qureshi, who did looked surprised at the veteran actor's comments. But he chose to start the conversation himself with, "I honestly wish that at least one of Mahira's films is a hit this year. Because so far, none of Mahira's films have done well"

Later, Faysal clarified how he also said a lot of positive things which were not highlighted. But we hoped for a better defence for Mahira.

Both the actors drew criticism on their comments and people did not shy away from calling them out on Twitter.

Because what's up with this gender discrimination?

Talk about spilling the real tea

Disappointing indeed

Osman Khalid butt has something to say

Gohar Rasheed knows whats up!

We see what you did there

Here's hoping that the industry learns to stop putting fellow actors down upon such inconsequential issues, and especially not their age!