Sarwat Gilani has distanced herself from TV because she's done playing the damsel in distress

Over the years, you may have realised that you've seen less and less of Sarwat Gilani on TV — if you ever wondered why, the actor has finally voiced her point of view and addressed her lack of interest in TV.

In an interview with Something Haute posted on YouTube on Tuesday, the Churails actor talked about her preference changing to independent projects over commercial ones on television. She said it was due to her becoming more vocal about some very important issues that were not being given their due in these TV serials.

"With time I got into speaking up on women's rights, against child abuse, against so many serious real-life topics that I felt that if I'm talking about it, if I'm believing that that's a certain thing that should be practised in our society I cannot go back to being the mazloom sisakti hui aurat [damsel in distress] because I just don't believe in that."

The Qatil Haseenaon Ke Naam actor said that Pakistani women are incredible and there are many examples that deserve recognition. "We need to tell those stories, those success stories, and not have a premise of an entire season or serial of 26 episodes. Whether the girl is good enough to be married to this guy and whether she's good enough to be accepted by the in-laws — life is way beyond all of those things, for women [especially]. And [they] are really breaking boundaries to get out of that stereotype," she said.

The Naulakha actor explained that television was holding her back in that regard. "I did television for 20 years — and I did play the mazloom sisakti hui aurat but I felt like enough of that. I did Khasara (2018), that was my last television [role] and in [it] I played a really strong woman. That is the kind of substance I want to portray, that women are strong [and that they] are great examples of leaders."

Gilani's latest project has been a role in Joyland, an independent film produced by Saim Sadiq that was featured at Cannes 2022 — Pakistan's first competitive entry — and ended up bagging two awards as well. She has also been seen in Zee5 productions Qatil Haseenaon Ke Naam and Churails.