‘I wasn’t comfortable working with him so I said no’: Iqra Aziz on her decision to retract project with Feroze Khan

Iqra Aziz has explained her decision to distance herself from her Khuda Aur Mohabbat 3 costar Feroze Khan and why she decided to opt out of future projects with him. The Ranjha Ranjha Kardi actor said she simply was not comfortable working with him after he was accused of domestic violence by his wife Aliza Sultan. She said everyone has the right to choose how they want to work and who they want to work with.

Aziz appeared on The Talk Talk Show and talked about her retraction. “For me, it was a very personal decision. I did what I thought was right for me and [it was] what I wanted to do, what according to me was the right choice. I took a decision — I wasn’t comfortable working with him, so I said no. I wasn’t waiting for anything to be proved to take action because before that, there was a span of time in which we had to work together and I wasn’t comfortable so I said no,” she said.

The host summarised her point saying that the bottom line is it’s okay for an actor to have the liberty to say no if they’re uncomfortable working with someone. “Of course!” Aziz responded. “I think that we live in an era where, whether it’s a woman or a man, working in this industry or anywhere, other than the choice of career, they have the right to say yes or no to however they want to work according to their comfort level and to who they’re comfortable working with.”

The interviewer then asked her if her take would be any different if in the future the allegations proved to be false in court. “I think we have to wait for that time then. We can only decide that then, we can’t decide before time thinking what if this happens, just based on assumptions,” replied the Suno Chanda actor.

When the host tried to dig into the matter some more, Aziz put a stop to it with an uncomfortable chuckle and asked him to leave it at that instead of going so deep into it.

In late October, Sultan presented emergency room reports and photos of her bruises in a Karachi family court as proof of abuse. Shortly after, Aziz released a public statement showing support for Sultan and victims of domestic violence. She announced that she was opting out of her project with Khan.