Danish Taimoor, filhaal and the curse of a fragile male ego
The actor's comments during a recent TV appearance have started an important conversation on respecting your wife.
Actor and filmmaker Shahood Alvi says people on the internet are taking his words out of context and misrepresenting his views on women after clips surfaced of his appearance on Monday’s episode of Good Morning Pakistan.
In his post on Tuesday, Alvi claimed his words had been twisted and that what people on social media chose to focus on were not his views, but those of “the majority of men in our society”.
“This has nothing to do with my views on women,” he explained.
The filmmaker said he believed in empowering and supporting strong and confident women, which reflected in how he treated his wife and daughter.
He said he provided his wife “with all the household help she needs” and respected everything she had done for him.
Alvi came under fire for his statements made during a programme themed around marital disputes.
A caller to the show complained that her husband used his phone excessively after work and failed to pay attention to her at home. In response, host Nida Yasir quipped that when her husband is too engrossed in his phone, she just goes into another room and sends him a voice message with whatever it was she needed to tell him.
Alvi — after jokingly suggesting that her husband might be cheating on her — told the woman she should do something to make her husband pay attention to her, like making him a good meal.
Actor Leyla Zuberi, who was sitting next to him, suggested she should dress up and do make-up before her husband comes home, as that’s what her mother used to do.
Actor Fahima Awan, who was also on the show, said she would “side with the men here” and suggested that the woman’s husband may be in no mood to chat after a long day at work. She said maybe reading more and knowing more about the world would help the caller engage her spouse in a more intellectually stimulating conversation.
Later, as the host and the other guests were discussing the significance of physical and intellectual grooming, Alvi chimed in saying a husband may not be thrilled to talk to his wife if “he comes home and she’s smelling of ginger and garlic”.
He said this was in contrast to the women he interacts with in the workplace who “are wearing perfume as they work alongside him”.
Responding to the backlash over the above statement, Alvi on Tuesday said: “Shame on people who try to tarnish one’s reputation just for views.”