Naumaan Ijaz has often ruffled feathers with his opinions on the global #MeToo movement and thoughts on feminism.
The veteran actor in a recent interview talked about his character in Dunk and the “misuse” of #MeToo movement.
Responding to a question about controversies these days, Ijaz said: “Controversies are not created from our side they are created [by other people], for [their own] personal interests.”
He continued: “The problem we have here is that sometimes someone says something in a different state of mind and we don’t understand the context and we just cherry-pick.”
The actor added that controversies don’t bother him and people can say whatever they want about him.
Talking about the criticism he faced for his character in Dunk, Ijaz said: “The criticism should have been subjected on the character or the subject, not on me.”
“The story is based upon real incident, that happened in Punjab, where someone was falsely accused harassment,” shared Ijaz. “Whenever we accuse someone we do not realise the impact that accusation will have on that person, and their family.”
The actor continued: “No one has tried to sabotage the #MeToo Movement. No one should [be allowed to] harass anyone. There should be a punishment for it [harassment].”
“But who will decide if it actually happened [the harassment]?, he questioned.
“We have black sheeps in our society who manipulate right things in a wrong way,” stated Naumaan. “[We are] just pointing out that this can also happen [false accusations of harassment]. So before punishing anyone, it is better to investigate and verify.”
He further said: “Iss play se to mere khayal mein hakoomat ko yeh faisla karna chaheeye kay iss mulk me jhoota ilzam lagani ki bhi koi saza honi chaheeye (The government should consider making false accusations of harassment a crime in the country).”
Meanwhile, answering a question about an interview he gave earlier in which he talked about cheating on his wife and getting away with it because he is such “a great actor,” Naumaan said: “I am only answerable to Allah. I don’t bother with what people think.”
Later, in a social media post, Ijaz said: “We love to hate. If we don’t like anyone, just ignore. But no, it’s our farz to abuse or write something nasty in [the] comments.”
“How can we talk about tolerance when we don’t have it in us,” he added.