Actress and aesthetic surgeon Shaista Lodhi appeared as a guest at the late night talk show ‘Mazaaq Raat’ where she criticised Pakistani obsession with fair skin.
The actress revealed that several women come to her clinic to improve their skin tone by makin it fairer.
“Literally, I say to them do you want to look like pigeons? Kyun kay wo already is tarhan ki complexion ki hoti hain kay aur zarorat nah hain. Ab sirf rang phat sakta hai.”
Previously, speaking on ‘The Talk Talk Show’, Lodhi opened up about coming across clients who came to her after being bullied by their husbands on their physical features. She recalled a patient coming along with her husband, who jokingly suggested to the surgeon to make his wife look like her.
Previously, speaking on ‘The Talk Talk Show’, Lodhi opened up about coming across clients who came to her after being bullied by their husbands on their physical features. She recalled a patient coming along with her husband, who jokingly suggested to the surgeon to make his wife look like her.
“You can see the way women are treated in our society,” lamented the ‘Pardes’ actress. “That girl was sitting in a corner and politely laughing while I wanted to slap him right away. But that woman kept silent, even though it must be torturous for her to stay with such a man who keeps taunting her with things like ‘Tumharay baal hain’, ‘tumharay boaht ziada baal hain’..”
In a exhilarating match on Thursday, the Pakistani cricket team were officially out of Asia Cup 2023 after losing to Sri Lanka by two wickets, paving the way for the island nation to face off against India in Colombo. Although many expressed their disappointment at the lack of performance, including former captain Shahid Afridi, many were still proud of the effort the boys in green displayed. Since yesterday, prominent celebrities like Shahista Lodhi and Mawra Hocane sent uplifting messages to the cricket team, especially to captain Babar Azam for his efforts to make it this far.
The aesthetic surgeon and actress took to Instagram to express her pride at the way Babar Azam kept fighting till the end.
“Dear skipper Babar Azam, proud of the way you fought. I will never stop supporting you no matter what. Chin up King don’t let your crown fall.”
Hocane sisters Mawra and Urwa rallied behind the boys in green, commending them for their hard work and prayed that more achievements will arrive soon.
Koi baat nahi..you put up a great fight Pakistan..the better team won.. #AsiaCup2023 congratulations Srilanka well done Pakistan ❤️❤️❤️❤️ My heart will always pray for you..never hopeless ever..I won’t lie, I cried a tear or two but here’s to many many heart warming…
Veteran actress Shagufta Ejaz wants more women- especially those who aren’t young- to break down the misconceptions and stigma surrounding cosmetic surgery.
The actress recently uploaded a vlog where she opened up about getting Botox surgery and provided a breakdown of what the procedure entails. The actor said her intention was to reduce the wrinkles on her forehead and eyes, adding that this was the fourth time she was getting Botox.
“So, I didn’t want a frozen expression. I wanted to frown and lift my eyebrows and go sad and all. So, this is why I told [the doctor] that I wanted a 40% erase, and 60% expressions.”
The actress showed her fans how the procedure progressed, showcasing the bruises around her eyes and the wrinkles on her forehead fading.
Shagufta also talked in her vlog about the stigma surrounding Botox.
“I believe that one should be honest about whatever you do,” pointed out the ‘Mere Damad’ actress. “A lot of people are getting it done; some want to disclose it, some do not. This is their personal choice and I thought this is the fourth time in my entire life that I’m getting this done and this time I wanted that I should share with you.”
We’re incredibly happy that more actresses are encouraging women to stop listening to the stereotypical remarks that as women age, they must stop focusing on their looks and be sent out to pasture. Previously, Shahista Lodhi slammed age-shaming remarks while speaking about being mistaken as her son’s girlfriend. Lodhi reflected on how in Pakistan, women here are shamed if they invest too much attention on their looks as they grow older:
“If you’ve had kids at a young age then is that also my fault? Apparently, that becomes a taunt too here…Why should I lie about it? It feels good that I have maintained myself even at this age.”
On ‘The Talk Talk Show’, the aesthetic physician recalled counselling a woman who was kicked out of her house because of stretch marks, stressing that its not worth saving an abusive marriage if it depends on you getting surgery.
Actress and aesthetic physician Shaista Lodhi appeared as a guest on the ‘The Talk Talk Show’ where she spoke about her career as an aesthetic physician, who provides cosmetic medical surgeries to celebrities, politicians and the general public. She spoke about the dark side of her career, revealing that young women and girls come to her after being bullied by men about their features.
The ‘Samjhota’ actress said that many young girls and women visited her clinic led by insecurity about their features, after their husbands send them pictures.
“Those pictures were given to them by their fiancés,” revealed Shahista. “Then I tell them that they should get rid of this man first. Can you imagine? It’s such an insult for a man to tell you to look like this woman.”
Shahista shared another horrifying instance where a patient came with her husband, who jokingly asked the surgeon to make his wife look like her. The actress recalled feeling outraged and wanting to lash out at the man.
“You can see the way women are treated in our society,” lamented the ‘Pardes’ actress. “That girl was sitting in a corner and politely laughing while I wanted to slap him right away. But that woman kept silent, even though it must be torturous for her to stay with such a man who keeps taunting her with things like ‘Tumharay baal hain’, ‘tumharay boaht ziada baal hain’..”
Shahista Lodhi said women are consistently scrutinized and made to feel inferior because of their looks, and bullied by their in-laws over things like their skin coloror body type. She went on to point out that these things don’t prove that there is a problem with women, but it is men who have complexes.
Shahista further stressed that if people want to get plastic surgery, they should, but never at the cost of their insecurities.
When asked about she deals with women coming to her wanting to change features, Shahista spoke about the time a woman came to her clinic asking to remove her stretch marks because she was kicked out her house- which completely shocked the actress.
“Three days ago a woman came to me and said she recently delivered a baby, and her husband kicked her out of the house because of her stretch marks. And the woman had been staying at her mother’s house for the past 20 days.
“I tried in any way I could to console her and tell her she’s earned this. Allah made you a gift, and you’re not alone in this. How could a man tell you this!”
Shahista re-called the woman begging her to fix her marks so she might save her marriage, and the actress said “If you think fixing your stretch marks would save your marriage, then its better such a union never happened!”
Kudo’s to Shahista for taking such a powerful standard against imposing such beauty standards on women- and reminding them that its not worth fixing a marriage where you are imposed into taking such measures.
. We are all familiar with the stereotypical Pakistani lead couple, a toxic and underwhelming boy who is ‘edgy’ and ‘dark’ because of his traumatizing past, and the hoor-pari good girl who has never walked outside apnay ghar ki chaar dewariyan, and has apparently never interacted with a man in her life. They meet, stalk, harass, fall in love, shaadi, divorce, phir pyar and then happy ending.
But quiet rarely, Pakistani dramas take a step to break these stereotypes and introduce us to a couple where either both or one person is a middle-aged woman. It’s a rare stand against stereotypical depictions of women disappearing after they turn forty.
But it’s important now that women are reminded that their beauty and desirability doesn’t finish the moment they turn thirty. Life doesn’t end.
Thankfully, Pakistani dramas have slowly been catching up on breaking this stigma by giving us a few very poignant and well-written dramas that had cast a middle-aged woman in a romantic relationship as the central lead of their drama.
1 Dobara
Dobara was embraced with open arms by Pakistani audiences when it debuted. Hadiqa Kiana starred as Mehru Nisa, a woman in her forties with two grown children who was learning to re-live her life on her own terms after being forcibly married when she was sixteen years old and deprived of doing everything she had ever loved. Mehru Nisa’s relationship with Maahir, a man who was in his twenties, is the most heart warming aspect of this drama because of the way he helps her gain confidence in doing whatever she wanted to do, and also defends her from her family members who consistently bully her.
2 Jhoom
This upcoming drama features Zara Noor Abbas and Haroon Kadwani as lovers with a wide age gap between them. According to the trailer, the premise revolves around backlash from society who cannot accept an older woman marrying a younger man.
3 Samjhota
Shahista Lodhi’s on-air drama revolved around an old man’s marriage. After his wife passes away, he decides to marry Nargis. But his re-marriage at this age doesn’t bode well with his children, who refuse to treat Nargis with kindness.
Speaking on the importance of approaching this topic, Lodhi who starred as Nargis in the drama, said that she wanted to do this project because of how it reminds that the elderly that life doesn’t end when they grow old:
“It showed that at a certain age when we think our elderly mother and father are only around to take care of our children, but instead you’ll witness the love story between these two main characters in the drama. I thought this was such a great example being set. The other thing is in our society at a certain age our parents are left lonely while we get busy building our own lives. We seem to think that our parents can’t find a new partner after their own spouse and they don’t have a life of their own.”
4 Teri Raah Mein Rul Gayi
Samiya Mumtaz essays the role of a middle aged woman whose husband passed away a year after their marriage, leaving her in grief. Her brother-in-law stands up to society by providing for her every single need, and declares that he has fallen in love with her.
