Tag: stigma

  • ‘Went out for a pack of cigarettes, still waiting for him to come back’: Ushna Shah talks about her absent father

    ‘Went out for a pack of cigarettes, still waiting for him to come back’: Ushna Shah talks about her absent father

    Actress Ushna Shah responded to a thread on X, (formerly Twitter) which asked users to tell something about their fathers. The ‘Habs’ actress responded with a heartbreaking anecdote about how her father abandoned her.

    “Went to buy a pack of cigarettes when I was an infant, will be back any minute…” the actress tweeted.

    Underneath the post, users expressed sorrow but Ushna said that because of her strong mother, she grew up to be an accomplished woman.

    The actress shared a very important point yesterday about how she hoped dramas would stop turning issues like divorce into a stigma, and write scripts that encourage women to walk out of toxic marriages. She said her mother worked hard to raise Ushna on her own, which is something we also wish more Pakistani show producers would understand.

    READ MORE: ‘Divorce is not a stigma, fix the drama scripts’: Ushna Shah

    “Many scripts I work on perpetuate shame around divorce. While I can’t reshape the conventions of scriptwriting or opt for unemployment, I stand by a vision. As the child of a divorcee who hustled with three jobs to raise us, the stigma on divorced characters feels deeply personal. I’m eager to be part of a story that addresses the stigma of divorce and combats the shame of being single after, celebrating the journey to independence and joy. Convincing producers to back such a risqué script, which may face societal backlash, is very challenging.”

  • ‘Divorce is not a stigma, fix the drama scripts’: Ushna Shah

    ‘Divorce is not a stigma, fix the drama scripts’: Ushna Shah

    Actress Ushna Shah took to her Twitter account to condemn drama scripts for stigmatising divorced women- and treat the topic like a taboo. The actress reflected on her own upbringing with a divorced mother, who had worked three jobs to bring her up, and said she would like to be a part of stories that refuse to resort to toxic stereotypes:

    “Many scripts I work on perpetuate shame around divorce. While I can’t reshape the conventions of scriptwriting or opt for unemployment, I stand by a vision. As the child of a divorcee who hustled with three jobs to raise us, the stigma on divorced characters feels deeply personal. I’m eager to be part of a story that addresses the stigma of divorce and combats the shame of being single after, celebrating the journey to independence and joy. Convincing producers to back such a risqué script, which may face societal backlash, is very challenging.”

    Many users on Twitter shared the opinion, stating that they wanted a stop to narratives that actively discourage divorce.

  • Four Pakistani dramas that broke stereotypes to introduce wide age-gap couples

    Four Pakistani dramas that broke stereotypes to introduce wide age-gap couples

    . 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

    Pakistani dramas OST

    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.

  • Shaista Lodhi wants more dramas about older people falling in love

    Shaista Lodhi wants more dramas about older people falling in love

    Dr. Shaista Lodhi spoke to BBC Urdu about her on-air drama ‘Samjhota’, which revolves around an elderly man getting married for the second time to a divorcee, after his first wife passes away.

    Lodhi revealed that she wanted to do this drama because it explored the kind of stigma elderly people face, and encouraged them to remember that they can restart their lives after retirement.

    “Whenever I’m offered a project, I try to make sure that it is on a subject that can be relatable for a lot of people…So when I heard about this story, I felt like I should do it because we need to address this issue in our society…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. We are busy with our own life, we aren’t able to give them any time, or the responsibilities we have as their child. We also can’t imagine if our father gets married for the second time. So I thought this would be food for thought for our society, and I liked the script and decided to take it on.”

    She also talked about the ways ‘Samjhota’ breaks away from formulae drama, and brings the love story between an elderly couple to the forefront.

    “It’s incredibly important that we remind our elderly that life doesn’t end when you grow old. Once they age, we restrict them in a box, and I don’t think any other drama has taken a step to discuss this topic…If our father is coughing, why do we want to send our house help to get him a glass of water and cough syrup? Instead, why don’t we show our father getting up and keeps working in this age so he can prove that he is an active part of the social set up. We snatch this energy from elderly people by telling them that they’re retired so they must sit at home…Don’t you think that as a society we are cruel to the growing segment that we call ‘elderly’ because we completely ignore them? We ignore children the same way we ignore our elderly. We only cater to the middle ground because that is the only way we can get ratings.”

    On the feedback she has been receiving on ‘Samjhota’, Lodhi said a lot of people meet her on planes and continuously ask her questions about her dramas, and have praised her for her performance.

    Listen to the full interview here:

  • VIDEO: President Alvi shares ad on stigma surrounding contraceptives

    A government-sponsored advertisement addresses the social stigma surrounding the use of contraceptives in Pakistan. President Dr Arif Alvi shared the public service announcement (PSA) and tweeted, “The health of the nation is closely linked to maternal and child health”.

    “Make the right family arrangements for prosperity, keep a check on the number of children. Ensure good health. Don’t ignore this topic but discuss it and spread the message,” the president added.

    At the end of the PSA, a helpline number is also given: 0800-1117.

    https://twitter.com/ArifAlvi/status/1437311083497328641

    People on social media are lauding the government’s initiative

    https://twitter.com/lemonfresh02/status/1437353973317570560

    https://twitter.com/ReemKhurshid/status/1437338920572887045