You know, people in India have a notion about Pakistani women. They are always burqa clad, they don’t wear jeans, they’re always in salwar-kameez, not allowed to express their views. Do you girls want to say something that will change this mindset?
Sarwat Gilani: When the Kara Film Festival happened in Karachi, which is in the 90s, we had Ajay Devgn-ji and some people come in from India. And so I remember I was hosting the red carpet and this director from India or a writer from India… a girl, a young girl… she came on the red carpet and her first question was, “Oh my God! You’re not wearing burqas? I understood you would all be in burqas”. So I said, “No. In Pakistan we wear jeans and even salwar-kameez.” So she was quite shocked. But I was really hoping that, you know, from then to now, all the drama that have gone from Pakistan, there’s been quite a big market for our dramas. And I thought that’s going to change, but it hasn’t changed! Please tell me it’s changed.
Nimra Bucha: I do find that the media, the Indian media, portrays Pakistanis as something that we sort of, I think, left behind in the 50s cinema. Like aadab and sort of the Queen’s way of speaking. I think that only people in cinema, in movies, spoke like that.
Yasra Rizvi: In India, I’m sure you have some areas where people are more conservative. In the same way, Pakistan has some places, some areas, where there is a more conservative mindset, conservative dressing sense.
Nimra Bucha: Actually, in our villages the women dress very practically, you know. They’re not covered like from head to toe because they have to work in the fields. They have to work under very harsh conditions
Yasra Rizvi: Personal choice is more in vogue. It depends on your family. How conservative are they? How is your upbringing? It’s that way. That’s what dictates it mostly here.
Mehar Bano: We were India some 70 years ago.So I don’t think there’s much of a difference. But yeah, I suppose there is a difference if you talk about how we are portrayed in the media in India. But I’m not really aware of that completely.