"having experienced it firsthand, it’s just sad."
Mahira Khan expressed her sadness over the ban on Pakistani artists in India.
Pakistani artists were banned from working in Bollywood after the 2016 Uri attack.
Mahira may have starred in the 2017 Bollywood film Raees, however, she could not come to India to promote the film.
She has now opened up on the matter, revealing that she refused a lot of web shows that were to be streamed on Indian platforms.
Talking about the ban, Mahira explained:
“I guess, having experienced it firsthand, it’s just sad.
“When I think about it, I mean, we have all moved on.
“That’s what we do, if we don’t have this, we do something else. That’s what happens.
“But I feel like a great opportunity for the entire subcontinent to come together and collaborate was lost.
“I think it might happen again. Who knows?”
Mahira Khan also revealed that she refused web shows that were set for Indian streaming platforms, due to being scared.
She continued:
“A lot of the other series were offered to me and at that time, I don’t know if anybody will understand when I say this, I was scared.
“I was genuinely just scared. It wasn’t about what people say, I was just like, ‘I don’t know if I want to go there’.
“And there was some content which was amazing, and I didn’t want to miss out on it.”
Despite the fears and India’s ban on Pakistani artists, Mahira Khan is set to appear in a new series that will be streamed on ZEE5.
Yaar Julahay focuses on the tradition of storytelling and Mahira will be narrating one of the short stories.
Mahira Khan now hopes to work on more Indian web projects as she has realised “you can’t let something that happened, which was political, affect your choices”.
She added: “But I was scared and I have no shame in admitting it.
“Now I am a bit more like, ‘No, come on yaar, you can’t let something that happened, which was political, affect your choices’.
“So I don’t think I will do that anymore and I hope that we collaborate, even if it’s on digital or in any way.”
Mahira Khan is one of Pakistan’s most celebrated actresses, starring in films like Bol and shows like Humsafar.
However, due to the ban, Raees remains her only Bollywood film.
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