Pakistani actor Asad Siddiqui speaks to entertainment reporter Haroon Rashid about the lack of diverse roles for men in Pakistani TV dramas.
A rising Pakistani actor Asad Siddiqui recently gave interview to BBC Asian Network. He spoke up about how Pakistani dramas are women oriented and how they portray women in dramas is completely wrong. He wishes to see more dramas which with female antagonist.
Asad Siddiqui talking about toxic masculinity shared his opinion,
“Unfortunately, this thing happens all over the world. Men get really affected by rejection that how can a woman reject me? why not? Everybody has right to say no to you. I personally say, one has to learn how to say NO.”
On asking about why men behave in a certain way, he shared his opinion,
“All these dramas that we do we talk about women empowerment. I am sorry to say, there is no women empowerment because the country where you live in and the culture, it’s really different from what we are trying to show. Har dramay mai ap dekhte hain larki maar khaa rahi hai, uspe zulm horaha hai. But if you want to these kind of women empowerment then there so many other examples. We need more roles like the one Saba Qamar played in Cheekh.”
Upon asking about, how male roles are important in these dramas? He responded:
“Most of the dramas are women oriented and men are usually the antagonists for them. Why do you have to show men so antagonists all the time? Maybe 20% dramas you show where woman is antagonist but no 80% man is antagonist, why? Why this inequality? So, you have to come up with the content which can be relatable in general public. We really need to work on our content becuase Hum dekhate kuch hain, kartay kuch hain, sochte kuch hain aisa nahi hona chahiye.”
Here is the complete interview of Asad with Haroon Rashid:
Let us know about your comments on Asad’s opinion.