Former model and actor Iffat Umar recently appeared as a guest on comedian Shehzad Ghiyas Shaikh’s podcast titled. Pakistan’s experienceDuring this, she talked about her experience of working in the media industry as well as her views about Pakistani politics and feminism.

One of the most important points discussed during the one and a half hour long episode was the fact that Urdu as a language has always been considered superior to all other languages ​​spoken in Pakistan. Indifference The actress shared her experience of working as an actress in Karachi and interacting with some of the ‘elite crowd’ who not only looked down on her for her lack of fluency in English but also looked down on her for her Punjabi accent. Looked at and criticized his Urdu. Speaking skills on set.

“The elitist crowd will look down on you and say, ‘This guy doesn’t know English.’ We were made to feel complex about our English speaking skills and after that, we were also made to feel complex about our Urdu,” Iffat claimed on the topic of how professionals in the media industry treat people as inferior. Are. If his spoken English and Urdu were not good.

“I was called hive On the set,” revealed animals The actress said the term was definitely used in a ‘derogatory’ manner by her co-workers in an attempt to belittle and humiliate her for her Punjabi identity and accent and her non-exceptional Urdu-language skills.

“Being from Punjab, we definitely speak in a Punjabi accent,” he said Love every day The actor shared how people would often interfere with his speech and try to teach him how certain words should be pronounced.

However, he faced criticism due to his Punjabi accent and lack of fluency in English. O Musht-e-Khak The star believes that she was still lucky enough to get many work opportunities and take her career to where it is now.

“But still, I must say I was lucky. Probably, there were less people, that’s why I got a lot of opportunities, and I worked a lot,” Iffat admitted on the subject that she managed to have a brilliant acting career despite contemptuous attitudes and discriminatory treatment. along the way.

Speaking about her experience working in the media and her habit of speaking up while most of her colleagues prefer to remain silent, Ifat said, “No one supports each other. “Those who have the power to take an issue forward show restraint.” The actor shared this opinion in relation to how even the most progressive actors and media professionals almost never speak out in support of their colleagues whenever any case of on-set misbehavior or condemnation of content becomes public.

The actor and comedian also spoke briefly about the #MeToo movement and how Iffat has openly expressed his support for Meesha Shafi in her sexual harassment case against Ali Zafar. Staying on topic, London is not young The actress said it is difficult for anyone to share their traumatic experiences publicly, and she urged people to listen and support survivors when they come forward with their stories.

“I understand. Many young men and women can’t speak, but when they speak, listen to them. That’s the only way to end this [harassment],