In news that will surprise no one, Pakistani Twitter is collectively losing their mind over a choice that someone else made about their own life. This week's target? Ahad Raza Mir, who is currently making the country proud by being the first Pakistani to get cast in a Netflix show, has found himself on the receiving end of backlash over one of his scenes in the new show Resident Evil. His crime? One, small, insignificant kissing scene. Yes, that's right, it's 2022, but Pakistanis still can't stomach any public displays of affection, even if they're entirely fictional.
One scene of the show has Ahad's character Arjun kiss his co-star, Jade, played by Ella Balinska. It's a short scene, and a short kiss, but oh boy has it ruffled some feathers in Pakistan. As always, moral policing begins with reminders of the fact that this is the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, and it has no room for such acts of fahashi. People making this line of argument seem to forget, or deliberately ignore, the idea that religion is a very personal thing and that one person's views and beliefs can't be forced on everyone else, even if Pakistan is an Islamic republic. Also, somehow, the fact that non-Muslims also exist in Pakistan seems to escape these kinds of people always.
The second attack by moral policers, especially on celebrities and people of note, is that they have a 'duty to represent Pakistan authentically'. Of course, what they mean by 'authentically', is 'specifically how one group wants it'. No room for democracy, in the public or the political, it seems like. "Is he a Pakistani?" asks one person, as if Pakistanis were born with an inability to kiss another human. Another asks Ahad if 'religion, morality and customs' are so unimportant that he had to do THIS (insert shocked face). One user asked how Ahad expected him to watch scenes like this with his wife and children, which just makes us wonder, why are his kids even watching a show based on a horror video game?
https://twitter.com/Taliahussain1/status/1547630092905754624
https://twitter.com/Dr_HRNoorka/status/1547817666148048900
https://twitter.com/lodhi_arhum/status/1547883836259766272
https://twitter.com/Saif_Khank1/status/1547849488911413249
Weirdly, there were a lot of comparisons drawn between him and his ex-wife Sajal Aly. Sajal apparently once turned down a role in a Hollywood movie because it had a 'bold' scene —sidenote: can we please stop calling it a 'bold' scene?? — and people are pointing out that fact now, praising her virtuous ways. No hate to Sajal, but to each his own? Some people said that if Sajal Aly was doing this scene, she would get so much hate, which, although relevant in a different way —more on that later— doesn't really matter here, because it's not her doing the scene anyway?
https://twitter.com/cloudsmacy/status/1547618971767099394
However, the comparisons to his ex-wife and the weird 'what if' scenarios did point to something larger than just point-scoring. Which is the fact that once again, men seem to get away relatively unscathed with something that would have upended a woman's career. Mahira Khan got So. Much. Flak. for simply smoking a cigarette in a sundress, while male actors get to bounce back from actual onscreen physical intimacy. There's nothing wrong with intimacy or cigarettes, but there's plenty wrong with double standards.
https://twitter.com/yugottablykthis/status/1547872763204931585
https://twitter.com/Bawi21054350/status/1547631373229236225
https://twitter.com/fatherofvixens/status/1547632026483691523
https://twitter.com/KhabriKuri/status/1547844702120005633
https://twitter.com/QueenAfshan_/status/1547865848735404033
The moral of this story is that Pakistani's really need to learn to live and let live, in so many ways, this maybe being the least important when you think about freedom of speech, or religious minorities. But our failure to let people do their thing in small trivial cases like this, reflects a bigger problem that we can only solve by trying to be more tolerant. And for God's sake, stop moral policing, you hypocrites.
https://twitter.com/manshaansari4/status/1547852339826298880
One scene of the show has Ahad's character Arjun kiss his co-star, Jade, played by Ella Balinska. It's a short scene, and a short kiss, but oh boy has it ruffled some feathers in Pakistan. As always, moral policing begins with reminders of the fact that this is the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, and it has no room for such acts of fahashi. People making this line of argument seem to forget, or deliberately ignore, the idea that religion is a very personal thing and that one person's views and beliefs can't be forced on everyone else, even if Pakistan is an Islamic republic. Also, somehow, the fact that non-Muslims also exist in Pakistan seems to escape these kinds of people always.
The second attack by moral policers, especially on celebrities and people of note, is that they have a 'duty to represent Pakistan authentically'. Of course, what they mean by 'authentically', is 'specifically how one group wants it'. No room for democracy, in the public or the political, it seems like. "Is he a Pakistani?" asks one person, as if Pakistanis were born with an inability to kiss another human. Another asks Ahad if 'religion, morality and customs' are so unimportant that he had to do THIS (insert shocked face). One user asked how Ahad expected him to watch scenes like this with his wife and children, which just makes us wonder, why are his kids even watching a show based on a horror video game?
https://twitter.com/Taliahussain1/status/1547630092905754624
https://twitter.com/Dr_HRNoorka/status/1547817666148048900
https://twitter.com/lodhi_arhum/status/1547883836259766272
https://twitter.com/Saif_Khank1/status/1547849488911413249
Weirdly, there were a lot of comparisons drawn between him and his ex-wife Sajal Aly. Sajal apparently once turned down a role in a Hollywood movie because it had a 'bold' scene —sidenote: can we please stop calling it a 'bold' scene?? — and people are pointing out that fact now, praising her virtuous ways. No hate to Sajal, but to each his own? Some people said that if Sajal Aly was doing this scene, she would get so much hate, which, although relevant in a different way —more on that later— doesn't really matter here, because it's not her doing the scene anyway?
https://twitter.com/cloudsmacy/status/1547618971767099394
However, the comparisons to his ex-wife and the weird 'what if' scenarios did point to something larger than just point-scoring. Which is the fact that once again, men seem to get away relatively unscathed with something that would have upended a woman's career. Mahira Khan got So. Much. Flak. for simply smoking a cigarette in a sundress, while male actors get to bounce back from actual onscreen physical intimacy. There's nothing wrong with intimacy or cigarettes, but there's plenty wrong with double standards.
https://twitter.com/yugottablykthis/status/1547872763204931585
https://twitter.com/Bawi21054350/status/1547631373229236225
https://twitter.com/fatherofvixens/status/1547632026483691523
https://twitter.com/KhabriKuri/status/1547844702120005633
https://twitter.com/QueenAfshan_/status/1547865848735404033
The moral of this story is that Pakistani's really need to learn to live and let live, in so many ways, this maybe being the least important when you think about freedom of speech, or religious minorities. But our failure to let people do their thing in small trivial cases like this, reflects a bigger problem that we can only solve by trying to be more tolerant. And for God's sake, stop moral policing, you hypocrites.
https://twitter.com/manshaansari4/status/1547852339826298880