Mahira Khan is currently busy attending the UK Asian Film Festival in London. The actor was honoured with an award for ‘contribution to films and activism’ there as well and her recent offering Verna was screened at the women-centric event.
As part of the festival, Mahira also go to share the stage with Bollywood veteran actor, producer and famous talk show host Simi Garewal. The duo discussed Bollywood, Mahira’s recent movie and much more.
First up, the Bol actor expressed how immensely proud she was of Shoaib Mansoor’s directorial. “I have people from my industry here. I am so proud that this film (Verna) will be screened at the film festival,” said Mahira, about the screening.
She went on to talk about Bollywood. “I am also very proud that beyond borders, politics, governments, all these rules and laws that we have to go through, as artists there are festivals like these where we can all come together, we can watch films together, we can laugh at the same jokes, we can eat the same food and enjoy it,” she said.
“And sort of rise beyond what a handful of people are trying to do. So, thank you so much for having me and having all of us,” she added as she went to be seated beside one of Bollywood’s oldest stars.
When asked how her acting journey started for Mahira, she said, “I was basically watching Ram Lakhan,” to which Simi expressed her surprise. “It’s a true story,” laughed Mahira. “Is it the one with Shah Rukh and Salman?” asked a quizzed Simi.
As audience corrected her that Ram Lakhan actually stars Anil Kapoor and Jackie Shroff, Mahira went on to add, “Let’s just pretend there was Shah Rukh in it.”
“I was watching Ram Lakhan and Madhuri came on screen, and I told my mother that this is what I want to do. Obviously, she was like, ‘This girl has lost it.'”
Mahira added, “Since then, I think, I was wearing my nani’s saris, shutting the door and dancing. That’s all I wanted to do and that’s all I wanted to be. For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be onscreen.”
