Model turned actor Saheefa Jabbar Khattak has starred in several dramas. However, she feels that there are no good scripts. She took to her Instagram Stories to share her thoughts regarding the matter.
“There are no good scripts out there. The scripts which are being offered to me at the moment are not up to the standards of storytelling I feel comfortable endorsing,” she said.
“I am writing this today because a few rumours have made their way back to me and it does not feel nice to hear untrue things about yourself,” Saheefa further explained the reason behind the post.
She clarified that she has not quit acting. In fact, she is still being offered roles of leading characters.
“No, I do not perceive acting as a bad profession. I consider it to be art, and it is an important part of my life. I only hold a positive opinion on the field of drama and it remains to be my core profession,” she said.
“As I am writing this, I am trying to be excessively sensitive to my fellow professionals in the industry. Artists, producers, writers, technicians and their collective labour is admirable. Their strife is real, and their struggle has helped us integrate dramatics into our culture and have the field recognised and respected,” the actor wrote adding that she does not intend to ignore the work of her fellow colleagues. “But sadly I am not being offered good scripts.”
“I am not comfortable endorsing escapism. I am not comfortable endorsing masculinised ideas of female empowerment. I am not comfortable with the lives of the characters I play, with the choices they are offered, and the root causes of conflict in their lives. I do not like the homes, the worlds, and the inherent associated oppression of such places in the one-liners I read daily. DAILY,” she exclaimed stating that the women in dramas remain oppressed.
“Why did Alia marry her dead sister’s husband? Why is Zubaida’s father hell-bent on ruining her life? Is it love?” she wrote.
“Nah, man! It’s just nonsense. It’s irrational and without reason. I am not saying that women don’t struggle with such problems. I know them to be true. All I am saying is that there are better ways out of difficult instants for women. I know them to be true too.”
Concluding the post, she requested people to send her scripts with “well-thought-out characters, a coherent plot and intelligent dialogue”.
