Mehwish Hayat speaks candidly about receiving Tamgha-i-Imtiaz
We need to take cyber bullying as a crime and take serious measures
(Web Desk) – Mehwish Hayat who faced unnecessary ridicule and criticism for being conferred with the fourth highest civil award Tamgha-i-Imtiaz this March 23, spoke her heart out about the whole controversy surrounding her nomination.
Mehwish Hayat has been a part of showbiz for over a decade and has a number of hit dramas and movies to her credit.
Speaking to a private media channel, Mehwish divulged details of how she came to know about her being nominated for the award.
‘One day waking up in morning, I saw a couple of messages from friends who broke the news of my being nominated for the award.’
Mehwish described in her own words the moment when she received the official letter and call of proclamation that she will be bestowed with the award, prior to that she was completely unaware of the whole procedure.
‘The two most emotional and unforgettable moment s were first when I opened the official letter with my own hands and gave the news to my mother, surprised and overjoyed she and myself both started crying and the second moment was when I received the award from the President of Pakistan,’ she added.
The process for the nomination is based on a whole year’s scrutiny, judging the nominees body of work, his/her speaking up for causes and the way he/her have represented the country.
Talking on the issue of those spreading negativity related to her receiving the award, she felt that many were shocked at her being nominated for the award at a young age.
‘I guess it came across as a shock to some people that I received the award at an early stage of my career. I’ve given ten years of my life to my career which isn’t a joke, a decade is a big deal,’ she added.
‘Strange comparisons were made with my receiving the awards with those who received it for gallantry, public services or bomb disposal, it’s wrong to compare an artist with people of those categories,’ she added.
Being in the public we are used to criticism, we live in a democracy and it can be debated whether I deserve the award or not but where I drew the line was when people started assassinating my character.
‘It was a learning experience for me to have people call me names, which I myself can’t even imagine to use for others. My movies earned Rs 160 crore, our industry which is at its initial stages is growing, we are contributing towards promoting a softer image of our country, we deserve to be respected and acknowledged, which of course our government is doing but some peoples mentality and conditioning is such that they can’t accept a women in our industry being acknowledged,’ she stated.
Mehwish Hayat described the award as a defining moment in her life, when she realized who her real friends were because as one climbs the ladder of success, people reveal who they really are. After facing such harassment and backlash she announced
‘I want to work on cyber bullying as I went through it and know how it feels, we need to take cyber bullying as a crime and take serious measures.’
