From Hollywood to Bollywood and beyond, women in showbiz continue to face ageism, the added spotlight of fame often enabling blatant discrimination. Just recently Pakistani veteran actor Sania Saeed underlined the lack of acting roles for older women and the wealth of stories they can share.

Iffat Omar is another voice to have joined the protest against gendered age-related biases. In a bold and empowering move, the former Pakistani actor and model took to her Instagram handle to share a vibrant video montage of herself adorned in a gorgeous pink saree. 

Accompanying the montage was a powerful caption that read, “Meri age meri marzi (my age my choice) so please go live your life and stop schooling me on how should I act according to my ‘age.’” The actor, known for her strong individuality, sent a clear message about embracing personal freedom and defying societal expectations regarding age-appropriate behavior. 

Earlier, Iffat appeared as a guest on comedian Shehzad Ghias Shaikh’s podcast titled The Pakistan Experience, during which she talked about her experience of working in the media industry, as well as her views regarding 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 is and always has been considered superior to all the other languages spoken in Pakistan. The Berukhi actor shared her experience of working as an actor in Karachi and interacting with certain ‘elitist crowd(s)’ who not only put her down for her lack of fluency in English but also looked down on her for her Punjabi accent and criticised her Urdu-speaking skills on set.

“The elitist crowd would look down upon you and say, ‘This person doesn’t know English’. We were made to feel complexed about our English-speaking skills, and then after that, we were made to feel complexed about our Urdu as well,” claimed Iffat on the topic of how professionals in the media industry tended to treat people as less than if their spoken English and Urdu was not good.

Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below.