People just don't wake up hating Muslims, they believe a story: Sanam Saeed

Riz Ahmed’s latest bid to change Muslim representation in films earned him praise from celebrities across the world

Riz Ahmed’s latest bid to change Muslim representation in major films earned him praise from celebrities across the world. The likes of Dua Lipa and Olivia Wilde raised a glass for The Reluctant Fundamentalist star on their social media while local actors Mehwish Hayat and Feroze Khan expressed great pride in him for the same.

Now, Sanam Saeed has shared her two cents on the matter. The Cake star took to Twitter, highlighting that pop culture plays an imperative part in showcasing Muslims in a negative light worldwide. Concurring with Ahmed, Saeed tweeted, "That's right. People don't just wake up hating Muslims, they believe a story. And we need to ask ourselves whether we are complicit in perpetuating this gross misrepresentation that costs lives."

That's right... people don't just wake up hating Muslims, they believe a story.. And we need to ask ourselves weather we are complicit in perpetuating this gross misrepresentation that costs lives.#MuslimsinFilm https://t.co/Zp9aPwN2aJ

— Sanam Saeed (@sanammodysaeed) June 16, 2021

Previously, the Load Wedding star in her stance, shared, “The issue of misrepresentation of Muslims and how it is fuelling Islamophobia is a poignant one for me. So glad to see Rizwan Ahmed taking positive action, a real watershed moment, time for our industry to step up and also counter the way that we are shown in Hollywood and Bollywood. We need films ‘about’ and not just ‘for’ Pakistan. Something I advocated in Oslo in 2019.”

Hayat then urged Pakistani filmmakers to take ownership of this misrepresentation and asked them to be less insular. She assured that through our films, “we can present a more nuanced picture of our country across international audiences.”

The Actor in Law star believes we have been too focused on our own audiences. “Maybe we should start making films about Pakistan, and not only for Pakistan. Hollywood has to accept the damage that they’ve inflicted on my country with the way that they’ve been portraying us. I don’t ask for more positive representations, but can these representations be more balanced?” she questioned earlier.

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