'Playful, light-hearted conversation between husband, wife': Mani on furore over 'taunting' comments

Popular actor Hira Mani and her husband, Mani are no strangers to controversy. Social media is once again abuzz with reactions to some comments the couple recently made during an appearance at a local show, which has caused quite an uproar on social media. In the said interview, Hira had revealed that Mani would "taunt" her about her weight gain, which encouraged her to lose weight.

The Express Tribune got in touch with Mani to respond to the aforementioned criticism that has popped up since the clip went viral.

Speaking to the publication, Mani shared, "It was a playful, light-hearted conversation between a husband and wife. Both of us are from the entertainment industry and we need to look a certain way. We keep reminding each other to keep our fitness in check. Whatever we said on the show, was for each other. We did not mean it for any other celebrity or anyone else."

Mani explained that times are changing and with social media in the picture, people in Pakistan are only adopting concepts such as body-shaming and racism, which earlier were only prevalent in other parts of the globe.

He added, "People in Pakistan are still learning about body-shaming and racism. We've had shows in the past such as Alif Noon, which centered around the lead's sizes. Junaid Jamshed's Goray Rang Ka Zamana was a huge hit and it was based on the obsession with white skin, will we disown it now? There have been great comedians such as Umer Sharif and Moin Akhtar, who often spoke of 'fat people' or portrayed Pathans in a certain way. And people found it funny at the time. All of us are still learning and these concepts are very new in our society."

He continued that if people start pointing fingers at everything, others will hesitate from opening up or cracking jokes for the fear of being judged or accused of something. "Then there will be no humour in things,” Mani asserted. “Hira and I are very upfront about what we say and we own it. We are not accusing anyone else; it was only husband-wife banter that other couples do too."

Mani concluded that he had asked the interviewer, Sohail Warraich to cut the "taunting" clip from the show, however, it was still aired. While Hira was unavailable to comment at the time, Mani informed that his wife also shares the same point of view.

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