Mahira 'baited' into responding to Riz's call for collaboration

Both actors' mutual interest sparks hopes for potential on-screen pairing

There may be a chance to see Mahira Khan on the international screen once again, this time alongside Oscar- and Emmy-winning British Pakistani actor Riz Ahmed.

The discussion began during a recent appearance on the BBC Asian Network with Haroon Rashid, where the host spoke with Ahmed about his career.

The conversation naturally turned to starring opposite a star from Pakistan. The host remarked, "Why haven't you done anything with Mahira Khan? I think you'd look great together."

Ahmed responded with enthusiasm, saying, "I'm ready, I'm here, let's make it happen." His candid reply quickly caught viewers' attention and spread widely across social media, creating excitement among fans in both Pakistan and Britian.

Adding further fuel to the speculation, Mahira herself took to Instagram and posted, "I am ready too!" signalling her interest in a potential collaboration.

Fans are now eagerly anticipating what could come next.

Mahira, already an established star in the Pakistani film industry, has previously worked on high-profile projects, including starring opposite Shah Rukh Khan in Raees.

While no official project is confirmed, the mutual interest expressed by both actors has sparked hopes of a highly anticipated cross-industry collaboration.

After working as a video jockey for various television shows, Mahira Khan made her acting debut in 2011 with a supporting role in Shoaib Mansoor's blockbuster social drama Bol (2011). She then played a troubled wife in the highly successful romantic television drama Humsafar (2011), which won her the Lux Style Award for Best Television Actress. She gained wider recognition for portraying a range of unconventional characters in several top-rated television series, including the religious drama Shehr-e-Zaat (2012), the biographical romance Sadqay Tumhare (2014), and the romantic drama Bin Roye (2016), all of which earned her multiple Best Actress awards and nominations.

Khan established herself by starring as the female lead in two of Pakistan's highest-grossing productions—the 2015 romantic drama Bin Roye and the 2016 coming-of-age musical drama Ho Mann Jahan. Her first project in Hindi cinema came with the crime thriller Raees (2017), which ranks among the highest-grossing Indian films of 2017. She received critical acclaim for her portrayal of a rape victim in the revenge drama Verna (2017), and an aspiring actress in the musical drama Superstar (2019). After a short break, she appeared in the 2022 action films Quaid-e-Azam Zindabad and The Legend of Maula Jatt, both of which became major box-office successes. She produced the sports-based web series Baarwan Khiladi (2022).

Outside of acting, Khan supports social causes related to women's rights and the refugee crisis. She has worked with UNICEF since 2019 and was appointed as the national and global UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for Afghan refugees in Pakistan the same year.

After studying acting at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Riz Ahmed began his acting career with independent films such as The Road to Guantanamo (2006), Shifty (2008), Four Lions (2010), Trishna (2011), and The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2012). He had his break-out role in Nightcrawler (2014), which led to roles in the 2016 big-budget films Jason Bourne and Rogue One. For starring as a young man accused of murder in the HBO miniseries The Night Of (2016), Ahmed won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series. He received another Emmy nomination in the same year for his guest role in Girls. He went on to play Carlton Drake in the superhero film Venom (2018) and a drummer who loses his hearing in the drama film Sound of Metal (2019). The latter earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. He produced, co-wrote, and starred in Mogul Mowgli (2020), which earned a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film.

As a rapper, Ahmed is a member of the Swet Shop Boys, and has earned critical acclaim with the hip hop albums Microscope and Cashmere, and commercial success featuring in the Billboard 200 chart-topping Hamilton Mixtape, with his song "Immigrants (We Get the Job Done)" winning an MTV Video Music Award.