Karachi: Sarwat Gilani made headlines last year with her highly-popular web series Churails. Touted as the ‘controversial project’ of the year, the Asim Abbasi directorial certainly managed to grab some eyeballs in Pakistan and in India, both.
Bold, dark and unabashedly real, Churails was a feminist’s dream. However, in a recent interview, she has confessed that she isn’t a feminist herself. Whilst speaking with Mira Sethi, the actor revealed what she thinks feminism means and why she wouldn’t want to align herself with the ideology.
“Toxic masculinity is the worst virus. I wouldn’t say I am a feminist; I feel a man has his own place,” the starlet asserted, prompting Sethi to interject, “But feminism doesn’t say that a man doesn’t have his own place.” To this, Sarwat replied, “Yes, but I won’t keep chanting woman this or woman that. I feel there’s a certain time where women do need men, no matter how independent. I am an independent woman but at the end of the day, I feel like I need somebody who will take care of me and who I can depend upon.”
She added, “If we talk about feminism in Pakistan particularly, they think men have nothing to do with it. However, many men help take feminism forward because they support women, they back them, elevate and encourage their women to take a step forward.”
For Sarwat Gilani, feminism is a very “balanced” idea. “A lot of people think feminism is all about women but I feel it’s not. It has to do with men as well. A man making alternations within himself can also be touted as feminism. We misunderstand the term. That’s why I wouldn’t call myself a feminist but someone who believes in equal rights,” she stated. “But then, you are a feminist,” Mira Sethi pressed. “Am I?” Sarwat Gilani questioned. “But I do understand why few men have issues with women. I try and understand men as well. Like I feel that the women are very emotional. So I have two minds with this statement. And since I’m an actor and an artist, I tend to put myself in everybody else’s shoes, whether it’s a man or a woman. That’s where I feel I am conflicted.”
