Hareem Farooq recently opened up about body shaming and societal pressures while promoting her new TV drama Bismil in a conversation with BBC Urdu. Discussing how her portrayal of Masooma in the TV serial became an opportunity to challenge beauty standards and normalise diverse body types, she recalled her decision not to go on a crash diet.

The actress also spoke about the constant criticism women face in Pakistan, saying, “Women get to face a lot of criticism here, and I’m not saying the men don’t, but for women – be it your body, your hair, your life, your decisions, your career, or motherhood – everything is criticised.”

Before shooting Bismil, Farooq considered a crash diet to quickly lose weight for the role. However, she soon realised the impact it was having on her mental health. She explained that while she had the option to delay the shoot to meet conventional beauty standards, she chose not to. “Why? Do we not have such body types in our society? In our country? Then why not celebrate different body types?” she asked, questioning the need for media to perpetuate unrealistic ideals.