Oscar-winning filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy has expressed her opinion on Pakistani brands endorsing Turkish stars. The news Esra Bilgic, who essays the role of Halime Sultan in the historical drama series Dirilis: Ertugrul becoming the brand ambassador for Peshawar Zalmi, pleased many fans of the show and the actress while raising a point of concern for others from the industry such as the filmmaker.
Here is what the filmmaker had to say:
We have a very small industry, and we have to protect it; once we grow, we can open up – please do your research before making such tall claims – we have very few films being produced in the county, we have limited budgets – you can’t grow if you open up, like every industry when it’s in its infancy you have to protect it.
Obaid was then accused of jealousy by someone, to which she responded, “This isn’t about close-mindedness or jealousy. This is being practical given the resources we have. Since most of you don’t care about the Pakistani film industry, let me lay it out for you. If you stop sponsoring your actors and actresses, whatever is left of the industry will die. But trolls like you don’t care that you can take a punt at me! Good luck with that.”
The actress has not been confirmed as the ambassador yet by the officials. However, speculations sparked after Peshawar Zalmi’s owner, Javed Afridi, tweeted previously about making her the ambassador on the micro-blogging website. He said,
“What if we offer (the role of brand ambassadorship) to Halime Sultan as well?”
Following the actresses tweet:
I will be sharing some good news with you soon. @JAfridi10 @PeshawarZalmi
— Esra Bilgiç (@esbilgic) July 5, 2020
We are assuming things slowed down due to the COVID-19 situation worldwide. After those tweets in 2020, Fans went into a frenzy when the Turkish actress shared a photo of Islamia College Peshawar with the caption, “The City Of Flowers,” just recently, which makes the doubts stronger that she might as well have signed the deal with the team and has come to Pakistan.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy Featured on Asia Tatler’s 18 Best Asian Directors List 2021. Read the full story here:
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy Featured on Asia Tatler’s 18 Best Asian Directors List 2021
It is not Sharmeen alone who thinks this is not a smart move. Pakistani actor, Yasir Hussain has also raised his voice on the matter. What do you think about the matter? Have something to add? Let us know in the comment section below.
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