A few months ago, Hira Mani went onto Samina Peerzada’s digital show, ‘Speak Your Heart’ and talked about how she was totally obsessed with Mani when she saw him on TV. She told the story of how she got Mani’s attention and even broke off her engagement at the time for him.
In her interview, she revealed that she took Mani’s number from her friend’s phone and used the name ‘Maryam Khan’ to talk to him. The way she told the story, it seemed like Hira stole Mani from her friend and the actor received a lot of backlash for this.
Now, Mani went on the same show and tried to clear the air a bit about what happened.
Mani talks about how, after he came on TV, a lot of women would approach him and also speak to him on the phone. He takes a lot of pride in the fact that women would be falling for him constantly and how he would manage to talk to all of them. This part of the interview made me severely uncomfortable- like it was total cringe, he really could have phrased it better.
According to Mani, he had no interest in getting married because he was devoted to his work at the time. When speaking to women, he’d make sure that that was always very clear. Then one day, Maryam Khan called and his life was changed after that.
Mani claims that he was taken by ‘Maryam’ from the get-go and this eventually (even after she told him who she really is) led him to realize that he could only marry her.
By saying this, Mani says that he wanted to clear the air about Hira’s story. Mani and Hira’s (then) friend were not romantically involved, and Mani had (just like he had made it clear to a lot of others) told her that he wasn’t interested in marriage. He addresses the backlash Hira had to face after her interview and says that ‘aisi koi baat nahin thi, Hira ne dost ko dhoka nahin diya’.
The rest of the interview was a very interesting look into Mani’s life before he became a star.
One of the most interesting things I did learn about him has to be the origins of his name ‘Mani’. His actual name is Salman, however, the name ‘Mani’ comes from a popular character his dad played in a drama. According to him, a lot of his cousins have ‘family names’ that are based on popular character’s played by his father.
Mani also reveals that a lot of his commentary and his drive come from growing up in Karachi and seeing the city go through a horrible phase back in the 90s. His says that the political climate of the city shaped him and his career, and helped him become relatable, since he would say it as he saw it.
You can watch the entire episode here:
Hira Mani Just Revealed How She Broke Off Her Engagement And Stole Mani From Her Friend
Cover Photo Courtesy: Rewind with Samina Peerzada / Youtube