It’s no secret that Saba Qamar is one helluva talented starlet. Over the past decade, she has proven herself exceedingly at par with all the highly acclaimed home-grown actors in the Pakistani film industry. My personal favorite performance till date remains her shockingly real depiction of Saman from the Hum TV soap “Maat“. To say that she did justice to her character would be an understatement. Not only did her brilliant portrayal force the audience to despise her but the performance was so powerful, it blurred the lines between the actor and the fictional character.

Her other noteworthy performances include Ayesha from “Uraan” where she embodied the manic depressive wife who suffers physical and psychological wounds from husband and in-laws.

The rags to riches storyline behind “Digest Writer”, with powerful introspection of socio-economic themes.

The rape victim in “Sangat” and the top model in”Besharam”. Her roles have always been rather unconventional, one that she’s always been extremely proud of.

She brought Noor Jehan to life in acclaimed biographical drama “Manto”, for which she also bagged a best supporting actress.

Other recent performances also include the bubbly modern girl from Lahore Se Aagay, one that has been an equal box office hit.

One can see how dynamic of an actress she truly is from the various roles she’s taken on.

Apart from being a force of nature on-screen, she’s also all about girl power.

When the Neelum Muneer video kinda sorta broke the internet, Saba was all like, “hey, you do you girl” which is literally the kind of support women need to extend towards each other.

And her recent debut in Bollywood flick “The Hindi Medium”has been extremely well-received.

The lead opposite Irrfan Khan, Saba stars as the ambitious mother who is willing to go to any heights in her pursuit of enrolling her daughter in a private institution in order to ensure she gets the right education. At some part, especially in the trailer, we can see her outshining the Bollywood actor.

In light of her Bollywood debut, there has been praise going all around and that is problematic, especially for Saba. 

News broke that Saba Qamar has boycotted Lux Style Awards this year because of a pattern many talented Pakistani stars have complained of in the past.

Speaking to Express Tribune, Saba is quoted to have said, “Although I am nominated for three different plays, I will not be attending the LSAs as a protest.”

“They never bothered to honor me during the past 12 years and now that I have the Bollywood stamp, everyone is acknowledging me all of a sudden.”

Saba also notes that further brand endorsements and praise from industry moguls has follows only after her recognition in Bollywood despite the twelve years she has dedicated to the industry. Similar claims have been made by the likes of Adnan Sami, Atif Aslam and many prominent media personnel.

Be it bashing stars who explore opportunities across the border like Shan’s disdain for Urwa Hocane or merely acknowledging local stars after they’ve made a mark in Bollywood, this pattern needs to be challenged. Pakistani industry moguls and audience in particular definitely craves the foreign “stamp” to take local actors and performers seriously which proves as a sad state of affairs for the local industry.

Saba’s stand against this toxic bias would definitely prove as an important step to challenging the system.

Cover image via: brecorder.com