Actor Alizeh Shah breaks silence on 'harassment, industry exploitation'

Pakistani actor Alizeh Shah has publicly shared grievances on alleged harassment, being bullied in the media, and exploitative practices within the country's entertainment industry.

Taking to her Instagram stories on Monday, Shah claimed these issues have led to her being trolled, mocked, and even blacklisted.

"I'm going to expose every single person who did me wrong…I'm done with people trolling me, making fun of me, and making memes out of me. You guys have no idea how difficult an actor’s life already is," she said.

The 25-year-old actor revisited a viral incident from the 2021 Brdal Couture Week, where she appeared to stumble on the ramp alongside singer Shazia Manzoor. Shah now alleges that the fall was deliberate.

"We had to go right. This lady pulled me and dragged me on the floor," she said, replaying the video for her followers. She further accused Manzoor of continuously trying to make her fall and later mocking the incident with TikTok star Jannat Mirza and host Juggan Kazim.

"Throughout this whole show, she had her hands on my hip, and she kept trying that somehow I would fall," Shah alleged.

"The weirdest thing is, this aunty would go on every other show and would make other celebrities trip just to mock me."

Previously, Shah had expressed gratitude to Manzoor after the incident, calling the fall a "simple mix-up".

A significant portion of Shah's confession targeted the television industry's payment practices as she claimed that actors often wait for months for dues, feeling like they're "begging for our own money."

"We get cheques after three months — that too, after begging people for our own money. And when we’re finally handed the cheque, we're made to feel like it's a huge favour, this is why I stopped working," she said.

Her demands for timely payment and respect, she asserted, resulted in her being blacklisted, with pages "being paid to troll me." Directors, she alleged, would question her "bad image" in meetings despite not intending to cast her.

"They would say, 'Your image is so bad, why would we cast you?' Whether you want to cast me or not, why would you call me in a meeting if you don't want to cast me, and then ask me about my 'image'?” she asked. "Who are you to ask me about my image?"

Additionally, Shah addressed a widely circulated report from last year accusing her of assaulting a co-actor by throwing a cigarette at her. She vehemently denied this act, claiming the co-actor had pushed and slapped her first. 

"She pushed me. I didn't fall. And then she slapped me. I was in shock. She started telling everyone that I threw a cigarette at her," Shah claimed. "I told the cameraman to play the scene back because the camera was rolling while this happened — nothing like that was caught on camera."

However, Shah admitted that she threw her sandal at her co-actor later while confronting her in her room.

"Yes, I threw my sandal at her. That's it. I wouldn't even touch you. How disgusting you are," she said.

She added that she was advised against filing a first information report (FIR) to protect the drama's progress. "And the next morning, I see news that I assaulted her and ripped her or my clothes in the process. None of that happened."

Furthermore, highlighting a rarely discussed topic in her Instagram story, Shah spoke about consent and boundaries in the industry, saying: "I don't allow anyone to touch me if it's not a part of the scene. You have to ask me first. I'm not your property."

Shah believes her insistence on setting personal boundaries made her a target, saying that "some producers just want me out of the game." She ended her series of confessions by urging audiences and peers to treat public figures with respect, especially women navigating patriarchal workplaces.