In what was otherwise a perfectly normal interview with rising star Ali Raza, hosts Nadia Khan and Zohaib Hassan asked a rather strange question about whether the actor was really from Lahore. They based this on his accent, or lack thereof, when speaking Urdu.
Raza made an appearance on the show. rise and shine on Thursday, where host Hassan said he sounded like he was from Karachi. We’re not sure if this was supposed to be a compliment or a statement.
Nadia Khan was quick to correct her co-host when he, apparently jokingly, claimed that Raza was “our boy from Karachi”. The actor clarified that he was actually from Lahore.
Raza then went on to say that his diction was “clean” or “saaf” when it came to Urdu, but he agreed with the hosts that people in his hometown had a particular way of speaking. He said his Urdu had always been “saaf” while growing up surrounded by people who spoke the language fluently.
“Look, educated people with good accents live in Lahore. If you sit with them, you will also develop one. If you spend time with people who speak Urdu with a Punjabi accent, you will get it,” the actor told Hassan and Nadia.
He said all his friends and family spoke Urdu very clearly, so fluency in the language had never been a big problem.
After clarifying that Punjabi sounded great with a Lahori accent, the show went straight to Raza’s friend Khushhal Khan’s recent wedding to Ramsha Khan and whether the Leader Star knew about the secret event.
He said he did know, but was unable to attend due to scheduling conflicts. He said he was “very happy for them” and that he liked how they “understood” each other and decided to get married.
As for himself, the actor joked that he would first observe Khushhal and then take a decision. “For now, I’ll watch my friend to see what he’s like, see the whole process. That’s how I started acting too.”
She said she had been approached by many potential suitors, but she was not planning to get married yet.
Later in the program, Nadia asked the Leader star did face any pressure from her parents to get married and settle down. He said there was no pressure. “I was once asked, ‘What’s your plan?’ “I told them I would let them know when there was one.”
While the rest of the interview was mostly benign and Raza’s views on marriage are quite reasonable, we can’t help but feel that the part about accents was very random. We’re actually not sure why it was mentioned.
Languages are tools of communication and when people learn languages, accents come naturally. We’re not sure what point they were trying to make by praising Raza’s “accent” or lack thereof, but it didn’t come out the way they probably wanted.
