Veteran Pakistani actress Bushra Ansari has spoken about what she said was declining standards of humour in contemporary content, stating that audiences have started finding vulgarity amusing instead of genuine comedy.
Speaking at the Sindh Madressatul Islam University’s Popular Lecture Series on Thursday, Ansari expressed concern about the shift in what people consider funny.
“People have started laughing at vulgarity. Content creators and influencers, too, these days think that insolent behaviour is amusing, but it is not. We used to make people laugh with simple and clean humour. We still do. If our content creators are successful today with this kind of content, then it is our failure,” she said.
Ansari, who began her career as a puppeteer with Farooq Qaiser in Islamabad before working with legends Moin Akhtar and Anwar Maqsood in Karachi, noted that humour has undergone a drastic change over the years.
She also addressed the Pakistani drama industry’s tendency to repeat storylines.
“Production houses see dramas as an investment. They want to profit from them so they only make what sells. That’s why stories are being repeated and there is hardly anything new coming out,” she said.
Speaking about her personal life, the 68-year-old revealed she married her second husband, Iqbal Hussain, at 60. “I am glad to have found in him a good partner. We carry a lot of respect for each other,” she said.