Meet Ushna Shah: Pakistan’s answer to Kangana Ranaut

At one end of the spectrum we have Kangana Ranaut in Bollywood, a crusader of sorts who doesn’t hesitate to speak her mind if recent events are anything to go by. As her fiery tirade continues, calling out industry bigwigs to hold accountable for Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide, Pakistan’s entertainment industry finds itself shook up as well with the candidness of Ushna Shah.

The 30-year-old actress is often compared to Ranaut and for all the right reasons. Having arrived on the Pakistan entertainment arena in 2013 with ‘Mere Khwabon Ka Diya’, Shah tasted success a year later with the thriller ‘Bashar Momin’ (pictured). Her versatility as an actor was further explored in shows such as ‘Duaa’, ‘Neelam Kinaray’ and ‘Thoda Sa Aasman’.

Yet, it was Momina Duraid’s production ‘Alif Allah Aur Insaan’ that earned Shah the recognition she yearned, which also earned her Hum Award trophy for Best Negative Actor, followed by the award-winning thriller, ‘Balaa’ (pictured).

But Shah hasn’t limited her talents to on-screen dramas alone. Similar to Ranaut’s fiery temperament, Shah has also used media as her tool of choice to cut down critics and trolls in the recent past. In one of her most recent interviews with Iffat Omar, she spoke up on how she has decided to not respond to trolls or clarify her stance on everything, saying: “I have forsaken the dignity a celebrity must maintain and clarified/responded to each tweet/thought that has bothered the world so much. I’ve answered all the burning questions that have propelled hundreds of headlines. From your pizzas to your singers. I will speak on these no further. I have answered all “controversies” for them now and for the future.”

Similar to Ranaut being vilified for her English skills and her diction when she had entered the Bollywood film industry, Shah also spoke up about facing criticism over her Canadian accent that she was forced to hide. In the same interview, she further said: “It breaks my heart that I have already had to hide so many aspects of who I am just to fit in.. an example being my Canadian accent… I’ve changed it so often over the years that now it feels like another language which I speak when I’m outside the Pakistani industry or circles. I used to dance in school, I’ve been afraid to do so here, why? I am an artist, it is my art. I’ve always feared that my liberal, as well as foreign upbringing, would paint me as a bad person or my family as bad people, they’ve feared that also.”

Ranaut has often talked about being held responsible for crimes she never committed in Bollywood and Shah found no exception in the entertainment world of Pakistan. In an Instagram post, the young actress spoke of the hate generated, saying: “When you forget that there is a person within a personality, make their name into a verb and violate their being, you butcher a piece of their soul. You affect not just them, but their mothers and their loved ones who collectively feel their pain. You do that, for the sake of your hits & clicks and I have been your target for a very long time.”

However, Ranaut’s and Shah’s approach to fame and notoriety has be starkly different. While the former doesn’t hesitate to speak on and off camera, Shah has an altered outlook. “What I want; what’s most important to me, is to create art. So for the countless hits, the spicy gossip, and the drawing room discussions my name has entertained you with off camera... you’re welcome. I have paid my dues, I’m bowing out of this circus. Now please, let me get back to work,” she said in the same Instagram post.

Yet, despite their different approaches to fame, Shah is very clearly an admirer of Ranaut and her work. Last month, during a Twitter chat with fans, user Syed Husaen calling the actress the ‘Kangana Ranaut of Pakistan’. To this, Shah’s response was: “I wish! She’s a brilliant actress.” Well, if nothing else, there’s a fan following that connects the two.