KARACHI: TV show host Nadia Khan addressed PPP leader Sharmila Faruqi's reaction to Khan's video with her mother Anisa Faruqi on Thursday, asserting that she'd made that video "out of respect and sincerity" for Sharmila's mother.

Nadia Khan recently landed in hot water for making a video with the mother of the PPP politician in which she "complimented" her makeup and sense of style. The video has been doing the rounds on social media and was shared by an Instagram page called Centre Stage. The politician commented on the video and wrote, "She’s a shameless woman, I’m reporting her to cybercrime officially." Later, Sharmila posted a picture of herself at the FIA office, filing the complaint against Khan.

Khan responded to the issue through a YouTube video uploaded on her channel OutStyle.com. Both Khan and her husband Faisal Mumtaz Rao addressed the "accusation" made by Sharmila.

"Everyone knows I make YouTube videos and attend fun events to cover them on my channel," Khan said. "This has been happening since 2017. When we went to that mehndi, the camera was in my hand right from the start. The kind of celebrities people recognise, only they were mostly in my video. My focus was mostly on them."

"In the midst of this, while we were making our video, two to three women come to Nadia and met her with a lot of love, which included Anisa Ji," Rao jumped in and said. "She is a wonderful personality. She talked to Nadia and joked around a little. They were very comfortable."

"She was really happy," said Khan, continuing the conversation. "She said she'd come up to me to get a selfie with me. I said to her I feel like I have seen you before. She then introduced herself as Sharmila Faruqi's mother and I felt even more respect for her. I said to her, which she might remember, that 'I'm a fan of yours'. I then said let's take some pictures together.

"After that when I was making a video of everyone else with my camera, she was standing right there with me. Look, I could have moved away from her, ignored her and gone somewhere else. But I didn't feel that was right, because she is worthy of respect. Out of respect, I pointed the camera towards her and thought 'What should I do for her? Maybe I should give her a compliment'. We've been taught that one way to make your elders happy is by complimenting them, by giving them time and importance."

Khan said she didn't want to talk about anything "personal" with Sharmila's mother and so she chose a topic everyone talks about at weddings. "You guys honestly tell me. When you go to a wedding, don't you also say stuff like 'Auntie you're wearing such a beautiful dress'? Us ladies say these things. 'Your makeup looks so good. Your hair style is so well made. Where did you learn to do your make-up? Which parlour did you go to?' This is the kind of stuff we ask, right? What else can I ask her?" she said.

"So I said those things out of love, out of respect and sincerity from the heart. I really like those ladies who take care of themselves at every age. She did her makeup, wore a red jora [outfit] and made an effort to come here. So I appreciated her and she was truly appreciative of that. Go see the video yourself."

Khan stressed she didn't use any offensive words in the video when addressing Sharmila's mother. "Check the kind of words I have used for her," she said. "There isn't a single offensive word in there, you'll see. Offensive words can become a cause for disagreement. Someone can say 'why did you use that word?'. Like I can say why Sharmila used the word 'shameless' for me, this is a wrong word. This in an insult and an actual crime.

"The people who are saying I had the intent to make fun of her, your intention is only known by God. And if you're acting like a judge on this then you are committing a sin. Everyone knows I am a straightforward person. If I want to say something to someone, I say it without hesitancy. In law around the world, no one is given punishment on their intention. What the law judges is your actions or words.

"What I want to ask Sharmila Faruqi is this; why did she take such offence to me, a celebrity, complimenting her mother in the video. Does she feel like that was a lie? That it can't happen? Is she not beautiful? Is she not fit? All I am doing throughout the complete video is complimenting her," Khan asked.

Khan went on to say that Sharmila could have messaged her privately asked her to remove the video if she didn't like something she saw. "I would have said okay to that. It is a 36-minute video. If I remove two minutes from that (which show Sharmila's mother), that wouldn't have been an issue," she said. "[Sharmila] did not ask me, she did not contact me. Why did she directly post a status [on social media]?"