a huge fire in a shopping centre in the russian city of kemerovo has left 37 people dead. up to 30 are missing, including many children. there's a big rescue operation underway. the fire is said to have begun in a cinema inside the huge shopping complex which was packed with people in the middle of the day. more than 200 emergency responders have attended the scene. demonstrators have clashed with police on the streets of catalonia — they came out to protest after the region's former leader carles puigdemont was arrested in germany. and this story is trending on bbc.com... australian cricket is in crisis — as a scandal over ball tampering continues to send shock waves through the world of sport. the team captain stood down for the latest test match against south africa, which his team went on to lose. that's all from me now. now on bbc news it's time for hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk.

i'm stephen sackur. women in the movie industry have taken the lead in a fight for equality, respect and an end to abusive male behaviour. the #metoo movement has become a cultural phenomenon in the united states but how far can it reach? my my guest today it is pakistan's biggest movistar, mahira khan. ina in a culturally conservative, male dominated country, can she be an agent of change? mahira khan welcome to hardtalk

thank you. is this a good time to be a female actor in pakistan? yes, i would safe so. i think it is a good time to be a female in this world at the moment. in pakistan, being female and being in the public eye, as you are, it is quite sensitive place to be. yes, i would say it used to be. right now i do not think it is sensitive to be in the public eye. i think it is sensitive or a little bit challenging to break barriers, to sort of do the things that you want to do. there is a particular question about the movie industry because i was looking at some astounding figures going back to the 50s and 60s, i believe there we re to the 50s and 60s, i believe there were more than a thousand cinemas in pakistan and then by the late 70s and 80s after the rule of general

zia, the number of cinemas plummeted down to a low of something like 45 and you are only now creeping up. so cinema and going to the movies in pakistan is a tradition that has been lost to many people. that is actually a good way to put it. lost, because it was there once upon a time and then we suffered through... i guess politics effected it and there was a lull. it did two things, one of course cinema got lost in all of this. the second thing it did, which was a good thing, all these writers and at this started going towards television and that is why we have a very strong television industry because all these people did not know where to go and all the art converged into tv... but it is not just about changing art converged into tv... but it is notjust about changing media but it is also about cultural conservatism. pakistan has been swept way a

cultural conservatism which is militated against the cinema. that is exactly what the generation before we went through. by the time icame around, before we went through. by the time i came around, even while i was working, may give you fill was probably one of two, three maybe five films that came out that year and that is a large number. but right after that, because again of the political climate, it change. there was freedom as far as media was concerned. people were coming in and investing in film and today we are on the path of a huge revival as far as are on the path of a huge revival as faras similar is are on the path of a huge revival as far as similar is concerned. the question is, what kind of cinema. you are here to mark the release at a film festival of your movie, an

example of what is and what is not possible. you are the female lead character and your character is raped. how difficult was it to make that movie in pakistan and believe that movie in pakistan and believe that it could find a movie in pakistan. it was not difficult. the man who made it was someone who had made two previous films. the first touch on very sensitive topics stop whether it was religion, politics, whether it was religion, politics, whether it was about how we treat women, what all of that was touched upon full of... he is one of the leading film directors and respected around the world. and then the other

touch on even more sensitive issues and our he has made verna. there is and our he has made verna. there is a disclaimer at the beginning of the movie which says everything in this film is imaginary because of the reality is too bitter to be told or shine. events shown in this film are like jack's compare to what has been happening in countries like ours. was this a film made out of anger? yes, absolutely. absolutely. i can speak to yes, absolutely. absolutely. i can speakto him, yes, absolutely. absolutely. i can speak to him, he will never speak out himself because he does not, once he wraps of film he goes back home and sort of schatz ‘s doors. i know that it is definitely a film maker out of anger and a lot of frustration. how do you make accessible rape in a country which,

it has to be said, has a problem with sexual violence that is endemic. it is domestic, it is pervasive, and groups in pakistan, like the human rights commission, talk about the reality that a woman is being raped in pakistan every two oi’ is being raped in pakistan every two or three hours. how did take that on and respect how deep and ingrained the problem is in your country? well, it is difficult and that is something that before i went on to the set, that is something i used to keep thinking about because, fortu nately keep thinking about because, fortunately i have not been through something as bad and cruel as rape, so something as bad and cruel as rape, soi something as bad and cruel as rape, so i was very worried because there are so many so i was very worried because there are so many people watching it and fahmy as an act that, i really did not know how i can sort of bringing justice to something that was written like that. and also, there was not a scene which showed the

rate. no visual representation. he did not want me to cry, there were times he would say i do not want you to cry, what you to be angry. so i played it angry, almost like he looked at rape. we are talking about anger driving the making of the film but i imagine there was a new level of anger when you and the director heard the board of censors in pakistan was going to ban the movie? yes. i was... pakistan was going to ban the movie? yes. iwas... more pakistan was going to ban the movie? yes. i was... more than anger because i will tell you what, as much as i was angry, i looked at it from a different point of view. i could not believe it. everytime i would read the statistics, it would keep raking my heart. so when it this happen, when i got a call and they told me i might get banned, i thought, not again. this would be

the second film of mine that would have been banned that year... and yet you told me it is a great time to bea yet you told me it is a great time to be a female actors. it is, i will tell you why it is. this is something about the ban of the film. someone asked the, would you say about the ban... you look at it as it being banned i look at it as it being nearly banned and then being released because he was a time, i do not know what it would have been 10— 20 years before with pakistan and how it would have done, but the entire country, journalists, activists, women and men together, came out whether on social media all make tv, they came out and said we are not going to let you banned this. do you feel so bleak about pakistan today that women who have underground these terrible

experiences do not get any sort of resolution, just as all serious accountability from the political system, from the community, because you'll character in the movie, she is to take... —— your character. it is to take... —— your character. it is vital and horrible. is that the message you're telling me pakistan today? no, i am not. i am not saying... are you not sitting here fluffing it up, and tell you it does not happen. 0f fluffing it up, and tell you it does not happen. of course it happens, you have to statistics right front of you but right after verna, the little girl who got raped, happened, and again everybody came out in everybody spoke about it. but it does not stop it happening. everybody spoke about it. but it does not stop it happeningm eventually does. this is a problem, this is not a pakistan centric epidemic, this is a worldwide problem and how do we stop at? look

at us, we have the best, as far as we are concerned , at us, we have the best, as far as we are concerned, we have the correct judiciary, we are concerned, we have the correctjudiciary, police, everything, and still we are not able to stop it so somewhere we are failing on two levels. ifill we do not have grassroot level education and there are so many — if you read more about this—so many of these cases take place inside their homes. and then there is shame attached to it. these things do not get over in one day. we keep talking about change and i have been saying this, evenin change and i have been saying this, even in hollywood, real change is coming, they keep saying. i think real conversation is what happening right now. conversation is an interesting point and i have noticed that since the thing breaking in america, dominant pakistan in women

have been speaking in public about their experience and being abused, for example as children. all of them have been very honest and one of them actually said, what is disturbing in pakistan in the recent pastis disturbing in pakistan in the recent past is the silent acceptance of women. 0ur society has not taught us in the past to deal with these competently. absolutely i agree with that. do you feel that personally?” came from a home where i was allowed and had the freedom of choice. i was told not to feel ashamed, is something like this happened, come to me, talk to me, tell me. my mother taught me that, she is a teacher herself. also i lived in america for a while and i consider myself very lucky basically because i have basic awareness and its —— of

the exposure to understand this. there is a problem because we attach... 0n there is a problem because we attach... on and a shame, all these words, they are so misconstrued. let me ask you something personal. we've talked about sexual violence but are many other ways in which i wonder whether the pakistan it movie industry, the culture, is ready to reckon knows different ways in which women live their lives. it is personal but you are a divorcee, you have raised the sun single—handedly. do you believe recognition of the strength, resilience of modern pakistani women is properly reflected in the culture of your country? you are sitting opposite me andi country? you are sitting opposite me and i being interviewed by you and, as you said, i am a single mother, a

divorcee, sitting in front of you, i ama divorcee, sitting in front of you, i am a reflection of my country and also a reflection... you seen as an anomaly, she is a western night, she is privileged, she has had education in the us... i do not think... i am sure eye appeal to the classes as well, but i believe i appeal to the masses of my country. how is that possible that eye appeal to the masses if i am so different to them at? we talked about all the sensitivities in pakistan for you, trying to express yourself freely in the country today. it is notjust about gender issues, there are extraordinary sensitivities that come with pakistan's vexed relationship with india. now, you are at the centre of this because you had a breakout career moment a couple of years ago when he made a

movie, raees raees, a classic big budget hollywood movie with shah rukh khan shah rukh khan, one of bollywood ‘s biggest us and yet it all went horribly wrong. how disappointing is your experience of the tensions between india and pakistan as they affect the movie industry? to be honest i was more excited about raees being released in pakistan than anywhere else, because i wanted was to sit there with my best friends, and my child, and the audience, and watch this. and i didn't get to. you couldn't. but you know why you couldn't, because the pakistani censorship board deemed that raees was an ugly, horrible, unacceptable depiction of muslims.” think that if raees was released at

any other time i think this would not have been banned. because again, these are a handful of people deciding it, and i think their decisions are sometimes based on things that don't even concern the film, sometimes. so you know, i don't think that was the reason. they said it was the reason. they said it, buti they said it was the reason. they said it, but i don't know if raees released today, would it have been released? well, in a way, things have got even worse since then. he made the movie, and then very shortly after you made it, the indian film industry declared that pakistanis were persona non grata as actors or contributors at all to their movie industry. right. so you couldn't even go and promote the movie in india. yes, yes. so it was a two way thing. we got stuck under this... under the political fire, really. nothing else. but we, by the way... pakistanis still showing indian films. we haven't banned

indian films. we haven't banned indian films. we haven't banned indian films at all. well, some are banned, i mean, it is a very intermittent and sporadic thing, but frankly, the pakistani film industry, it seems to me, depends upon indian movies. i mean, your cinemas get more audience for a bollywood movies than any other, and yet, because of politics, many of these movies are now not shown in pakistan. we talked about anger earlier. as an artist and an act, how angry do you get that you are caught in this political crossfire? well, at that time, yes, i was angry. i was sad, and angry, and there were moments of disappointment, and just hurts, you know? now i've come to a place where i believe that that anger doesn't really, you know, make me a better actor. it doesn't do anything for me asa actor. it doesn't do anything for me as a person. so i have let go of that. because at that time i was in the mix of it. you could argue it sort of stalled your career, because

you were on trajectory to become a major bollywood as well as pakistani film star, and now you cannot be that. well, no. you know, bollywood was never really the aim, actually. imean, sure, was never really the aim, actually. i mean, sure, you could argue that i could have done more films there. for sure a could have. but right after raees, i had already started working on verna, even before this happened, so my focus was always on pakistan. let's be honest, the pakistan. let's be honest, the pakistan film audience, as we have discussed, is sizeable, and the movie industry is reviving, but it isa movie industry is reviving, but it is a dwarf compared to the massive machine that is the indian film industry. so if you want to reach hundreds of millions of people and become a megastar, you need to be a star in bollywood as well as in pakistan, and now it seems that route is cut off for you. and ijust wonder how bitterly disappointed you feel? well, at that time i did. at

that time i did. but i will tell you what. like i can't explain it. i am sure from your point of view that seems to be a very big thing, and at that time it was. but currently i just feel it is just something else to be working and be part of this movement at the film industry at the moment. because how i look at it is that 20 years from now, when, in, either my son or kids from today wa nt to either my son or kids from today want to become actors, we will have set, you know, this industry for them, which they won't have to struggle so much. it seems to me that, you know, there is such insecurity on both sides of this dispute, both in pakistan and in india, each insecure about the other, and you, when you try to sort of form cultural partnerships across that order, you get caught up in it. 0ne specific one i am thinking about is, ithink 0ne specific one i am thinking about is, i think a website or somebody got hold of a picture of you sharing a moment, cigarettes, with an indian

actor offset. in pakistan, social media went nuts. so many people were hugely critical of you. how dare she, and she hanging out with an indian? how much pressure do you feel? yes, so that was the first time, actually, in my entire career that i was caught up in a so—called controversy. and it was strange. because there were so many things involved. 0ne, obviously, you feel violated. you are in a personal, downtime moment, and someone has just photographed you. two, obviously there was an uproar, because here i was, someone who was extremely loved in pakistan, and they consider me... you know, they sort of kidney up on this pedestal, you know, they treat me with a lot of love and a lot of respect, and there are certain things that i didn't realise, that they didn't wa nt to didn't realise, that they didn't want to see do —— keep me. at that point, yes, it was crazy, honestly.

because it lasted for a while. it became a national topic, a national debate, every channel. it was crazy, it was ridiculous. but what has happened post that is even better. the backlash in yourfavour? people defending you? yes, you saw that, right? i have seen that, i understand that. i suppose we have scattered around this, but i had to ask you directly, in pakistan today, the religious authorities, and extremely conservative imams in particular, they still hold an enormously powerful sway in the country. i am just looking at an extraordinary quote from someone for the council for islamic ideology criticising laws in punjab which are specifically designed to protect women from abuse. he said the clauses in this particular bill, you know, defending the rights of women, will eventually lead to the breakup of society. this is the pakistan you

live in. no, i think of society. this is the pakistan you live in. no, ithink that of society. this is the pakistan you live in. no, i think that is a very myopic view of pakistan. i think thatis myopic view of pakistan. i think that is our quote from a imam in pakistan. i do not look at pakistan like that. again, like i said, i would not be sitting here, my colleague would not be winning an 0scar, there are so many others. like i am sitting in front of you, sometimes i feel, do i even deserve to be sitting in front of you? there are so many people you can interview who have done so many more greater things in pakistan, who are probably not recognised enough. well, i have been to pakistan a couple of times, we have interviewed human rights workers, we have interviewed politicians, we have interviewed all sorts of pakistanis, but it strikes me is extraordinary interesting it today, in 2018, to talk to somebody like you trying to navigate through. right, and this is what i feel will be my wenn, if i can navigate through and i can still talk about what is happening, and issues, and

show the women and the man, you know, the public of pakistan, that it is possible. at there are possibilities. coming back to this quote, iam not possibilities. coming back to this quote, i am not sure who this man is, you told me he was... well, the council of islamic ideology is his organisation. so again, extremist anywhere, anywhere, there is a huge problem with that. anywhere around the world. and we are seeing it with america as well. we are seeing it with first world countries as well. so we have two... i mean, and this is the problem. the disparity that keeps on increasing, and people like me, we are the middle ground. we have the sort of bring it together. what do you ever, in a darker moment, think to yourself, you know what? if my desire to work with indian colleagues in bollywood is being thwarted, some of the subject matter that i really want to address in pakistan is becoming extraordinarily difficult, and yes, verna was not banned, your next

movie, who knows? do you ever think as an artist, i don't need this? i wa nt to as an artist, i don't need this? i want to maybe think about moving to the united states, or to london, to europe, because there they will be able to extract myself so much more freely. —— dare i will be able to express myself so much more freely. i have never thought that. i can't. it is my home, it is my country, and i don't think that i can tell any story better than the story of my own country, then the stories of my countrymen. who else would do that? imean, i countrymen. who else would do that? i mean, i want to do that. i want to be able to bring out stories like verna, as well as stories which are ofa verna, as well as stories which are of a modern and new generation, like ho mannjahaan, of a modern and new generation, like ho mann jahaan, which of a modern and new generation, like ho mannjahaan, which is a film i did of the use of pakistan. and like you said, because we are artists, i think that is a problem we all suffer. we are dreamers, so we are

co nsta ntly suffer. we are dreamers, so we are constantly looking at what is going to happen. and honestly, this is all aim to give out all of the time, that one day i will go to a cinema house and theyjust won't be enough space to fill in. mahira khan, thank you very much for being on hardtalk. thank you. hello once again. i hope at least at some point during the course of the weekend you managed to get to see some sunshine, because it may well be in the forthcoming week that that is in short supply for some areas, especially the northern parts of scotland. all of us will notice it turning a little bit colder, because initially there's some warmth to be had, especially across the southern half of the british isles. but, as i move you through to around

about wednesday, well, those yellows have moved away. we've tapped into some cold air yet again from scandinavia, for the northern half of britain. to the south, well, there's an incursion of milder air, relatively, from the atlantic. but it comes at something of a price, and some start paying that as early as monday afternoon, because the cloud and rain begin to push in towards northern ireland, the west of wales, down into the south—west of england. elsewhere, after a chilly old start, the temperatures pick up quite nicely — ten, 11, 12, 13, something of that order. but that may well be the last that you see of those, because from monday night on into tuesday, so we push this low pressure closer to the british isles. that in turn pushes this weather front ever further towards the north and the east. does the rain get away from the eastern side of england during the course of the day? well, it's a pretty close call, and it's certainly there to be had across the eastern side of scotland, where it's going to be really quite chilly. the last of any semblance of warmth is there to be had

across the southern counties of both england and wales. from tuesday on into wednesday, that weather front is stuck across northern parts of scotland. the cold air flooding in, remember, from scandinavia. so we'll see, particularly on the hills, the grampians, the snowfall totals really beginning to mount up. in the south, it willjust push some areas of cloud and rain ever further towards the east, and following on behind, we've got a bright and blustery day. some of the showers really quite sharp, maybe a wee bit of hail in there, as well, as we see the first signs of that colder condition just beginning to seep its way into the southern half of britain. and then, from wednesday on into thursday, that weather front is still there across the eastern side of scotland, so the snowjust keeps on coming to the higher ground. and by this stage, things may well be cool enough just to drag some of that snow to a slightly lower level. further south, a bit of a lull in proceedings, and then we'lljust push another area of low pressure in, with its attendant cloud, and some sharp bursts of rain as well. and at this stage, it really will feel cold and miserable,

across the eastern side of scotland particularly. further south, temperatures just about getting to around about ten or 11 degrees, and just in time for the easter weekend, low pressure is very much the dominant feature. take care. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. the headlines: a fire at a shopping centre in siberia has killed nearly a0 people, and dozens more are missing. protests erupt across catalonia after the region's former leader is arrested in germany, at the request of spain. his lawyer says he'll fight the case all the way. translation: the european arrest warrant is being misused for political purposes. it's being used to put political opponents behind bars. i'm sharanjit leyl in london. also in the programme: a crisis in australian cricket, as a scandal over ball tampering sends shockwaves through the world of sport.