She was trolled for wearing a short backless dress and smoking a cigarette in Ranbir's company.
The Humsafar starlet said,
“I was quiet initially but I was definitely not laughing over the situation. It is personal for sure. I decided to respond to trolls because something very personal to me became public. So, I felt, 'Okay, let's just put it out there.' For anybody being harassed and the issue becoming a national debate, it's not a nice thing. I don't know what made me do this, but I thought that I am going to take this on the chin and I am going to move forward."
She added, “It takes strength… but when you are hit with something and are in the storm, you fight it out. It is not that you are stronger than him or her. It is just that you walk out of the storm. Once you come out, you are stronger and more evolved.”
About self-definition she said, “I think that nobody should define you – if anything then you should define yourself. I learned during that period who I was, and I will not let anybody define me. Not to say that I don’t take criticism and all of that.”
Verna is her second film with critically acclaimed director Shoaib Mansoor and speaking about director she shared, “When Shoaib calls you, it is hard to refuse. I am a big NO sayer but once I was told the story, I wanted to be part of the movie even though I knew it wouldn’t be an easy film for me to do.”
About the year 2017 she said, “This year has been a bitter-sweet symphony for me. Raees is so special – I was just dancing on my song Zaalima right before I came to the airport. I was at my best friend’s birthday (party) and the last song that they played at 5am, was Zaalima.”
“I am very happy with the response that the movie got. I wanted everything to be perfect nut in retrospect, I don’t think I could have asked for more. Though, I felt bad that the movie did not release in Pakistan.”
“When Verna was getting banned in Pakistan, I was like, ‘No. Not twice in a year.’ I would have taken a pirated copy of the film and sold it on my own. We make a film for the audiences. We do the work because it pleases us but eventually, it is the audiences that matter to us,” Mahira said