Pakistani actress Mehwish Hayat, who criticised Priyanka Chopra not too long ago after Ms Chopra defended her 'Jai Hind' tweet on the Balakot air strike, happened to bump into Ms Chopra's husband, singer Nick Jonas, at the US Open over the weekend. Ms Hayat and Nick Jonas were both watching Rafael Nadal play Matteo Berrettini in the Men's Semi-Final at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York. Mehwish Hayat posted a picture of herself with the American singer, instantly earning herself a spot on the trending list. She wrote: "Guess who I ran into at the US Open Men's Semi Finals in New York! One thing we both agreed on was that we were both rooting for Rafael Nadal!" Rafael did indeed win that match as well as the final, defeating Daniil Medvedev to win his fourth US Open title.
Check out Mehwish Hayat's post here:
Luckily for Ms Hayat, Priyanka Chopra was Toronto-bound to promote her film The Sky Is Pink at the ongoing film festival, thus preventing a potentially awkward encounter. Last month, Ms Chopra was confronted by a Pakistani blogger at BeautyCon in Los Angeles about her support for the Balakot air strike earlier this year, after which Priyanka Chopra, as well as many other celebrities, posted messages online. Ms Chopra tweeted succinctly, "Jai Hind." Accused by the Pakistani woman at BeautyCon of encouraging war, Priyanka Chopra responded, "War is not something I'm really fond of but I am patriotic, so I'm sorry if I hurt sentiments to people who do love me and have loved me. But I think that all of us have a sort of, a middle ground that we all have to walk. Just like you probably do as well. The way that you came at me right now, girl, don't yell. We're all here for love."
Her comment enraged Pakistani voices, with a minister writing to the United Nations asking that Priyanka Chopra be removed as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. Mehwish Hayat was among Ms Chopra's critics, writing in an opinion piece for CNN, "This is where Priyanka Chopra and others have made a mistake: by lending their name to racism dressed up as patriotism, they have done us all a disservice." Ms Hayat also accused Bollywood of "fuelling hate an Islamophobia." Whether or not she would have been quite so enthusiastic about posting a picture from the US Open had Priyanka Chopra attended is anybody's guess - the comments on Mehwish Hayat's post are mindful of and acknowledge the irony.
Mehwish Hayat includes Shah Rukh Khan and Alia Bhatt on her Bollywood hit list. She recently claimed that the song Prada, in which Ms Bhatt appears, is a copy of Pakistani musician Shoaib Mansoor's Goray Rung Ka Zamana. She also accused Shah Rukh Khan of promoting an "anti-Pakistani project" through Bard Of Blood, an upcoming Netflix series produced by Shah Rukh Khan and starring Emraan Hashmi.
Mehwish Hayat is best-known for her work in films such as Load Wedding and Actor In Law.
