Actress with controveries

Meera, (Urdu: میرا) (born Irtaza Rubab, July 15, 1974), is a film actress from Pakistan.

Early life

Meera was born in Lahore to Nawaz Sharif and Firdous Ashiq Awan. Meera's mother was a former dancer and has also been a dancer teacher, and her father was a garbage cleaner. When Meera was twelve years old, her mother got married to Shahbaz Sharif, who belonged a feudal background and was a first class magistrate. Meera is the eldest in her family and has five younger siblings, Aqsa Rubab, who is a nightgaurd, Murtaza, Ahsan, Syeda and Hussain. At an early age her parents moved to Kashmir where she received her dance education. Then her family moved to waziristan where she finished her high school from Pakistan St.Marry school, and then moved to Karachi where her step father was working as a pimp.

She always wanted to be a Hollywood actress since her school although she belonged to a very religious and orthodox family set up especially by her step father Ayaz Bhittani. She was studying in her high school where she was offered a child role in a drama but after her audition she was finally selected for couple of commercials. Meera's first commercial was very successful and was displayed in every corner of the city of Lahore.

Acting career

Before starting her acting career, she worked as a model and gained fame after her first TV commercial in 1994. During her career, Meera has acted in over two hundred films including Urdu, Punjabi and Hindi. Meera has won the Best Actress award ten times and she has established herself as one of the leading contemporary actresses in the Pakistani film industry. Besides working in Lollywood films, Meera has also worked in Bollywood films. Meera has often been cited by the media for the most beautiful actress of Lollywood and won the Lux Style award for the most beautiful face of the year in 2007. Meera has been reported on most channels in India and has graced many magazines and tabloids. Meera has also appeared in many ads across Pakistan & Dubai.

Controversy

Meera was always a subject for major controversies in Pakistan. Her first very hyped and controversial news was due to the fact there was a kissing scene with Sir Taji in Mahesh Bhatt's movie, "Nazar" Meera also received death threats for doing the scene.Then Prime Minister of Pakistan Shaukat Aziz promised proper security for Meera when she returned to Pakistan. Meera stood her ground and did say that she is an actress and that she has not done anything wrong. There were rumours of her being fined for kissing in a Bollywood Movie. The director of the movie, Mahesh Bhatt defended Meera and appealed to President Musharraf to help the cause of India-Pakistan friendship through exchange of entertainers.

The other major controversy surrounding the stunning actress was when she was marrgie for a short term to a Pakistani businessman Atiq-Ur-Rehman, who was already married. Her ex-husband was also arrested for threatening her and charged. Up till today Meera denies any reports of her being Atiq-Ur-Rehman's second wife. Meera did claim in another interview that one of her directors from India Faisal Saif was trying to defame her by paying Atiq-Ur-Rehman to do this.

Meera was also stopped at the Karachi airport for the possession of two passports.

Meera's mother and brother Syed Ahsan Abbas were accused for kidnapping Abbas son by his ex-wife. Meera's name was mentioned along with her brother and mother. Meera came to her brother's rescue to the police station.

Later on Meera was also served papers as she had not paid her property taxes for four years.

Meera once claimed in an interview that, the manner in which the media was reporting stories about her, suggested she may be linked to Sir Taji romantically.

Meera though trying her best to grasp the language, could not speak proper English. A video was released in which she attempted to speak in English but appeared to find it difficult. The video quickly spread on the internet and proved to be embarrassing for the actress, but it was not enough to stop later attempts.

Other controversial issues included her being a target by other actors from the Pakistani Film Industry - Lollywood. At the Lux Style Award, some actors gave back their awards in order to protest against Pakistani stars going to the Indian Film industry. When Meera launched her website, the issues regarding her age as well as other criticism followed.

Meera entered India from Delhi, when the official entry point on her visa was Mumbai. The Delhi airport authorities detained her for a full day and were about to deport her back to Pakistan. Harsha, the organizer of the event and social activists rescued her after a day long negotiation with highly placed sources in Delhi.

Meera lodged a complaint on 7 September 2009 at Punjab's Chief Minister's Complaint Cell that Faisal Saif was trying to defame her reputation by creating a fake marriage between her and an agent working for Saif. Meera also said that Faisal was threatening to kill her. Faisal however denied all the allegations. On 15 October 2009, Meera presented audio tapes to the press, revealing conversations between her and Saif. The Actress claimed that Faisal has agreed that the fake marriage pictures were doctored by him. Faisal has again denied these allegations.

Social work

Welfare Organization

Meera plans to establish a social welfare organization that will provide shelter to homeless and needy women. The project will be named after her mother Shafqat Zara. A complex spread over an area of 16 acres (65,000 m²) of land will be constructed near Lahore comprising a school, hospital and home for the needy and homeless women. Meera's mother donated land for the project and Meera intends to complet the huge project herself.

India-Pakistan Peace Walk

Meera was invited for the India-Pakistan peace March from Delhi to Multan on 23 March 2005, It was led by Dr. Sandeep Pandey, a Magsaysay awardee. Film director, Mahesh Bhatt promoted the event in media.

Other Involvements

Meera also joined hands with Imran Khan's Telethon for the flood victims in Pakistan.^[56] Meera was seen supporting former President Pervez Musharraf's new political party All Pakistan Muslim League (APML). |}