Mawaan Rizwan received death threats following his groundbreaking documentary about his experience as a gay individual.
Mawaan is set to make an appearance on Friday night's episode of The Graham Norton Show, where he'll be discussing his latest sitcom, "Juice".
Inaugurating a fresh season of Graham Norton’s esteemed BBC talk show on the eve of Friday, September 29, the affable host is poised to extend a warm welcome to a cadre of illustrious guests. Among the foremost guests gracing this nascent series is the wittily astute Mawaan Rizwan, poised to regale us with insights into his latest televisual creation, “Juice.”
Hailing from the vibrant tapestry of Pakistan, Mawaan’s journey commenced on the digital realm of YouTube. As with many pioneers of this platform, his trajectory catapulted him to commendable eminence. This 31-year-old luminary, Lahore-born and one of nine siblings, embarked on his British odyssey in 1994.
A mere 16 springs into existence, Mawaan embarked on the venture of fashioning internet chronicles, an endeavor that would ultimately pave the way to a plenitude of television assignments. Yet, the path to stardom was not bereft of trials, as he candidly disclosed encounters with the specter of death threats, rooted in his unapologetic embrace of his sexuality.
A flag-bearer for LGBTQ+ rights, Mawaan openly avowed his truth to his parents at the age of 24. This juncture also witnessed his stewardship of a documentary for the venerable BBC, titled “How Gay is Pakistan?” In an interview with The Guardian, he recounted the vitriolic backlash that ensued.
Reflecting on the documentary, Mawaan mused, “I seldom broach the subject of the film. I harboured no aspirations of journalistic prowess; I was navigating uncharted waters. Hindsight reveals my temerity: ‘Oh my, youngling, steady thy course.’ Prudence should have been my lodestar. The vitriol I encountered online… The death knells. Yet, once that die was cast? The die was cast. Fear found no domicile. I am cognizant that it truly provided succour, even if the beneficiaries were less vocal than the naysaying chorus of death.”
“I was bereft of temporal reprieve. Seven days in thrall to toil, myriad pursuits… Frankly, contemplation of personal reverberations was unwelcome. I too, grappled with this seismic shift. My formative years were steeped in homophobia – such was our milieu. I traversed a crucible of transformation through my creative undertakings.”
In the annals of 2020, a year fraught with global turmoil, Mawaan underwent a metamorphosis of extraordinary magnitude. Forbes, in a nod of recognition, enshrined him in their pantheon of 30 trailblazers under 30. Concurrently, he graced the screen in the Sky One comedic opus “Two Weeks to Live” and lent his quill to the Netflix saga “Sex Education.”
“Juice,” Mawaan’s brainchild, now graces the expanse of BBC iPlayer. This opus, an offspring of his 2018 Edinburgh Fringe spectacle of identical nomenclature, also features portrayals by his flesh-and-blood progenitors.
Reflecting on this venture on The Graham Norton Show, he intimated, “A scene unfurled with my maternal and fraternal kin, a crucible of emotion; incredulity held sway – it was an astounding tableau, juxtaposed against the crucible from whence we emerged.”
