The latest episode of Pakistani drama Mann Mast Malang on Geo has sparked waves of controversy as Netizens bash the series for crossing unspoken social boundaries. 

The acclaimed drama features Mobeen, the elder brother of Kabir Khan, deciding to get married for the second time to fulfill his desire of having a child. Meanwhile, his first wife Wafa (Hiba Ali Khan) is portrayed as being depressed and is shown smoking a cigarette in the episode.

The scene quickly went viral  with social media commentary mainly dominated by anger and criticism of the actress and drama. 

Anger-charged comments sprung up across the internet as the clip of the actress smoking began to be spread. Many have expressed disgust and contempt for displaying what is a bad health habit. The strength of the taboo about women smoking is evident in comments similar to this: "Women have started smoking in Pakistani dramas too.What a shame." Similarly, some comments have linked the taboo to the effect on impressionable young girls.

One person commented "There are limits.What effect will it have on the new generation if women are portrayed doing these things." 

Other comments focus more on the simple idea that depicting smoking on-screen might promote it. One commenter stated "Adding a ‘Smoking Kills’ warning does not absolve you." Such comments also had a significant presence on social media with concerns about the promotion of cigarettes and smoking, given the dangers to health

Many condemned the portrayal of cigarettes as a coping mechanism for the character as promoting the unhealthy mechanism. Fewer in number but still present, however, were comments defending the drama showing the actress smoking.

Some commenters defended the move as realistic given that smoking, as unhealthy as it is, truly is used as a way to deal with problems by many people. One netizen added : "Isn't it a realistic depiction of depression?Many people turn to smoking when they don't know how to handle their problems." 

Finally, a few others have also defended the drama under the premise that smoking is portrayed in many dramas, locally and internationally. 

Such comments seemed to defend the portrayal under the idea of how common it has become: ‘It's fine,this is happening in every drama.’ 
Despite the defensive comments, anger and criticism seemed to overarch all other comments.This is not the first time the drama has come under fire on social media and has been highly criticised for other bold moves like scenes that imply forced romance causing it to be widely labeled as inappropriate.