Chowrangi

Down with Confusion

There was an article in a newspaper about our star icons in the media, especially on the musical front. It claimed a few names of the male members of the musical clan who were trendsetters. Among females, however, there were few. Hadiqa was touted be the former icon. But as of the immediate ‘now’, here were hardly any in sight.

There is truth in there somewhere. Though it might also have happened that we missed sighting someone, or ‘someones’. Click on some Pakistani channels and keep clicking. It’s the same everywhere. Our youth has been brain fed with the presentation of other cultural programs and presentations from their birth. It’s called brainwashing (for lack of a better word). It makes an interesting study to watch these young folks appear all sprightly and prepped up and they say very nice things too. All well and good. There are just some things left to be desired. These enterprising youngsters have tried to make something of the world and what happens in it. They have struggled, believe it or not. And they are different. But… yes, that old ‘but’. But what a great difference would it make if these people extended their learning a bit more. Sometimes the ignorance is so glaring in our local programs, that it reflects a direct bastardization of an alien cultures. Of many alien cultures and peoples. Yes, every human being is the same, fundamentally. That does not mean that everyone should try to emulate word for word, dress for dress, action for action of anything rampant, even if they do it in their own style.

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Abeer Fatima

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8 responses to “Down with Confusion”

  1. ice awan Avatar
    ice awan

    my fingers … i guess are ok now ..
    well thanks for agreeing to some .. and even more thanks for not agreeing 😛 .. at least i get to carry on now 😀 :D.. where do i begin … ok here goes …
    I hate popular aka Pop culture. What we commonly refer to as pop is basically commercial entertainment. And that means, making money out of it. And when you start making money out of something, you basically tend to the demands of the people who are buying it. And that is only why our cinema is producing what is popular, and not something that is thought provoking or intelligent. (also relate it to the fact, that we dont want to be a nation that thinks and acts on it) Our lives are as dramatic and impulsive as are reflected in our Cinema. It is not the matter of cinema alone. Care to look at out TV today. We are a conspiring, jealous and wicked nation. And that is y, our each and every drama or soap as well call it today, is filled with all the above mentioned qualities. The alternative scene of entertainment, that makes us think, does not exist at all, even not in the underground. That is not because, we dont have people who do not want to produce or present such things. There are such people, but once you are associated with a profession that no one is buying or even care to pay any heed to, after sometime, they also succumb to the financial pressures of life and turn to the dark side and become one of them. So even considering that we keep on making intelligent, logical stuff, will eventually make people wanna see that and will change the mind set, i srsly dont think that it is going to work like that. Because, those handfuls will soon be overcome with the realities of life and will side up with the popular culture i.e filthy, dirty aimless entertainment.
    The greatest dilemma that we face today, has its roots in the very beginning of our existence as a nation. We have to understand, that culture is another name of heritage. Once we got independence, we not only shed away the the name of united India, we also tried to, i say again, tried to shed away any cultural bondage associated with them. It was only once we did it, that we realized, “ooops .. we dont have any culture of our own”. Living for hundreds of years together, our cultures were fused together in a complicated net. So we decided to go our way without any culture at all. That i still believe was a right decision, since the very essence of Pakistan would have been baseless if we had adopted what was theirs. Where we went wrong was, that we never started building any of our own. We got into problems and embroiled ourselves into the political games that persist even today. Hence we never got any chance to build our culture or a National character. So when i was born in 1978, I did not inherit any culture from my parents, and my son born in 2007, has inherited none from me.
    Interestingly, the pre 1971, Bengal (east pakistan) did not give away their cultural bondage with India. Their women, kept wearing saaris and bindi. They refused to give up the Sansikrat Manuscript, bengali langugae. They kept dancing and singing in their routine life, just as their hindu neighbors and hence were always closer to them, than they were ever to Us. It was not only the language or the dress, but you can get a fair amount of idea where the resentment against bengalis originated from in the hearts and minds of Us west pakistan walas. the result was AMPUTATION of an Islamic country, aided by Pegans and idol worshipers. Such is the force of culture, if embraced.
    Although, we never accepted Indian culture, but we still needed some entertainment. So we borrowed some of their styles in the form of Classic Singing (pure indian style of music) and our cinema was Indian based right from the outset. And now that we seriously want to do something about development of our own, to our horror we reaslize that our human need of cultural associations and bondage, has led us slowly and unwittingly, into a quagmire of the very same culture that we had shed away so many years back. It crept into our society and into our minds, again, aided by those, who even at the time of independence, kept it alive inside our domain, in a pure underground scene. They nurtured it, kept it barely alive, only to redeem it when the time was right. I don’t blame them, or accuse them of sedition. They did what they had learned to do. They did what they thought at that time was right. Even so if it was wrong.
    If we ever are to recover, from all these massive down slides, the first thing we will have to do, is inculcate the sense of right and wrong. And that comes from Education. When i say Education, i mean, IL’M not Taleem. Knowledge based education, that can pull us out of this entire mess. I know, it is going to take a lot of time. May be more than my life time, but i am sure that it is the only way. Histories of Revolutions are always written with blood shed in the cause. More the blood, better is the quality and durability of the crimson manuscript. think over it.

    As far as me and movies … ideas .. naaah … i dont think i will be able to do that. I hate Meera 😀 😀 ( ok that was lame)

    *i missed out a point, Our nations has become to oblivious to the realities of life, that even all the responsible media is the country, starts showing high aimed, even intellectually acceptable programs (your words exactly), there still be a DVD / CD played local channel on the cable net, airing Nargis and Deedar, their degraded, shameless dances and their socially frustrated audiences, waiting for a bend and peek, right into our homes. We have become such a nation, that if you’d take away their atmosphere, they would learn to breathe underwater, but that only for an evil cause 😀 😀 not for a virtuous one.

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  2. Abeer Fatima Avatar
    Abeer Fatima

    2 Haris, exactly my sentiments… pathetic idiots.

    and Mr. Ice awan, Each of ur comments surprises me. and there are so many points which i agree to and want to reply immediately, but a rush of overlapping thouhgts overwhelm me. i’ll try anyway. couldn’t agree with u more. we have no culture… sorry to burst the bubble many ppl still believe in. u are absolutely right. dance, music and all art forms are just that… art forms. they do not represent a culture. even our language is a borrowed one. which we claim to have inherited.

    as far as the cinema demand question is concerned, i tend to disagree. yes, ppl can demand whatever they want, but nobody’s holdin a gun to media’s forehead to show all that bizarre mundane stuff. media hiding behind silly pretexts again. i believe ppl watch what they are shown. yes, there are ppl with different levels of intelligence, but does that mean that their exposure should cater to low level IQ as long as they ive where’s teh sense in taht? imagine a pakistan where the media being the strongest manipulator, starts showing high aimed, even intellectually acceptable programs. after a while, ppl will hav no choice but to watch them. nobody can watch foreign cable channels forever. even they should be filtered out. foreign channels show pretty good stuff which should n must be shown, including comedies. would all that make the slightest of difference in the mentalities of ppl? maybe it’s wishfulk thinking. but then, “kerne walay kerte bhi hain”. IF our media wants that is, is the whole point. we have not failed as a nation, we are failing in our own selves. being “Muslims”.
    how’re ur fingers. by the way, why don’t u venture in to the media. u have pretty good themes for movies, dramas etc. no kidding here. my being a female in pakistan kind of restricts participating myself. but we need “educated ppl. and those educated ppl have never stood up to rectify things. we were surprised one day in my university when our teacher said that here are more good ppl than bad ones. it’s just that bad ppl don’t hesitate brodcasting their filth everywhere, while the good ones sit quietly and watch the show.
    why is that? here’s hoping to a bloodless revolution for the best!!!
    a prayer… not wishful thinking 🙂

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  3. ice awan Avatar
    ice awan

    itna sanatta kyun hai bhai/???

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  4. ice awan Avatar
    ice awan

    The nagging voice inside …so rightly said. Personal experience, i have experimented with a lot of ways to live my life in a short span of 29. I have gone out on a limb and broken a leg when it has come to living western labeled life with all the requisite social accessories. But at the end of the day, that little voice inside kept reminding me of what i am and what i am not. And a great realization that atleast what i was doing was not what i was. So i turned to look at what i should call our culture. U have made a very sound analysis on western media, especially their movies. Let me enlighten you with what Pakistani Movies (which btw our masses flock to see in local theaters). The contents of our movies are:
    1. A village
    2. An honest man (who dies right in the beginning by the Zalim Zameendar aided by Police)
    3. A Son
    4. Revenge
    5. Lawlessness
    6. 5-6 (I wanna throw up again) songs with no purpose of life whatsoever
    7. Agression
    8. Anger
    9.A victory of the Son against the Zamindar / Law less law (his methods are the very definition of Lawlessness themselves)
    10. Clapping and whistles from the crowd / A laser pointer aimed at the heroines where and where not by someone in the crowd (dont ask me and yes i have visited local cinema ghars for purely experience / experiment’s sake)

    I could make loads of fun of the movies we make and have you laughing into a tummy ache. But i’d rather choose to take it on a serious note.

    Y are such movies made? the answer to this question is, the masses want to see such movies, that is y.

    Y do masses want to see such movies, they are totally sub standard? They want to see the poor guy defy the law (for law read police brutality) and the rich of the society

    But y are they so against the rich / police? The class difference and the contrast of standard of living has led them to believe that the rich have their way with everything in life and that poor are orphans all along

    Does it mean that the local movies in fact are an exaggerated account of the lives of the poor? Yes that is y they are so popular. However, the defying of rich / wealthy authority does not take place in the real world, so they find solace in seeing it on the big screen and in their hearts believe that someday … may b someday we will also be able to do the same.

    Movies are a reflection of the society. Our masses dont want to see a movie on a Movie on how a local panchait ruins the life of a 16 yr old girl and what really happens to her afterwards. They are certainly not interested in a movie on the life of Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan or even how gallantly our soldiers fought in Kargil, and laid down their lives for an ill orchestrated political / military debacle of our history, that is even if you put a couple of Masala songs in it for entertainment sake. They just want to see someone stand against and authority and bring it down to its knees, make em eat dirt and clap on it (this actually happens in most of the cinemas. when the hero kicks villian’s a**, the audience practically clap to it 😀 😀 )

    Another aspect of these movies is a reflection on our state of ethics. We are a JAHIL nation. And Jahalat has given us a strange colour. Over the period of time, we have believed that brandishing weapons, raising weird loud slogans and doing badmashi and having a Mutyar dancing her way through a not-so-ploughed-field is a way a MAN lives. Everyone of us wants to be a Badmash. We take more pride in breaking the law than abiding by it. Interestingly enough, the word Jahalat does not need a better explanation.
    We copy the west for sure, but we only choose to copy those, what suits us. Just like we have extracted only those clauses of Islam, which are cut out for our requirements and needs. We dont want to copy their patriotism, their relentless hard work, their honesty, their desire to serve their system. (they do possess these qualities, for their own interest, sure they do)
    We only chose to copy their nakedness, their so called woman equality (which actually degrades the woman folk worse than a farm animal / an object to be used and thrown away) ….

    Why we never nurtured a culture of our own. Who or what is to be blamed. I guess the onus falls once again on mis-understanding and mis-interpretation of Islam. Have you ever cared to notice what is the definition of culture in our society. Correct me if i am wrong, but is the word not associated with Dance, Music, Painting, and all other things that actually form part of Arts. The culture in fact encompasses far more than what we have associated it with. Since our religion forbids in a way or other to practice such things, so they always remained under ground, and never made it to the main stream. Now that in the name of freedom of action / speech, we have decided to come out, we have been invaded with western style culture and unfortunately we never got to feed our own so called culture. We had almost no choice but to copy whatever was available to us. The real cultural definition, i guess we can have a detailed discussion over it some other time. My fingers hurt and i have to take some rest. Its office at night today as well 😀 😀

    keep up with the great subjects to allow a person like myself to exercise my mind 😀

    Reply
  5. Abeer Fatima Avatar
    Abeer Fatima

    Refreshing to see your comment.
    What i fail to understand is, if our nation can be inspired by the lifestyle of the westerners, why don’t they look into other facets of their culture. take our media, ok, take our film industry. i have never watched any pakistani movie. want to watch “Khuda ke liyay” because it’s been made by Shoaib Mansoor. Now take a look at Hollywood productions. they explore any interesting theme , make it plausible and make a movie about it. even their romantic movies have substance in them. not all of them, but mostly they do. I’m not very inspired by the west. my point tis, why does our media have to show everything in 2-3 themes, love, jealousy, estrangements, tragedies… ugh! That’s what star plus does in an atrocious manner.
    if we want any movie or drama with substance, we can have a myriad of subjects to choose from. and good cinemetography , graphics etc have very little to do in many cases where elaborate sets, costumes are not needed.
    I saw this movie yesterday, “Ron Clark Story”. it’s based on a true story of a schoolteacher who made a difference in many childrens’ lives who were touted to be losers and up to no good. Ron Clark made a set of principles which he wrote a book about too, called “The Essential 55”.
    Now that’s an inspiring thought. and it’s a true life event as well. take “a beautiful mind”. true story again. ok, even with romantic comedies, they don’t get carried away. “Sweet November” is a sweet movie, but down to earth. My maybe biased opinion says that if we made such a movie, it would be disgustingly gushy mushy and over the border.
    Our channels are showing some exceptional dramas, most of them from Pakistani bestseller novels. that is a good sign. why doesn’t film industry take heed. Or our nation for that matter. if the goras produce “yo man” hip hop culture, they have also given tremendous input in the world of science, and understanding our earth. watch national geographic and discovery channel for that. WHY CAN’T WE DO THAT??? because yes. we are confused. we can’t lead a righteous life AND we can’t enjoy properly because of that nagging voice in opur heads that we are doing something wrong. too many inhibitions. then those who deem themselves courageous and break these inhibitions, they go too out of the way… which is always the trouble with rebellion, or trying to ‘make a statement’.
    maybe it isn’t our fault that we are confused. but when will this confusion end? we cannot always hide under trhe pretext of having no choice but to follow the cultures handed over to us. we, as intelligent humans can make choices.My Allah guide us to become original one fine day.

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  6. Haris Avatar
    Haris

    and as a consequence … jal goes to india and sings dil dil pakistan jaan jaan hindustan … pathetic idiots

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  7. ice awan Avatar
    ice awan

    * i tend to do that too :P:P

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  8. ice awan Avatar
    ice awan

    Very right there. But we are not to be blamed. We never had an entertainment industry. So we imported one. Mainly from India. And with the passage of time, Indian entertainment also turned to the lines of the western one and we followed it all in close pursuit. Here we are today. All popular music in Pakistan are western inspired. We are willing to listen to our very own classic form of music, only if it has the strums of U2 style guitars in the background. It is not only in the realm of entertainment that we have lost our roots (if we had any) it is practically everywhere. The “wateva” culture has very silently, still viciously taken over our so called Cultured Society. The basis of our existence, has been delusioned by the mists of confusion, constantly flowing in from east and west. I am still holding on to some shredded ropes. But i dont really see many struggling with me. I want to revive Pakistan. I want to revive the essence of Pakistan. I want to revive the basis of my existence in this land of the pure. But as Ghalib had said “Fiqr-e-Dunya main sir khapata hoon / Main kahan or yeh wabal kahan.

    Hey where am i .. what was the subject 😛 … sorry i am tend to do that 😀 😀

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