- Undiscovered talent as a result of bad and outdated production ideas
By: Amna Khan
I look at the globe and find Pakistan less than cozily situated between a mixture of both frenemies and mortal enemies. There’s Iran and Afghanistan to the west cohabiting an even more distressing media climate than us. Then there’s China to the north where there is nothing but sunshine and rainbows charitably allowed on behalf of their benevolent Communist government. Finally there’s India to the east, a bully to us but rightfully regarded as a bulwark of ‘media manipulation’ the world over. Proving that strength is not only in numbers, (otherwise China would’ve outshone everyone) it lies in the use of those numbers to freely express the belief – ‘Incredible India’. An incredibleness born out of being open to critique and having avenues to express criticism reflecting varying points of view. Our maturity and ability to self-reflect on the silver screen falls short of this belief in our heritage. It fell short since the early 80’s and hasn’t ever really recovered since, affirming the proverb that it takes decades to build a kingdom and only a moment to lay waste to it.
A person unfamiliar with both films would be surprised to learn that the protagonist born in a Muslim majority country is the one who’s frantically desperate to leave because he sees no future here.
The most demoralizing factor is that we are bursting with potential, Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy has not only proven that once but twice! First in 2012 (Saving Face) and then in 2016 (A Girl in the River; the price of forgiveness) but we still can’t seem to stop being addicted to problematic storylines. Denying one’s history and culture isn’t winning awards, acknowledgment or even the masses over. Seems wasteful really, for rich producers to fund substandard projects when the economy is in the gutter, when they could simply choose to be useful instead and just pay off the IMF for every time they have a bad movie idea, which I’m guessing is always. When will these influential yet unfortunate minds learn that if what they’ve been taught isn’t working that’s the cue for revising their thought process?
The first Netflix original series produced in India was Sacred Games based on a novel by Vikram Chandra, her best and most inventive work. Just incase the funders for Jawani Phir Nahi Aani, Parwaaz Hai Junoon and Teefa in Trouble forgot we have authors like Bapsi Sidhwa, Tariq Ali, Kamila Shamsi and Mohammed Hanif – who have written some exceptionally notable work. Books Filmable enough that their profits might be accounted for in dollars. The world fortunately sees the potential that we don’t in these authors which is why it took an Indian Filmmaker like Mira Nair to make a feature film out of Mohsin Hamid’s book ‘A Reluctant Fundamentalist’. If any of you are looking for suggestions ‘Moth Smoke’ is still up for grabs but it won’t be for long – keen storytellers will spot that gold mine a mile away.
The silver lining remains to be the standards of story-telling these Pakistani authors embody. They are truly our saving grace since the weight of the entire country’s intellectual standards rests on their shoulders. Isn’t it convenient that only the broadcast standards have become intolerable & the standards of written literature being adapted by foreign stakeholders have become increasing phenomenal? Perhaps because they know and value quality when they see it, or maybe they understand the true price of peddling false narratives to shape a country’s youth.
Narratives like radical reactionary orthodox Islamism peddled by the one and only famous Twitter fiend whose conservative tweets and condescending wedding announcements show the ‘us & them’ division prevalent in society. Pseudo-Islamic men like that can only exist in Pakistani show business, who need to have a PDA session with their religious beliefs for public validation. Are you really even Muslim until you show it in every Facebook post? The only silver lining from this could be a new and improved way for a guy to proposition a girl, which has now become suggesting they have a platonic relationship. My bad I guess; that’s how they make marriage proposals now.
Laughing about it however does not extinguish the fact that shaming people for living their lives is detrimental. This encourages everyone to cohabit differing worldviews and what better way to spread Islam than creating discord in the name of it? There is no shame in not having a platonic relationship with the person you choose to marry or doing things that make you happy because you know God essentially just wants you to be happy. He doesn’t need you to do things for Him or be preachy about him or make a point about your lifestyle by shaming others for Him. I know to many this might sound like a news flash but the priorities for our generation have drastically evolved.
I feel for all the ethical & unprejudiced minds trying to live in this country, those trying to inculcate self-esteem in a country that has taught them to turn on the TV & loathe their genetic roots & ethnically profile each other. How fair do you think it is to impose European sensibilities on us? For it not be normal to be tanned, broad shouldered or gawky. To be forced to clap for women and call them brave when they are fearless while inviting unfair scrutiny for being dark complexioned or overweight while on screen. I dare say so many Nawazuddin Siddiquis must have been born in Pakistan, possibly rotting somewhere in the wrong professions with a shattered self-esteem, not following through with their passions with which they could’ve brought pride to their land.
Entertainment should be compelling and personal – we are provided with the very best opportunity to engage people in this cyberspace world. Being deprived of resources needed to achieve this lets others expropriate compelling television from us. Even in Sharmeen’s first endeavor she won a combined award with Daniel Junge because she required resources & HBO was willing to give it only with their man on the ground. The younger generation knows these blind spots and is waking up to the truth because the Chernobyl level lies our government is peddling aren’t translating into the reality around us. We are competing against globalized media that has always given Pakistani’s better TV for the value of their time! The excuse that complacency is woven into our national fabric has become unworkable. A complacency with which the previous generations conceded to stay mediocre and not fight for exceptionalism.
Both Lal Kabootar and Gully Boy have been picked by their respective countries to contest at the Oscars for best feature film (foreign category). Both these movies are stories about Muslims fighting to make their dreams a reality. You can see the reality of their worlds in the dreams they have. Where one wishes to leave his country, the other fights to achieve greatness in an already thriving industry. A person unfamiliar with both films would be surprised to learn that the protagonist born in a Muslim majority country is the one who’s frantically desperate to leave because he sees no future here. He’s the one fighting to escape because there’s no home amongst his own. Whereas a Muslim in India knows he’s still luckier than the Muslim in Pakistan even while living under the threat of being lynched. The truth of these countries is embodied in the reality of these mens’ pursuits. As I look at the map I wonder if living amongst our own really helped with representation, when in the land of strangers Muslims’ are freer to express their sense of self and in countries like Iran, Pakistan or Afghanistan they are disenfranchised.
