What I would like see in Pakistani Media

I’m probably not going to be able to get everything off my chest, but hey it’s worth a shot. Maybe all those producers, directors, writers and actors will listen to me.

In the case of Journalism

Shuru hee is hee baat say kar laytay hain, kay thoray bahut Ethics ka hee khayal kar liya karein.

Agar app kay show par loog debate key jaga larnay marnay kay liyay ayi hain, tou inko bhi nikaal dain.

Audiences ko policies kay barain mein educate kiya karain. Evidence, history and expert opinions hee day diyan karein unko- Treat them like intelligent people.

Jabb koi bhuri khabar kay bahray mein baat karni ho tou please thori izzat kay saath, aur fazool ghanay na dala karein. Mujhey yeh nahi samaj ayya kay agg tak un ghanoon kay liyay koi copyright claim kyon nahi ayain? Ya isi baat par logon nay boycott nahi kiya. Show some social responsibility and respect .

Have educational sessions that look nice, and don’t hurt someone’s ears, related to family planning, education, health, shopping, life in general.

Hold politicians accountable for what they do, question them on TV and make documentaries on their careers which are comprehensive.

Please stop saying you broke the news first, nobody cares. We don’t want to know that you broke the news about bam bhamaka pehlay, yeh hum sunna chahain gay key kon app ko batata hai kay iss tarah key insensitive, tone deaf, fazool batain karney key. Un uncle key shakal bi saath display kar dain. Please and thank you.

PLEASE koi ethics ya social responsibility class lay lou. Koi standard of moral integrity ka khayal kar lo, apnay anay walon nasal loon ka khayal kar lo.

Have some sharam, have some Haya.

In the case of Movies

One of the reasons it is hard for us to make the most of our films both economically and culturally and socially is the lack of theaters that cater to different levels of society. Pehlay sahi tha, based on what I heard, kuin kay tab tickets itnay mehngay nahi thain. Ab theatres buhaut expensive hain, buhat kum hain, aur majority awaam kay pass access he nahi hai. Jis key waga say humari movies ka itna impact nahi banta, jitna pehlay tha, so humay apnay ghaltitoun say sikna chayia and make more movie theaters, that are cheaper and family friendly or reserve some only for women or men, jo bhi kaam karey.

Our writers have focused so hard on dramas, and TV productions and the crowd for movies is so specific that it has lead to shakiness and a lack of quality. And every good movie that ever comes out, that actually has something to say gets banned.

Good content should be generated and made available to the public, I believe it is a right.

Movies should be written well, acted well, educate and share, document history and open things up for question, they should expose and shed light, they should not anything.

Is sab kay saath saath humar awaam ko media literate honay kee shadeed zaroorat hai. They should know how TV, commercials and songs both help and get in the way of society.

I would also like direct to TV films, and have international movies dubbed in Urdu and other regional languages so people can be exposed to other forms of media. Japanese stuff is pretty good.

Overall movies asee bhi hon chahiya jo Pakistani history, icons aur kitboon kay upper based hon. Takay logon ko representation or sense of history and identity paida ho.

But quality and good writing is extremely important.

Also please stop cutting movies down into dramas, bus aik movie hee laga do TV par.

 

Now About Daramas

Again I would like to see  more novel and history adaptions, but I would also like more variety in actors, in filming style and  writing. It would be nice if actors were beyond children of actors who just got in because of their parents. I do not appreciate singers and models who cant act for shit, but can only speak in English – that is not a talent.

We should as a society respect art,culture, artists and respect the work and effort that goes into creating what we call entertainment. There should be public opinions, analysis and critics on our projects and of those that we are exposed to.

Writers kay saath interviews honi chayiya, aur un say fazool sawal nahi karni chahiya aur unko promote karna chahiya jis key waja say shayab book buying aur reading ka culture promote ho.

Have marathons on the weekend during which old dramas and movies are shown so younger audiences can come to like them and see the development and growth of our media.

Puranay scripts key new adaptions bhi bun sakti hain. Itnay jo loog Ashfaq ahmad say pyar kartay hain, kya woh unkay drama yah plays nahi dekhain gain? Do we not owe him that. Since now we have better cameras and sound systems.

Aur aik buhat bara issue yeh kay Pakistani media main ajj tak koi collective stand nahi aya for children’s and teen media. I know there are shows here and there, but how many of our own cartoons are widespread or ones that kids actually watch?

When we watch western or foreign cartoons, why do we view the Indian dubbed version of them and not ones which we have dubbed ourselves, with lingo that our kids will more readily understand.

I do not agree with any resistance against any language, but then why are they able to demand cartoons which are directly dubbed in their own language? Why can’t the interaction be more direct instead of just banning everything without a second thought or some study.

Where are movies that show the  struggle or issues that our teenagers go through? where are shows that inspire them and give them an idea about their future?

Why is the only love triangle we are aware of is between the rich phopo ka baita with all the jaidaan, who is caught between the modern slut and the desi good girl ? is that only thing we should expect from life. Why are the voices and narratives we listen to so narrow and limited?

Why cannot we have urdu adaptions of plays from other countries, which in between takes Professors and teachers walk the audience through what is happening and explain things to them.

I would love love love more documentaries, about our history , our food our people, and other societies with the same level of respect.

I write all this to say that we must as a society look beyond commercial gains, and tested formulas and reach out to innovation and new grounds, that will help in the uplifting of our culture and media standards.

Main nay recenly aik friend say baat keiya tha, jo kaam karta hai industry main. Main uss kaha tha kay as an idea, kay hum fairy tales kay upper based kafi content bana saktay hain. Aur uska jawab yeh tha kay ‘our TV channels don’t like this’.

But then it their own loss, to one make money of the most clear cut money making commodity there has been in cinema. It is time that stepped up, and went back to doing good for our people, and work beyond just affirming and entertaining them.

‘Slackistan’ – Still in the face of Sanctions

 

 

 

‘Slackistan’ is an art film written and directed by Hammad khan, way back in 2010. It was at that time really popular and buzzy among the select few rich kids of Pakistan, but I wasn’t aware of it back then. I saw it a few weeks ago, and I liked it.

‘Slackistan’ is the burger equivalent to the drama, ‘Humsafar’, as the entire cast was full of people on their way to fame in either singing or acting. Many of them who I like and are extremely talented and one that I do not like. Hint he only has one scene. Anyway watching the movie almost ten years down the line, I found myself asking – Has it really been that long?

The movie follows several young graduates of Islamabad’s elite, or something along those lines. Our main narrator and character is Hassan. Who is really cute. As the movie goes on Hassan talks about his friends, his life and shares his thoughts on the country and what’s going on around him. There is no main plot and all of the characters are going through something, which made them feel real. This is a very real depiction of our teenagers, and how things were back then, and in a way still our for us.

It was filmed in a manner which is unique and innovative for Pakistani audiences, as our mainstream movies typically deal greatly in male and female driven heroic love stories, which have dance songs and extended shots of riches and well obviously come of as romantic and fantastical. You watch them and are transported into a fantasy place, but with ‘Slackistan’ you are in the place you want to get away with.

I guess because it was very different and verbally bold for our general audience it did not get a lot of attention, and it was actually banned. Many stated that it was not a family picture, as if that was a bad thing. But I am happy that they went against the classic desi block buster formula, and made a movie that has something to say, and keeps the tempo mellow and soft.

The shooting style could have been better, and the music was nice, again, it was very different and refreshing, but there weren’t many Urdu songs – just the one. By the end I did find myself identifying and feeling a connection for the characters, and I wanted to know what would happen to them.

Social commentary

Pakistani films, and the directors seem to be under this great pressure to address every social issue that society. Every movie, is under the pressure to satisfy and appeal to everyone, and it has to have everything or else why even make movies?

I think this pressure is prevalent because people feel like giving morals or something justice based will give the movie more respect or authority, but that is not true. You can’t mix everything into an hour. There is nothing wrong with addressing problems, but not at the cost of the characters or their development. Shoaib Mansoor’s films have that in them, the issue is stronger than the character, so the human connection is bleached. I still like them, but this is how I feel. The same can be said about some dramas.

‘Slackistan’, actually handled this very well, they showcased the issues through the main characters eyes, and for the others things they showed the characters were going through those issues. Their mild reactions to the things they are unable to control is natural and the real thing, it’s not like all of us our heroes. This way they were able to feel through a lot and mold the growth and change in the characters.

 

Social Decadence 

As a people we have been dealing with terrorism for many years, in result of which we have become desensitized to the sight and the extent of the violence around us. This was portrayed very well in the movie, for the most part the boys and girls don’t know what to do, and have internalized a lot, as everything is falling a part.

As a part of dealing with the trauma or shock of everything that is going on around them, they do what all of us do, they ignore it. As a defense mechanism we ignored a lot and maneuvered our way into existence, we live in denial, then some terror attack happens, we get scared for a while, but then we get over it. I don’t any other country in the world has gone through the kind of terrorism that we have.

It was a very honest show of how Pakistani people deal with things falling a part, which Western films and media has always denied us. I feel like anyone to watched that trashy show, ‘Homeland’ should also watch ‘Slackistan’, just so they can see what Islamabad actually looks like. It actually is a good movie for Western audiences, it has tropes that they might like.

Sanctions and Censorship 

As mentioned ‘Slackistan’ like most of our movies was banned as soon as it was released on the big screen. This only happens to movies that actually have something to say, and want people to form an opinion, since they never ban any Bollywood movies. On the bright and ironic side, the act of banning them, actually makes the movies more popular. You think they would have learned that.

It was banned for having profane language, and for it not being child friendly.

I would just like to say that there should be public respect for artistic freedom for our own artists and writers. Hollywood, Bollywood and Turkish media gets away with too much, it is an insult that our own are not even allowed to get their foot through the door.  Just because they made one person angry.

Pakistani people have a right, weither they like it or not to a variety of media and opinions, they deserve to have information that makes them think and reflect. Not every movie is just there to entertain or become the voice of justice. Some movies are there for the sake of culture,art and to show you how different people exist. And there needs to be a surplus of films, dramas, reports, vlogs and documentaries for the sake of maintenance.

Besides that, we cannot have our cake and eat it too. If we are tired about all the wrong and negative media or representation we get from the Western world, then we have to make our own media and drown out the falseness. We need to speak for ourselves, and this one of the ways that we can, and we must be a part of the conversation.

 

In conclusion, this is an art film which will become more popular and nostalgic with time, and we will look back at it and say, I can’t believe times used to be that bad.