Pak Tea House » Uncategorized » Veena Malik and the moral brigade
Veena Malik and the moral brigade
By Raza Rumi
Pakistan’s electronic media is now a repository of the grand opinion setters of the Urdu press. Almost all channels have employed conservative writers of the Urdu press and given them immense outreach to air their well-known views on nationalism, religion and ‘culture’. Whilst the primary pastime of these wise men is to fan anti-Americanism, their domestic agenda is directly related to what the clergy, since 1947, has wanted Pakistan to be: an unadulterated Islamic state. The only caveat is that none of them can define what an Islamic state and society entails.
In recent days, there has been a concerted campaign to malign Veena Malik, our television starlet who has dared to participate in the famous and brainless Indian reality TV show, “Bigg Boss”. Pakistani artists have continuously defied jingoism and performed across the border. Currently, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Atif Aslam are immensely popular in India and their nationality makes little difference to millions who admire them.
Veena’s case is altogether different. She appeared on “Bigg Boss” with Begum Nawazish Ali in the first phase. Viewers voted Ali out while Veena Malik survives on the show as a lone Pakistani and thus far has integrated herself into mainstream Indian TV imperatives. Her conduct on the show is a huge concern for the clergy who think the way she dresses is immodest, her interaction with men is unbecoming and, therefore, she has undermined the great values of an Islamic nation. Incidentally, the fortress of Islam is also known for honour killings, Hudood laws and a wide gambit of discriminatory laws and practices. Never mind, only we are allowed to mistreat our women.
In a nutshell, Veena Malik has challenged the middle class morality embedded in the Urdu press and, by extension, its electronic counterpart. The mere fact that a Pakistani performer is prancing around in western clothes and playing to the Indian viewers’ gallery by indulging in mock-romance with a ‘Hindu’ actor has alerted the guardians of public morality also endearingly known as the ghairat brigade. The imbecile notion of ghairat largely focuses on controlling women and regurgitating militant nationalist narratives through state and non-state actors. Anchor after anchor has prodded hostile commentary on Veena Malik and declared her short of wajib-ul-qatl. This is not too dissimilar to the public floggings of the Taliban variety.
Thus, the brainwashing project of Pakistan’s questionable journalists continues. Hate the US, crush India, fire nuclear weapons to free Kashmir and let mullahs set head money for alleged blasphemers. These are the perennial messages, with a few exceptions, relayed on a continuous basis.
It is also true that Indian TV and its inspiration, the Bollywood circus, resort to the worst kind of commodification of women. By supporting Veena’s choice, one is not condoning all that is wrong with the corporate model of entertainment across the border. However, that is a separate debate. If unofficial estimates are correct, Indian TV channels such as Star Plus and Colors had a huge following in Pakistan before their transmission was banned. This demand for Indian pop culture is a reality and needs to be dealt with. Passing fatwas and declaring cross-border entertainment a ‘Hindu’ conspiracy is simply disingenuous. It is ironic that these same TV channels play Indian film songs to comment on serious political developments.
Given that we live in a country where media regulation is absent and any critical voice is construed as part of an anti-media campaign, challenging such hypocrisy is problematic. Millions of Pakistanis cannot be held hostage to a few moralists and their zeal to purify public culture. Ours is a plural and diverse country and cannot be tailored into a linear, fascist society. The thirty-year-long project to Islamicise Pakistan has faced the innate resilience of our lived cultures. This is why Veena Malik’s right of artistic expression needs to be protected.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 24th, 2010.
Filed under: Uncategorized · Tags: Indian, Pakistan, Raza Rumi, Veena Malik
16 Responses to "Veena Malik and the moral brigade"
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- AKB
said DAMN THESE LIBERAL MULLAHS!!
.
Dharun Ravi Sen... - AKB said @ ahem
I have never seen a bigger idiot than y...
- RajTOO
said Tajender,
you copy and paste machine, do you even... - tajender
said rajtoo like anyother brhmnst u have nothing except... - RajTOO said Tajender is a pure Paki. Just because he copies an...
- ahem
said to rex
Monotheism is inherently totalitarian an... - ahem said tajender reveals himself as a tamilian muslim....
- RajTOO said Rex Minor wrote:
And I was under the...
- Rex Minor said PS
sorry for the wrong spells! I must not miss th...
- Rex Minor said And who should have thought that PTH article on "u...
@Raza Bhai, BTW our Pakistani channels are busy emulating their counterparts accross the border, day in and day out. Somehow, they give it the “Pakistani” flair to it, but trust me we are doing exactly what we are good at, that is “copying.”
I do not watch TV in general and certainly not the program in question, so I will refrain from any comments. One of the reason why I do not sit in front of the idiot box is listed above already and the other is, if I did that, then I will have no time for my “crooked scribbles.”
Not having ever seen Big Boss I was surprised to learn on PTH that Veena Malik was in India. I certainly don’t see any reference to her in the English Newspapers that I read.
In Bollywood religious distinctions are usually ignored. Hindu is Muslim and Muslim is Hindu as suits convenience. The only two instances that come to mind where faith prevailed over love was that of Suraiya whom Dev Anand wanted to marry but could not because of her parents objection, and she thus died an old maid. Neither Madhubala nor Meena Kumari had inhibitions on that account, nor the half Muslim Nargis. The leading Khan actors all have Hindu wives. Sacrilege! Back in the 80s another Pakistani actress Salma Aga spent some time in Bollywood; no one objected then; it was a different Pakistan those days.
If Islam is a universal faith not bound by political boundaries your mullahs should be as averse to Indian Muslim actresses consorting with Hindu actors shouldn’t they-I am certain that Indian mullahs feel the same way; but no one pays them any attention. The Pakistani mullah’s religion is tinged, one might say, with an innovative nationalism and it should be held against him.
Does Pakistan have to go through an Iran type experience before the majority recovers its wits? Assuming that Ahmadinajad did rig the last election as alleged in the western media it can be estimated that should Pakistan fall into a similar black hole it will take at least 30 years of Mullah rule for Pakistanis to wake up.
‘The only instance’ I should have said above, not ‘the only two instances’.
I thought Saira Bano’s case was similar but it wasn’t apparently. The story is that Dileep Kumar married her at her mother’s request to put an end to the affair she was having in the sixties with the married Rajendar Kumar.
Hmm, I also haven’t seen Big Boss but sexism is quite common in South Asia. Btw, the Hindu moral brigade in India also do not like women making their own choices; the pink chaddi campaign definately comes to mind. The only difference in India is that people just ignore the nutjobs atleast in the cities. Women wear western clothes (in India a sign of modernity and wealth) and don’t give a damn about what people think of them. Atleast, in my family all my cousins and aunts do that.
veena belongs to showbiz and all showbiz people are same nomatter they belong to hollywood or bollywood or lollywood since our industry is gone where to go.I am not supporting veena’s acts in bb4 but she will go in her grave with her deeds why to bother so much.If we can tolerate MR 10 percent who is murderer of his wife (as majority of paki thinks)REHMAN MALIK reciting Sura-Al Falak in wrong way,SALMAN TASEER was gone in daylight ,one maulana of LAL MASJID getting away in a BURQA whole world saw it then why we can’t digest veena.We have many problems in our country .JUSTICE is on ZERO level .Everyone is running for “KURSI”.
[...] Rumi at Pak Tea House notes: “In a nutshell, Veena Malik has challenged the middle class morality embedded in the Urdu press [...]
[...] Rumi at Pak Tea House notes: “In a nutshell, Veena Malik has challenged the middle class morality embedded in the Urdu press [...]
she is very bed girl she did,nt know about pakistan what is the base of pakistan how we have win it? she is feelin produe on her atitude but pakistani nation is not agree for that we love pakistan our girlds are muslim they will not show their body infront of indian boy they will not accept us in any conditation please dont do that in pakistani channal are also very bed they are calling her on teir show and she is speaking wrong about pakistani people ,islam , about our heros so im requestin to our tv channels dont call her in your shows . she is saying that illama iqbal was worng she is not accepting two nation theory .God is big u will see her .How god is attacking her . it is my belive inshallah all world will see her result .
Deleted for personal attacks and language. All future comments are to be deleted summarily. (AZW, Moderator, PTH)
Raj (too):
Some Indians might want to offer you instead plus some like minded friends of yours instead.
Wasim:
Bed girl! Indeed.
@Hayyer
They are not Indians! They are just anti-national Commie scum!
Raj (too):
Are you saying that anyone willing to export Hindutva is not only anti-national but also a communist?
@Raj (The Other One)
February 19, 2011 at 4:46 pm
//Scumbag//If you want compensation, Indians are willing to give up Vajra in exchange, and mind you, he will be willing to do much more for you, for which Veena Malik would just say No!
//Hayyer//Some Indians might want to offer you instead plus some like minded friends of yours instead.
//Scumbag//They are not Indians! They are just anti-national Commie scum!
//Hayyer//Are you saying that anyone willing to export Hindutva is not only anti-national but also a communist?
LOL.
Poor little Raj-from-below-the-toilet-seat,
It’s all getting a bit too much for him.
An equally large number of Indians as you can drum up in your shakha might insist on your being exported. After all, with a little surgical intervention, you could pass for a Mullah from the moment you open your mouth. It goes without saying that the intervention in question is not a lobotomy; that would be wholly redundant in the case of both the Mullah and his unwholesome s***ma-laden new acolyte in the selling.
The mullah, when he gets angry, talks in terms of God, and Heaven and Hell. Vajra, when he gets angry, talks in terms of the toilet and smegma. And latter is supposed to be preferable to the former; though the planes on which their hatreds run are so different.
Hayyer wrote: Are you saying that anyone willing to export Hindutva is not only anti-national but also a communist?
Nice one!
You give me a bit too much credit, by calling me “Hindutva”!
Anyway, Pakistan is at the moment too broke, and I mean financially also, to really import anything!
What I meant was more in terms of prisoner exchange! Vajra for Veena!
Cool news it is surely. My father has been searching for this content.