As Pakistan had a collective arousal and subsequent ire at Veena Maliks alleged photo shoot for FHM, India was reveling in Vidya Balans celebration of female sexuality in The Dirty Picture. The censor board in Pakistan decided that The Dirty Picture isnt for the public consumption, what with them being the protectors of our morality and choices.
Released last Friday, The Dirty Picture revolves around the character of Silk Smitha an actress whose heyday was in the 1980s. This is the period where Pakistani society was being strangled by General Zia-ul-Haq while India was reaping the benefits of its import-substitution and industrialisation policy. It [the plot] is about a woman who believes in herself and has no qualms about being the way she is Silk was fearless and so was the character in the film, said Balan in a recent interview published in Dawn.
The Dirty Picture raked in Rs 20.32 crores till December 4, on its opening weekend. Its opening day business, estimated to be around Rs 9.5 crores, wasnt the highest in 2011: that accolade went to Bodyguard with a Rs 21.5 crores return on the opening day. The Dirty Picture ranked fifth in 2011, behind Bodyguard, Ra-One, Ready and Rockstar in terms of opening day business.
The success of the movie is in part due to its marketing strategy: a bold movie such as this required a wider acceptance of its subject matter despite the acclaim that it had been getting in urban centres such as Mumbai. As part of the strategy, Balan was invited to Amitabh Bachchans Kaun Banega Crorepati as a contestant. Balan and the male lead in the movie, Emraan Hashmi, also made an appearance in a soap on the same channel, Bade Ache Lagtay Hain. Their presence was worked into the script, with a narrative created around the cast of the movie running into the protagonists of the soap in a hotel in Australia, culminating with both heroines performing on Ooh La La. This was the Bollywood marketing machine at its best, winning hearts and minds in India and beyond. This was also Indian professionalism at its best, television feeding the film industry and vice versa.
What has been consistent throughout is Balans portrayal as an urbane and sophisticated woman, jolly yet reserved in her private life but equally daring to suit a particular roles demands. In effect, there is little to suggest that Balan has risen from a red-light area a perception that Veena Malik doesnt have the luxury of this side of the border.
Unlike the celebration of female sexuality in India, our policy thrust in Pakistan is to ban anything to do with such celebrations. Or any dissent, anything different that falls outside the interpretation of Islamic or patriotic, as defined by the censor board. Remember the case in the Lahore High Court against singers Naseebo Lal and Nooran Lal for singing vulgar songs, and for cable operators for spreading obscenity in society through their stage dramas and dances? Or for that matter Slackistan, that portrayed the not-so-secret Islamabad? Or even Tere Bin Laden, a brilliant take on catching Osama bin Laden in Pakistan?
It is not as if debate will be stifled in Pakistan by the banning of such films or songs. It is more about the government perpetuating its control over what society can or cannot watch/hear. It is more about how much agency is given to citizens, of what is deemed morally decent or indecent. It is definitely not about Islam or Pakistan, it is about defining the limits of a state perpetually concerned about its survival the same state that is still cast in Zias mould and remains preoccupied with controlling male and female sexualities. This is our Dirty Picture albeit one where sadly Veena Malik isnt cast in the lead role. There is much collective arousal and subsequent ire taking place in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, and not just in the corridors of power. There is much to censor on television these days, much drivel that stunts our peoples power to think and question what is happening.
Perhaps it is time to prepare for a return to the decade of the 1980s, because our change agents political and judicial and those who back them, feel comfortable in maintaining status quo in our social attitudes. The change is coming, and this time, there are more Zias than ever before. Anything else is mere fantasy.
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Released last Friday, The Dirty Picture revolves around the character of Silk Smitha an actress whose heyday was in the 1980s. This is the period where Pakistani society was being strangled by General Zia-ul-Haq while India was reaping the benefits of its import-substitution and industrialisation policy. It [the plot] is about a woman who believes in herself and has no qualms about being the way she is Silk was fearless and so was the character in the film, said Balan in a recent interview published in Dawn.
The Dirty Picture raked in Rs 20.32 crores till December 4, on its opening weekend. Its opening day business, estimated to be around Rs 9.5 crores, wasnt the highest in 2011: that accolade went to Bodyguard with a Rs 21.5 crores return on the opening day. The Dirty Picture ranked fifth in 2011, behind Bodyguard, Ra-One, Ready and Rockstar in terms of opening day business.
The success of the movie is in part due to its marketing strategy: a bold movie such as this required a wider acceptance of its subject matter despite the acclaim that it had been getting in urban centres such as Mumbai. As part of the strategy, Balan was invited to Amitabh Bachchans Kaun Banega Crorepati as a contestant. Balan and the male lead in the movie, Emraan Hashmi, also made an appearance in a soap on the same channel, Bade Ache Lagtay Hain. Their presence was worked into the script, with a narrative created around the cast of the movie running into the protagonists of the soap in a hotel in Australia, culminating with both heroines performing on Ooh La La. This was the Bollywood marketing machine at its best, winning hearts and minds in India and beyond. This was also Indian professionalism at its best, television feeding the film industry and vice versa.
What has been consistent throughout is Balans portrayal as an urbane and sophisticated woman, jolly yet reserved in her private life but equally daring to suit a particular roles demands. In effect, there is little to suggest that Balan has risen from a red-light area a perception that Veena Malik doesnt have the luxury of this side of the border.
Unlike the celebration of female sexuality in India, our policy thrust in Pakistan is to ban anything to do with such celebrations. Or any dissent, anything different that falls outside the interpretation of Islamic or patriotic, as defined by the censor board. Remember the case in the Lahore High Court against singers Naseebo Lal and Nooran Lal for singing vulgar songs, and for cable operators for spreading obscenity in society through their stage dramas and dances? Or for that matter Slackistan, that portrayed the not-so-secret Islamabad? Or even Tere Bin Laden, a brilliant take on catching Osama bin Laden in Pakistan?
It is not as if debate will be stifled in Pakistan by the banning of such films or songs. It is more about the government perpetuating its control over what society can or cannot watch/hear. It is more about how much agency is given to citizens, of what is deemed morally decent or indecent. It is definitely not about Islam or Pakistan, it is about defining the limits of a state perpetually concerned about its survival the same state that is still cast in Zias mould and remains preoccupied with controlling male and female sexualities. This is our Dirty Picture albeit one where sadly Veena Malik isnt cast in the lead role. There is much collective arousal and subsequent ire taking place in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, and not just in the corridors of power. There is much to censor on television these days, much drivel that stunts our peoples power to think and question what is happening.
Perhaps it is time to prepare for a return to the decade of the 1980s, because our change agents political and judicial and those who back them, feel comfortable in maintaining status quo in our social attitudes. The change is coming, and this time, there are more Zias than ever before. Anything else is mere fantasy.
Veena and Vidya | Pakistan Today | Latest news, Breaking news, Pakistan News, World news, business, sport and multimedia
