Female comedians roast taboos associated in stand-up act Auratnaak

Men and women laughed uncontrollably as 10 successful women taking jibes at the misogynies within our culture

KARACHI: What would you think of a bunch of women with some dressed in our society’s said ‘indecent’ attire – a dress, sleeveless and pants or rather the blasphemous shorts – standing in front of the mic being loud and quirky about the unfair prejudice of patriarchy? As much as many would associate terms such as behaya, most would be quick to rule them out as a group of whining women unhappy at the world. For the honourable words, stand-up comedians, go hand in hand with men. And that is what The Auratnaak Show, held at T2F on Friday night, attempted to debunk with every act that followed leaving the audience in fits of laughter.

Men and women laughed uncontrollably at 10 successful women, hailing from every nook of Karachi and walks of life, taking jibes at the misogynies within our culture and the sexism that prevails in our society. The line-up compromising Annie Shamim, Ayesha Tariq, Eman Chamdia, Faiza Saleem, Fatema Shah, Jaweria Khan, Reham Muneer, Rooj Hussain, Sadia Khatri and Sana Khan Niazi, came to set the records straight, drawing from their own experiences, and spoke boldly on topics often self-censored.



The show opened with Sadia Khatri, who rose to fame from her venture Girls at Dhaba. Ridiculing the societal norms girls are expected to follow, Khatri spoke about the struggles of wearing the dupatta to strangers commenting on her unconventional looks. “Aap dupatta pehen le, aap ankhon mein pehen le sari problem hi khatam hojayegi,” to “when people talk about social fabric, I think this [dupatta] is what they mean,” were Khatri’s responses which were followed by hooting and applause by spectators who, unfortunately, related to her problems.

The ongoing debate of elite feminism in our society was also put to rest by most comedians, who are often accused of the said privilege they experience. As these women mocked the classism they also drew attention to Bollywood and Disney’s obsession of petite-skinny white women.

“Mein gori hoon, yeh meri life ka sabse bara accomplishment hai,” voiced Fatema Shah as she spoke about “lighter issue” such as child abuse, leaving the audience pondering upon the unsaid problem, while poking fun on how our society deals with it. Most girls just like Shah, not only had perfect comic timings but also had sound understanding of how stand-up comedy acts work.

Annie Shamim, the only Bihari in the group boldly took jabs on her own community, infamous for keeping relations with their entire clan. “Love you to the moon and back toh normal logon ke liye hota hai, mujhe love you to gulshan and back karkar dikhao.” Talking about the much blasphemous word PMS often corroborated to women’s emotional behaviour, lawyer Eman Chamdia commented on the sexism she experiences in life as well as her profession. “Mard toh emotional hotay hi nahi, crimes of passion jaisey girlfriend ko mardiya, biwi ko jaladiya toh woh kahan kartay hai.”’



Faiza Saleem, proclaimed comedian and theatre actor, on the other hand, raised the body shaming issue by commenting on her weight that has often been the highlight of her life. “Pakistan mein mota aadmi public property ki tarha hota hai, jo aye ganda kar ke chala jaye.”

Appearing at the end, Ayesha Tariq, the author of the graphic novel Sarah: The Suppressed Anger of the Pakistani Obedient Daughter, perfectly finished the show by highlighting the domestic setup of a Pakistani household, where children’s achievements are often overlooked. “Duniya mein jitney bhi sher ho ghar mein toh zaleel, hona hi parta hai.”

The Auratnaak Show despite of being first of its kind have marked a niche, raising the bar not only for women but men as well. While many have been left uncomfortable towards the end with the hold no bars performance raising topics of child abuse, bras and menstruation, Tariq perfectly summed up the concerned equation. “Log kehtay hai, yeh larkiyan sirf bra ya periods ke baray mein hi baat karti hai. Toh sahi hai na pehlay mauqa mila hi kahan.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 5^th, 2016.

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