Munni’s continuing woes...

The hit song has become a huge problem for another Munni, who runs a small store in Lahore.

LAHORE: The hit song “Munni Badnaam Hui” has added to Malaika Arora Khan’s resume. The model and dancer made an appearance as Munni in the film Dabangg but the song has become a huge problem for another Munni, who runs a small store in Lahore.

Munni’s store is located in her home and since the song has gained popularity, she has been unable to open her shop. “Every now and then someone will come to my store and say ‘Munni badnaam hui darling teray liay’ in front of my customers. First I didn’t pay much attention and tried to ignore it, but then it became a routine event and I started to get irritated. Even sober and reserved people have sung this song loudly while passing by my store. I have scolded many of them but they just laugh and run away. Finally, I couldn’t take this behaviour any more and closed my shop for several days. Now it’s been two months and either I don’t open my store or if I do open it, then I don’t sit at the counter myself,” she said.

Munni is the mother of two children, and says that this problem isn’t limited to her professional life but is causing issues in her personal life as well. “On seeing me, boys in my neighbourhood would start singing this song at full volume. Many times they play it on tape to tease me. This song has really become a nightmare for me,” she said.

Shahida Munni, the principal of a school in Lahore had been given the nickname Munni by her family and friends and is also facing problems. “While walking in my neighbourhood, I am always scared that someone will start to sing the song (“Munni Badnaam Hui”). Most of the time my fears become reality as many boys either sing the song loudly or play it on the stereo,” she said.

She added that initially she didn’t notice when someone sung this song but since then, it has become a painful routine. “They do it for fun. I don’t understand how teasing someone can be fun for people. I am sick of this now and want this to come to an end ,” she said.

However, this is not the first song which has caused issues. Songs like “Billo de Ghar”, “Nach Punjaban”, “Parveen Tu Bari Namkeen” and “Saali” have raised controversy in Pakistan and singer Abrarul Haq was even told by the Supreme Court to change the lyrics of his song in which he used the name Parveen. This song and his debut single “Billo De Ghar” caused controversy as Parveen is a common female name, while Billo is a common female nickname in Pakistan and several women complained that they were teased and even harassed after the release of these songs.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Abrarul Haq said that Pakistani society needs to become more tolerant. “Many names are used for different types of characters in films and dramas so do the people stop using that names? We just need to become tolerant,” he said. Haq said that certain lobbies create controversy while a majority of people don’t indulge in these kind of things. “In the case of ‘Parveen’, hundreds of girls with this name wrote letters telling us that they didn’t have any objection to the song. I think we should just be tolerant as a society and avoid controversies of this kind,” said the singer.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 2^nd, 2010.