Introspection, learning shouldn’t be confined to a single incident: Sania Saeed
Seasoned actor Sania Saeed, who has notable projects like Aseerzadi, Manto, and the classic Sitara Aur Mehrunissa under her belt, is known for her well-formed opinions.
The actor sat down with The Express Tribune on Tuesday, September 22, to talk about the horrific motorway gang-rape case earlier this month, and most importantly, celebs’ reactions to it. “It is a good thing that it’s our mainstream media talking, that’s where resistance is generally less,” she said, adding that the default setting of the ‘image industry’ deems whatever is popular worthy of time.
Does she think that widespread celeb calls for publicly hanging rapists are a good precedent to set? Do celebs have more of a responsibility than general civil society while talking about such sensitive local cases? How should artists even respond to such a crisis? Without hesitation, Saeed chimed in saying, “Nobody can go for a kneejerk reaction, be it any segment of the society because that never solves any problems. History, experience, and research say that it makes matters worse.”
Saeed then elaborated on the ‘difference’ this time had on the discourse. She pointed out how, as mentioned before, it was the mainstream media personalities talking that added more weight to their words.
“It’s a good thing that this discussion opened up about a topic that people would pass over in the past with umbrella terms like ‘hang them!’ This time, people have taken responsibility. That is a very important thing and we shouldn’t be discounting it,” she expressed. But she admitted that however wrong or right their stance is/was is now open to debate, as is everything else.
Saeed also shared that more than just kneejerk reactions, celebrities needed to ‘work more on themselves.’
“Artists should generally be working more on themselves; on their ideas and views because that is what reflects in their work. Whatever it is that you’re expressing; whether you’re a painter or a sculptor, a poet or a philosopher, an actor or a philanthropist, what you think always reflects in your work,” said the Manto star.
She went on to elaborate on the same, adding that this self-reflection and learning shouldn’t be confined to any one incident. “Introspection, learning shouldn’t be confined to a single incident. It should be an overall study of your culture, the human form, the people, and history,” she explained.
The veteran actor then shed some light on the September 14 protest arranged by prominent media personalities, where a number of popular celebs rolled out to protest against rape and abuse.
“This discussion started within the fraternity. People only saw the protest but there was a lot of discussion and discourse behind it. They started off aggressively, then some people intervened with logical viewpoints, more information was passed on and the discourse changed. They started talking about the law, the reasoning, other options, etc.” she clarified – the protest had garnered much negative press thanks because of the general untoward attitude of some celebrities present.
Saeed is also aware that celebs seem to have more of the spotlight on their actions and words thanks to social media, which increases their responsibility. Explaining that social media is like a swimming pool where people usually don’t know what to do with everything at their disposal, Saeed said that a lot goes wrong because of it.
However, she also believes that any nascent medium demands time to adjust to the world. Saeed pointed out that there are more responsible influencers out their engaging in ‘healthy, constructive discourse’ but that they may not have the same reach as more popular ones. “If you were to upload a photograph, it would get more traction than an article or a short film that demands more attention,” she elaborated.
This – coupled with the fact that we lack some basic etiquettes of social conduct – means that oftentimes our local social media landscape looks a bit chaotic.
“This isn’t our technology, and we don’t know the manners of using it. We also come from such a political background where we don’t know how to talk, in fact, we are not allowed to talk. So when we burst, it can get messy,” she said, adding that what we need is for “those people who have the luxury to understand the situation and not be messy to intervene where ever they can to educate and share their informed opinions.”
Saeed also likens this side of social media to our cultural upbringing. “Trashing other’s opinions is something we grow up with. It is something we’ve inherited culturally,” she remarked. “From our streets to offices to even our own industry, we start off by negating. ‘No, but I…’ is how we talk. Be it your parents, teachers, media, journalists, artists, everyone is sailing on the same boat.”
How can we move past this, then? “What I think is, all of us right now are so desperately trying to prove ourselves right. Maybe it will take us a little more while to realise that that’s not the point. It’s not about who’s right and who’s wrong, it’s about understanding the situation at hand,” Saeed concluded.
You can watch the full interview here.
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