The phenomenon of item songs is not new, but a dangerous one to follow.
KARACHI:
It has been a lifelong dream for Humayun Saeed to produce a film that is not only entertaining, but also one that makes money at the box office. With Main Hoon Shahid Afridi, Saeed accomplished this goal and set the tone for upcoming cinematic ventures.
Having said that, it must be added that the inclusion of an item or promotional song (Teri Hee Kami Hai) in the said film, takes away from the sincere effort that went into this project in the first place and here’s why:
The old phenomenon
To put it mildly, an item song is a promotional technique to generate interest in a film. Pakistan may not have stars like Kareena Kapoor and Katrina Kaif gyrating to catchy music, but Lollywood has its fair share of inescapable and suggestive songs that make one cringe every single time. If you’ve been exposed to Punjabi cinema, item songs from India may just seem respectable.
With a spate of new films – Waar, Lamha (Seedlings), Zinda Bhaag and Moor – coming up in the next few weeks and months, Pakistani cinema is in for a change of sorts. And so, watching Mathira belly dance with sneaky shots of her bosom and stomach in Teri Hee Kami Hai, just leaves one with a bad taste and serves as a reminder to all that we couldn’t leave behind.
There is no doubt that Teri Hee Kami Hai in Main Hoon Shahid Afridi is nowhere near as raw nor as racy as performances like Bollywood fan favourites, Fevicol Se, Laila and Chikni Chameli, but it is a reminder of how objectifying women is the easiest trick in the playbook.
Mahnoor Baloch is thankfully not grinding her body against Humayun Saeed’s like Mathira, but the attempt to groove is awkward, especially the black dress sequence. Does it cross into the offensive territory? No.
You only have to go through Filmazia to realise that this is a step up for local cinema. However, watching a television stalwart like Mahnoor Baloch and the fiery Mathira attempting to bring sexy back is uncomfortable. Watching the film with friends, it might amuse you. Think of it in the larger context, it leaves you feeling vulnerable.
Keeping the focus strictly on Pakistan, it is no secret that we are surrounded by rape culture. The recent gang rape of an innocent five-year-old girl in Lahore has supposedly shocked the nation (though not nearly enough or else) and yet, there are those who have questioned the character of the five-year-old. Social media is a great place to test this fact. If a woman is raped, everything about her is suddenly questionable. ‘She deserved it’ is a commonly used term by many. Newsrooms and offices, colleges and schools, villages and homes – ‘rape jokes’ are everywhere.
In such precarious times, using women as sex objects in the name of promoting a film is dicey and personally, offensive. Is this about censorship? No, and neither is it about artistic expression. It’s a question of restraint and dare I say it, self-censorship. The idea that it is harmless, no longer works in a society such as ours where women are routinely raped and then become victims of character assassination.
To say that an item song leads to such horrific behaviour is just wrong. But an item song does reduce women to objects of desire. And that is where the problem lies.
In Pakistan, women are subjected to heinous sexual assaults regularly, and the rights of women are subverted shamelessly. Should we ban such movies? Nope, but exercising some restraint on the part of producers is needed.
Imagination can go a long way. A promotional song like Ghagra, which paired off the young superstar of tomorrow, Ranbir Kapoor with the dancing diva of Hindi cinema, Madhuri Dixit in Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, is a great example. It is sarcastic, playful and doesn’t feature Madhuri grinding Ranbir. Instead, they dance with flair and put a smile on your face. Such songs are perfectly fair game. But reducing actors to gyrating wannabes is just distasteful and overrated.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 18th, 2013.
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COMMENTS (20)
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Whether it has any cause and effect on potential rapists is debatable but gyrating men and women is just downright crude!
MADHURI DIXIT ALWAYS ROCKSS...complete actress....Acting+Dancing+Beauty+Adaa...
Mahnoor Baloch please move to India. I fear the pakistani auntiyan will eat you alive out of jealousy. Here in India your seat will be reserved on the highest throne. Also, our women are much more warm and accepting of others :)
Love from India
if mahnoor baloch could actually dance or had any talent in dance I wouldve been ok with it. But she was so awkward i felt bad for her. Mathira's not a bad dancer.
@BlackJack:
It is because most European Men are not sex deprived. Most Boyfriend-Girlfriend couple I believe have sex out of marriage. Most South Asian men are sex deprived and on the top of that are bombarded with movies, videos of scantily dressed women
@gp65: lolzz...well said..."If I have diabetes, I need to be on insulin. I cannot shut down all mithai shops in the town."
Emotional writting. wana be critic....poor analysis
It was going pretty well until you mentioned the madhuri/ranbir example; just because you seem to believe that this sort of a song is 'enjoyable and acceptable' you've set the threshold?
To all of u who r defending an 'item' song here i just ask two questions.... 1. Do u know what exactly 'item' means in a desi way... 2. Would u like ur mother, sister, wife or daughter do such 'item' songs?... Note...i excluded gf......
Excellent blog. We must make sure that Pakistani cinema does not follow in Bollywood footsteps. Movies can be great without being vulgar. Look at Iranian cinema. If Pakistan is looking for a model to emulate, that is the one. It is artistically appealing and culturally relevant to the lives of ordinary Pakistanis.
Mahnoor Baloch can give complex to a lot of Pakistani women especially ones with an insecure mindset. So, I'm not surprise to read this article at all. If an Indian movie had the exact same item number, Pakistani girls would have been all over the moon about it. Our people dont like to celebrate their own stars. Insecure much? Yeah I think so!
Go Mahnoor Baloch! You're a babe and you rock! Haters are gonna hate.
@Maheen Sabeeh: Do you know what is the oldest organized business of world ? It's prostitution .Woman has been an object for society since the time of Vedas . In recent history , prostitution and slavery of women was abundant and legal in Arab countries . These Arab countries import young ladies as servants. Don't these things portray women as sex objects ? Yes ...But now a days these things are openly objected and all of us are on same page . You claim all these actress and models are being portrayed as sex objects , but they do it without any force unlike before for their success . Many of them achieve heights of success through it and they are proud of it . But what is wrong is when you enforce women to wear veils ,when you don't give them rights like men enjoy . What is wrong is when you don't allow them to study in co-ed schools .Countries like Saudi even don't allow ladies to drive cars and cast vote .These are even worse than the above mentioned reasons by you to be sex objects . A man is allowed to have multiple wives , but why a woman has no such right ?Have you ever asked yourself this question ? This is called objectifying a woman .
One of the most amusing observation on ET forums and articles is that most of the writers and readers have limited exposure to other cultures and countries. That's why we get strange comments with strange phrases like "Staring Muslim / Pakistani men" when in fact this is a global phenomenon. Secondly, while I completely agree with writer's sentiments on objectification of women, I would like to see some data supporting the assumption that 'item songs' or racy media expressions are correlated with sexual abuse in a society because as far as my knowledge goes, these crimes existed way before media came along.
How do people in the West survive when they are surrounded by women wearing tight or often little clothing? I live in Europe and no one is going around raping women because of the clothes they choose to wear, which are very often more revealing or skimpy than that which you find in Hindi movies. I have been told that even here, people from the subcontinent and the Middle East (not the second and third generation Turks and Moroccans who form the blue-collar work force) are the ones who ogle women and make them feel uncomfortable - probably because they don't get to see enough normal women wearing this kind of clothing when they are growing up. The solution is not to cover up, but to allow women to wear what they want; in turn, movies will also become more realistic because actresses don't need to become objects of fantasy alone.
To say that an item song leads to such horrific behaviour is just wrong. But an item song does reduce women to objects of desire. And that is where the problem lies.
Object of desire is the main reason women are supposed to wear burqa and even get FMG. Muslim men go nuts when they see uncovered meat. Muslim (even women) compare women bodies to uncovered candy that can tempt a man to rape a woman. Religious police is used to keep men and women separate.
Where did you get this info "there are those who have questioned the character of the five-year-old girl who was raped."?
have a problem? don't watch bollywood films !
I like Mathira.She should be in Bollywood.Her talent is being wasted in Pakistan.