Hassina Moin is During 8 years of Musharraf’s regime, all serial writers (some of them serial killers) were symbolically told not to discuss Afghanistan, Iraq, Guantanamo Bay, Al-Qaeda, Taliban, suicide attacks, Wana, or Bajaur Agency. So, not more than two serials could be named with any degree of political content. Finally, we have a new serial by Hasina Moin in August 2008, titled Kaisa Yeh Junoon which is said to have discussed the plight of the Muslims in the current situation. As to how much of it is ‘current’, and how much pertains to ‘affairs’, one will have to watch the serial regularly to decide.
But Hasina’s return, big time, is a pleasant surprise. It would be a warm welcome (it turned out to be a corporate welcome), but it’s an undeniable fact that however well Hasina may write, those days of non-contrived drama can’t be back. It’s not her fault, these times are contrived. Even though the drama is well-rehearsed. People like Munnu Bhai, Bano Qudsia, Amjad Islam Amjad, and others tried to bring back ‘real drama’ in this era, but they also failed. The ‘Real Drama’ ended when the Age of Innocence (the '60s) were exploited mercilessly. Everything natural gave way to sophistication. Till the '70s, it looked tasteful, but in the '80s, it turned sordid. That was the Age of Bitter Realisation, the decade of focus on wadera/jagidar. So, when bitterness takes over in all fields, you can’t have that natural fun. Thus, even Hasina, brilliant as ever as a dialogue-writer, repeated Kiran (Roohi Bano) of Kiran Kahani in the character (Perhaps named Zara) of Shehnaz Sheikh as the confused office steno in Ankahi. Aside from this fact, the serial was a grand success. But, meanwhile, Tanhaiyyan was a very original script.
So, now, if somebody wants Hasina to be in the same mould as Zer Zabar Pesh or Uncle Urfi, you are actually being unjust to Hasina. After all, times have changed, and she can only write things like Pardes, which would have to be supported by the corporate world. Just imagine. Could you ask the humourist P.G Woodhouse, for instance, to change his topics, and write suddenly on the US war in Vietnam? No, that would be foolish, and of course, he would never accede to it.
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