imo, we Pakistanis biatch a lot. it’s not an insult… just an observation and I include myself in the whiners… we mourn the terminal illness that afflicts our falam industry, the creative coma our drama has gone into and the decreasing earthiness of our music among many other things… but in all this, sometimes we forget to appreciate those who are doing good, creative work…
today, I think no one is doing more creative, original work than the 4 Man Show team of Aaj TV. imo, these guys are doing the best Pakistani comedy since Fifty Fifty and Studio Dhai. in some ways, their comedy is very, very Pakistani. but one can see a lot of other influences in there including shades of Jon Stewart, Colbert, Letterman, etc… but the best thing about the show is that they’ve blended all these styles into a very Pakistani comedy.
they’re also brash, and at times considered rude and badtameez… but are almost always hilarious and original… they don’t care much for political correctness and will happily push boundaries.. there are no holy cows for them. this despite the censorship that their channel makes them go through to keep them in check… it is well known that Javed Miandad is no fan of theirs… and has repeatedly told the boys to stop his parody… the 4 Man boys have even put up with threats from Miandad’s Dubai-based samdhi… they offended Shakeel and Hameed Gul. but they don’t stop with the sharp, stinging social commentary they’ve been doing for many years now with great success and much critical acclaim. they point out the hypocrisies that surround us… there are things we watch around us that bother us but we struggle to articulate them… the 4 Man boys have a brilliant way of not only pointing out those things but also making them funny.
the best thing about these guys are that they’re not shoqia funkaar like most of today’s Pakistani drama artists who came on TV because their respective Ammis thought they were chand ka tukras and should be on TV so that the whole qaum could become mustafeed from their husn. some of the 4 Man show boys are NAPA (or NCA?) trained… they are also keen social observers. they have the sharpest eye on the Pakistani political scene. I remember that no Pakistani politics TV show discussed when print media disclosed that Soomro as Chairman of Senate gave all kinds of lifelong privileges to all present, past and future senate chairmen benefiting himself tremendously in the process. but it was the 4 Man Show (a supposed comedy show) that discussed it on TV and brought attention to it. similarly, when Kashif Abbasi was banned recently, the first ones to bring attention to his plight and the lack of support from his fellow journalists was the 4 Man team…
all in all, I think these guys are absolutely brilliant. and if you keep up with Pakistani current affairs and aren’t familiar with the show, check them out… you will surely love the 4 Man boys and their no holds barred approach to comedy…
some clips:
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