Has anyone been watching PTV world lately? I’m trying to follow mere paas paas, cuz Nadia jameel is *ing. She probably the best young tv actor in Pak right now. She has acted in some of Monto’s stories as well - She’s just brilliant. My sister and I were discussing one of the scene from ‘tum mere ho’ which is a fazool drama btw. PTV has never shown married couple on same bed before or hugging etc. So naturally, it didn’t feel okay when we first saw it. Then this new lifestyle drama, aap jaisa koi had us surprised, Amna haq, Ifat etc walking around in Pak late night in jeans and tops? Discussing boyfriends and alternative careers. I mean from Zeenat / Aroosa to aap jaisa koi, its quite a progress.
I quite like this development, not because of this new accepted form of ‘behayai’, rather because this attitude will probably allow more bold subjects to be explored. I’ve only seen one episode of ‘kal’ which was about aids. The message was so packed in that I didn’t even get it first, wasn’t allowed to see it either. I don’t recall ever watching a drama that deals with abortions, advised or otherwise, so mere paas paas is looking quite promising. Hopefully, this will put an end to the miserable jageerdaar influenced stories.
Following list borrowed from Chowk (Nadeem Paracha’s article), these restrictions were set during Zia’s regime, which makes me wonder how well ppl in Pak are manipulated through the strongest media.
· Television plays were barred from showing married couples sharing a bed. So much so, that even a bedroom with a double bed was not allowed to be shown.
· No physical contact between male and female was allowed. Not even between brother and sister, or mother and son.
· Ads showing models blowing a chewing gum bubble or licking an ice- cream cone were not allowed.
(*A debate on this ‘topic’ that actually took place on the floors of Zia’s Majlis-e-Shoora in 1982 was the basis of this particular directive. In fact, more time in these henpecked shooras was spent talking about the need to “uproot vulgarity” than on other matters like unemployment, crime, the economy, etc.).
· Television ads were only allowed to show female models for only 30% of the total time of the commercial.
· Playwrights were barred from ever using the word “Bhutto” or “Jamhooriat” (Democracy).
· Making fun of or even critiquing the clergy and the Army was not allowed on radio and PTV.
(*The whole tradition of teleplays having the “wise moulvi” and the “gallant, patriotic and God fearing army/air force jawan” have their roots in this directive. The last television play to critique the institution of mulahism/clergy was Munu Bhai’s Jhog Sial in 1975).
· Female singers were only allowed minimum physical movement while singing on television.
· Newspapers and magazines were warned against publishing news about sexual crimes committed by members of the clergy.
(*In one incident in mid-‘80s when a pesh imam of a mosque in Karachi incited an enthusiastic group of namazies to stone to death an illegitimate child left outside a mosque, the government made absolutely sure that the news was blocked. However some aggressive Urdu papers of the time, like Aman and Musawaat did manage to publish the horrific news. Later, when news items about pesh imams being arrested for child molestation started to grow, the Zia government “advised” the papers to stop publishing such news).
· Female announcers and newscasters were asked to appear on screen without any make-up!
(This directive was given in 1985 but soon withdrawn after some popular newscasters complained that they looked horrid under bright, white shooting lights without make-up).
· Plays dealing with issues like heroin addiction were suddenly disallowed.
(* The rationale given behind this directive was that scenes of people intoxicating themselves with heroin actually encouraged its usage. The truth however was that the Zia regime did not want the dramatization of the rampant raise of heroin addiction and smuggling that had started to grip the country after 1979. The directive was issued sometime in 1982).
· “Good guys” in plays were asked to always wear shalwar kameez while the “bad guys” were always to be shown in western attire. Actresses however were always to be shown in shalwar kameez and under no circumstances allowed to wear western clothing.
(*This directive was given in late 1981 and some serials that were already underway had to comply halfway through. Hasina Moin’s popular soap, Ankahi was one. If you have a VCD recording of the play, do notice how midway across the serial all the male leads start appearing in shalwar kameez).
· Quied-e-Azam’s quotes were liberally distorted and tweaked around to make him seem like a likable Islamist, or the sort of an image Zia was trying to cultivate for himself.
· All females appearing on television (whether in a play or otherwise) were asked to always keep their dupatta over their head!
(*This directive was given by the first Nawaz Sharif government in 1992. The policy was reversed a year later when some prominent directors protested that the directive was too restrictive. One can see this in plays like Urusa. In one scene Mishi Khan playing the lead character is shown drowning in a river and clearly struggling to keep her dupatta on her head. In another scene (of a different play of the era), a woman is seen fast asleep on her bed at night with a dupatta neatly placed over her head!).
· No males in jeans and long hair was allowed to appear on TV.
