I have to agree with this gentleman. She has figured out winning recipe to get these awards. What y’all think?
Why I won?t celebrate Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy?s Oscar win
by Ahmad Hussain Rizvi
No, I am not proud of Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s (SOC) Academy Award. It is getting increasingly irritating seeing pseudo liberal keyboard jihadists (I use the term pseudo because being a true liberal is a virtue) demeaning those whose sentiments are hurt by SOC. Their assertion: SOC is highlighting an important social issue. Honor killing is a vile social practice which must be condemned and stopped. But that is a Pakistani social issue, right? So that social issue should be highlighted in Pakistan, right? Would these pseudo liberal keyboards please tell me which Pakistani theatres did her documentary run in? She made a documentary on a big social issue after all, then why wasn’t it released anywhere in Pakistan? And if documentaries do not run in theatres could they please tell me which TV channels ran it? How many of you have seen that documentary? Everything else aside, it is not even in Urdu, the national language of the country where this evil social issue is rampant. Filmmaking is a storytelling medium and a documentary is an effective means to convey a story. But the Pakistanis didn’t even know about it even though it was our social issue and it is us who should know about it. It was released on October 28th, 2015 but did anyone know about until it was shortlisted for the Academy awards? Even the PM did not take up the issue of honor killing until the news about its nomination emerged. So stop selling us this rubbish that she is a warrior trying to rid Pakistan of this social ill.
Some people lament the fact how the West thrives on our collective sense of reproach and self-apology. For them, the West is always eager to pounce on an opportunity to humiliate Pakistan. Not that it happens as a matter of policy at the Academy awards but one thing is clear: the Academy is becoming more and more of a social advocacy platform rather than a platform to celebrate the art of filmmaking. Forget SOC’s documentary, many critics are expressing surprise over the film ‘Spotlight’ winning the best film award over ‘The Revenant’ just like 2014 winner ‘Twelve Years a Slave’. Films which are made around a social issue are always winners. Why that is, one can’t be sure. Perhaps, it’s the guilt of Academy voters of the actions of their Government and destruction they cause in rest of the world. Perhaps it gives them the sense of doing something good. Or maybe it is just White supremacy in a new guise. More than hundred years ago it was the British who came up with the ‘White Man’s Burden’ of civilizing the rest of the world. And though, colonialism is a thing of the past but probably their imperialism has assumed a new form. Perhaps doing things like these satisfies their inner imperialist tendencies – rewarding a lone, odd warrior rising up to fight the vile practices of a wild people from an uncivilized region. But whatever the motivation of the Academy voters, people like SOC are always there to exploit this for the sake of personal glory; even if it means pandering to the West’s collective existing narrative of a backward, intolerant Islamic country besotted with various social ills. The motivation of the Academy voters notwithstanding, this award has nothing to do with the skills of filmmaking. SOC has just very cleverly ‘cracked the code’ and found the formula to win an Academy award. Her intention is just to, by hook or by crook, win an Academy award and be able to rub shoulders with the bigwigs of the Hollywood industry. Had her intention been to sincerely end the social ills she has been allegedly been highlighting, her target audience would have been us, the Pakistanis because if there is anyone who can and should do anything about it, it is us. But we did not even know this documentary existed until it was magically shortlisted for the Academy awards. Imagine, the Academy voters got to see it before us Pakistanis did. That says it all what her intention was. So the message to future filmmakers is clear: choose your subject cleverly, align yourself with a big banner, like HBO films, and then indulge in a massive PR exercise because that is what winning and Academy award has now come down to. The filmmakers of the future may not be great storytellers but would be excellent PR artists.
Pakistan has a long way to go as far as eradicating vile social ills are concerned. Be it acid throwing, honor killing, bonded labor or religious intolerance, the heart bleeds seeing these practices still prevalent in our society. But the only thing worse than these social ills still alive in Pakistan is someone willing to exploit these social ills for personal glory and just to make friends with the Hollywood biggies. Firstly, SOC exploits such social ills as her subject of documentaries just to be able to win an Academy award, then she has the gall to adopt that oh so patriotic veneer, dressing up in traditional Pakistani attire, speaking about how Pakistan is changing, propagating her false love for Pakistan on the stage. Fortunately, Ms Sharmeen, your actions speak louder than your words. One wouldn’t be surprised if Ms. Sharmeen, after achieving her goal, now tries to give a lollipop to all the disgruntled Pakistanis by creating a pro-Pakistani initiative.
And may I also remind all pro SOC group that the anti-honor killing law had been in the works for a long time. It was drafted and tabled in Senate in 2014 and has been languishing ever since waiting to be passed by a joint session of the parliament. So the less said about our Government the better. What can one say about a Government which only acts when it is shamed into making a move? A Government which only acts once it faces humiliation, and a person who exploits national disgrace to achieve personal glory, totally deserve each other. Your leaders, after all, are from among you.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, must be condemned, because she is bringing disrepute to the country. The world already has a grim opinion about Pakistan and Pakistanis. Whenever I travel I am viewed with a certain degree of suspicion by people. I take offence from this documentary because I don’t believe in honor killing. Nor do hundreds of other Pakistani men I know. Nor do hundreds of thousands of other Pakistani men that I do not know personally. But thanks to Sharmeen and her desire to win an Academy award and make gora film friends, we’re all clumped together in the eyes of the world. The problems of honor killing, acid throwing and bonded labor are real, very real. But educating us Pakistanis is more effective way of dealing with it.
But damn she cares. She can now boast of having built an impressive friends list by exploiting her country’s social problems and posing as a warrior to earn their respect. She is like a social climbing kid, who would resort to throwing wild parties, where alcohol and drugs flow freely, just to get close to the high society.
