Our dramas need to get bolder and start talking about issues that people want to deal with. Who in real life has four daughters and gets them married on the same day? And on top of that asks Jawad Ahmed to sing the title song. The last bit is a crime in itself.
Also, I think to fix up non-actors such as Humayun Saeed the PTV should place a limit on the number of dramas they can do. Once, they exceed the limit send them on a non-paid forced vacation. There must be something that they could do when not disgracing our great PTV traditions.
Real artists like Qazi Wajid, Marina Khan, etc etc have complaining of PTV’s low pays forever now. And now we suffer 'cause of PTV’s antics.
Either way do read the article, it features the opinions of some of the best artists in Pakistan.
The serial killers - By Shanaz Ramzi
URL: http://www.dawn.com/weekly/images/images1.htm
Those who recall PTV’s plays of the seventies will be able to vouch for the fact that they were made of very different stuff. So gripping were these plays that people used to schedule their dinners and even wedding dates and timings around the drama serials so as not to clash with them, lest no one showed up for the occasion! Now, unfortunately, the scenario is such that half the time people don’t even know which serials are running, let alone wait for them with anticipation. In this article, Images spoke to the movers and shakers of TV plays - both seniors and juniors - to gauge their views regarding the decline in viewers’ interest. Interestingly enough, while some of the views tended to overlap, there are many varied perspectives that give a well-rounded view of where plays shown on PTV are heading and why.
It seems that by and large, the older crop of writers, directors and actors are disgusted with the state of affairs of our TV plays and feel that few people bother to watch them anymore. The relatively younger lot is not so dismissive and is of the opinion that commendable work is still being done and watched, and this group is hopeful about the future.
**Bajia, for instance, is of the opinion that plays of the past, which people watched religiously, revolved around local customs and traditions, while today’s plays depict an alien culture that no one wants to watch.
“People used to take out time to watch our plays because they could identify with them. Today, all that is being projected is romance, which should be confined to the bedroom, and there is no story as such and no social message. There is hardly any variety and the stress is more on costumes and exotic locales. With so many channels available, people now have the option to channel surf, rather than watch something undesirable.”**
In complete contrast to Bajia’s views is Seema Ghazal, one of the most prolific writers of television plays today. She opines “Times have changed and we have to stop living in the past. What we project in our plays today is what is happening around us, good or bad. In the old days of television, plays used to be more fantasy based, for that was what people enjoyed. Which woman, for instance, would turn on her father-in-law with a knife, as did Shehzoori? I try and make my plays as realistic as possible, and that is what people appreciate today. Sham sey pehlay had no glamour in it and was a hit serial. Similarly, Singhar, Mehndi and Chandni ratein were not love stories and dealt with pertinent issues.”
**While there seems to be an element of truth in Ghazal’s views, Talat Hussain feels strongly that relevant social issues were only projected in the “Golden era of PTV, when people were bolder and liberal and social values were alive. Today, however, there is so much corruption surrounding us that the common man is bogged down with financial problems, which censorship laws won’t allow to be depicted. So with relevance of the plays gone, all that they project now is entertainment, alienating the masses. They have become travelogues with no substance.”
Anwar Maqsood also upholds the view that the story is no longer an important element of a play. He feels that all directors are concerned with today is getting a script quickly, no matter how bad, and glamourizing the serial with shots of foreign locales.
“Directors and writers had time before, and used to spend hours discussing the serial before its production. These days, a 13-episode serial is written in three days, and as long as it bags commercials, is regarded as good enough to be shown on prime time. It’s a total disaster now.”
Echoing this view is Haseena Moin, who says “The criteria for judging the success of a play is no longer the play itself but the number of advertisements it manages to secure. Hence, commercials have taken over the plays and one has to sit through six ads between every scene, with the result that the continuity of thought is lost. Policy makers are at fault and the director of programmes is to be blamed for the current state of affairs.”
Tracing the reasons for this decline in professionalism, Haseena Moin reminisces.
“The initial PTV plays were all written and produced by trained people, many of whom had received three months’ training abroad and were established writers. Days used to be spent in discussion and sharing ideas and we gave a lot of time to our work and thoroughly enjoyed it. However, a second line of directors never developed and after that, people were mostly inducted on the basis of nepotism or quota. The main objective became to earn quick money without spending too much time, so very few good and dedicated writers are still around. The directors want scripts of entire serials in a week at the maximum and are not interested in discussing anything with them.” **
While Ghazal has no qualms admitting that she is among the writers reputed for churning out entire serials in a matter of a few days, she defends herself with the query “Can you blame me if my brain is always active? I just work very fast. That doesn’t mean my work is poor. You can make a good Qorma in thirty minutes or you can cook it for a whole day, and make it into a khichri. I wrote Chandni ratein in 13 days and most viewers loved it. The psyche of my characters doesn’t become erratic simply because I am not devoting time to them. I have a lot of practice in writing because I was the editor of a magazine for 15 years and not only lived by deadlines, but often had to improvise articles at the last minute when we would be saddled with extra space. I prefer to write an entire episode in one sitting, without any distractions.”
**Be that as it may, an oft-heard complaint is that scripts are not as professionally written as they used to be. Shakeel who is still acting in a number of serials, tends to agree. He claims that much to his chagrin, he is often asked to deliver lines that sound totally incongruous and when he refuses to comply, he is dubbed as being fussy. **
Zoha Hassan, another successful writer of today, agrees with the general conception that plays are by and large written in a hurry these days, although she claims that it takes her at least three days to write one episode, but also feels that it is the producers and directors that are to be blamed for this trend.
“Directors used to be an academy before. Now, anyone with money and a camera is ready to direct plays. It has become such a moneymaking racket that they are not willing to wait the requisite time for scripts anymore. In fact, time has become of the utmost essence so that entire serials are being completed in 20 days, compromising the quality of plays. Even if the script is good, the director has no idea how to get expression out of his artists, most of whom are busy doing ten episodes a day and have no idea how to act.”
Corroborating this view is Haseena apa who states “Gone are the days when effort was made to look for an artist for a particular role. Now, artists who are not suitable for their roles are given parts simply because they are relatives of someone or the other or because they are well known models, regardless of their wooden expressions. The stress is more on glamour, so much so that artists are attired in striking designer wear even if the role demands something simple.”
**According to Shakeel, even if the actors are good, they are often given their lines just before they have to deliver them and frequently have no idea of their context. He relates horror stories about actors who have no inkling about the characters they are portraying or addressing in the plays, which obviously undermines their performance.
Why, then, are seasoned actors like him agreeing to such conditions?
“This is our bread and butter, so no matter how choosy we are, we still have to select from what is offered to us, and have to accept that times have changed from when we first started out with PTV,” he justifies. **
Marina Khan, who has also directed some popular serials in the recent past, finds that the quality of plays has improved technically, but concedes that acting and directing has deteriorated overall.
**“Actors are not doing justice to their roles and even established actors give you a tough time.” One would expect, then, that she at least would be demanding rehearsals from her actors, as was the norm once. But unfortunately, Marina too finds her hands tied. “I would like to do rehearsals, but find it difficult in today’s environment where everything is weighed in terms of money. However, I have made my actors do a scene as many as four to five times sometimes before approving it.” **
..contd]