The Quality and Content of TV Programs and Their After Effects
By Mian Usman • Jun 25th, 2009 • Category: Politics, Worth A Second Look • 15 CommentsThere has been a change in our comedy programmes shown at various channels these days. Now they seemed more influenced by the western and Indian origin programs. Where are our norms gone which we established through programs like Fifty Fifty, tot batot, Show time, Studio 2, Moeen Akhtar Show, Zia Mohaeeul din Show etc.
These programs were for family, the dress code and script was not vulgar at all, the whole family used to enjoy it and there was a clear message in these of our religious, social and cultural norms and a very clean comedy style. We have taken a 360 degree twist, dress codes are vulgar which we now depict as modern fashion and styling and script is absolute pathetic and message less. Youth is getting spoiled and are learning to show dis respect to their parents and seniors, women is made a sex symbol and is being used as such even in serious talk shows. In the old days there used to be a censor board for films and TV which used to filter content that has to be aired, its no more there and we see programs which are not a true reflection of our society. A time has come now that we say no to such content to be shown on TV and launch an aggressive campaign against it. Where is marvelous Drama that PTV used to show, we need dramas having same strength and message that we saw in Tabeer, Aakhri Chatan, Waaris, An kahi, Tanhaaiyaan, Samundar, Totaa kahani, fehmeeda ki kahani ustaani farhat ki zabaani and many more.
We are destroying our kids personalities with programs which could let them idealise dancing heroes and heroines as their ideals. We are an underdeveloped nation, we need an eduactional activity based programs which are in line with our religion and not in line with Indian Culture or English cultural depiction. A maasive chain reaction has started to destroy over all personality of our kids who have to run this country in an other 10-15 years and medias role in keeping the youth on the right track is more than ever needed now.
We cant teach our kids to redicule their parents and seniors and cosider “donts” as “dos”. We need to make them tolerant and humble and not as arrogant fools who are un knowingly falling in a trap of west to keep them away from their roots. We cant enjoy vulgarity, non sense talks, ill comdey and promotion of western norms in our comedy serials and talk shows, we should learn to reject them in public and in private. We got to tell our kids that the stuff shown on TV is not what you are or your fore fathers were.
Why do we allow all Indian Channels to be allowed to shown and some of Indian programs being allowed to show on local TV channels. This is a mass brain washing of our youth and this is the biggest of threats to our existence than Talibanization, terrorism or enemies across the border and the world. Wake up time for our nation as its a do or die situation, scenario is already not very good but with our efforts at all ends we could save our kids to reach a certain stage of demoralization and corruption, a point of return is very near and we are waiting for our government and NGOs to do it for us. They cant help us, we have to focus on our individual house hold and start correcting things from our own home rather than condemning the whole Nation and the system. Our youth is not bad by nature it only needs good level of guidance and support from us all, we can bring them on track but we need to do it on war footing basis.
Change of focus is needed and matters that need immediate attention should be given proirity. We can afford to see few more governments not allowed to complete tenure but we cant afford to see our youth being made in different and immoral due to the culture being promoted by most of the channels who heavily rely on financial supports from invisible hands of the west.
A few more long marches needed to get us all to the point from where we started to be off track. Parents, teachers, scholars, media Giants, educational institutes, NGOs, welfare organizations, religious organizations, Armed forces, Private sector and every body should join hands to save our Islamic Identity which is the core to survive and to keep us intact as a Nation. Our leaders spend more time in criticizing each other and asking for charity of loans and aid from foreign world, they should take emergency steps to ensure our image of an independent Islamic state and to make our youth aware that we are the best nation in the world living in a country which was formed on Islamic Idealogy.
Our survival is in adopting Islam in its true of forms that can support our survival in the modern world and above all make our youth proud to be Muslims first and then Pakistanis. Talk shows highlight further division of Pakistan these days, nothing of such nature should be discussed even. The basic rights health, education and trade should be given equally to all citizens of Pakistan and it should be with descrimination of race, gender, tribe or a provence. Every thing has to be decided on true merits according to our religion. What better system do we need other than Islam our religion has already given us but we still look to western econometrics, social security policies and legal and justice system. What a pity we have every solution to our problems written in a Holy Book called Quran which we often lock it our cupboards and not very often refer to it when we need help, on the contrarary we call foreign consultants to tell us what to do after paying millions of dollars worth of tax payer’s money!
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Writing poetry and articles is one my favorite passtimes. I write truth openly in a straight forward manner and dont believe in an indirect hinting towards the truth. Am an ordinary man with an extra ordinary wish to see peace, harmony, justice and equality for common man before I die. For that I have decided to write my inner thoughts on the day to day sufferings around us. Silence can not solve any problem it rather increases it. My struggle will end with me. Am grateful TPS to provide me an opportunity to join a group of very talented writers from whome am learning a lot. Am not a man of letters so you would find my expression not as good as my seasoned and experienced partners who regularly write, my focus is primarily on the message in my articles and TPS is helping me to convey it to a lot of people.
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Dear Usman,
I appreciate the feelings which you have shared with us in this article. I agree that somehow we lost our audience to Indian and western channels. But not because we allow them to broadcast their channels in Pak but because we stopped producing quality stuff. And that was the vacuum which was filled by other channels. Can you believe I met Nepali girl at Abu-Dhabi airport transit lounge. And she said that she was fond of Pakistani Drama. She even name couple of old PTV serials.
We call western experts to solve our problems because they they have the abilities and we don’t. For example, the engineering, medical, natural and social sciences. They have faults in their system but we have no practical system at all of our own. We are the mere consumers. Even some some of us are using their technologies to criticize them. Well, it is however debatable that whether their assumption to these knowledge are true to which extent?
No offense dear but my personal opinion is that we slept for last 500 years at least. We have to catch up first before criticizing others. If we don’t like their science then why not to go for whole new set of knowledge. And we have to!
Did I miss something?
is there some movenmnet or referendum being held to determine pakistan’s identy?
untill yesterday some writers were alarmed about pak being backward outdated islamic state, and that we need to moderanize and adopt western culture if we are to survive, and now at the same time this writer is alarmed about the western/indian values creeping into our culture?
I know we as pakistanis are lost but this is even worse than i had expected
so where are we lost ?
(i know if we knew where we are, then we wouldnt be exactly lost)
are we lost in the race to get ourselves modern?
or
are we lost trying to keep up with an outdated religion islam?
-we have a proud cultural history…….wait we share our cultural history with india/hindus and we pakistanis hate indians ….forget it!
-we want to be like the developed European nations…..wait we pakistanis cant be like the europeans, they even have have sex with their mother and sisters, and wife of the their brothers ….forget it!
-we want to be modern progressive islamic state….wait if we want to be modern we cant be islamic, and if we have islam in our lives we cant progress……forget it!
kawua chala hans ki chaal , apni bhi bhool gaya !
this sums up pakistan’s problems………we are still trying to decide what we want……we can only do something , if anything at all when we know what we have to do………
Congratulations Usman on making your first article a feature…..as far as my comments are concerned, these have been given on your blog so i would not repeat here but I am in agreement with Arias…..good effort nonetheless dont lose heart and do keep writing !!!!
Nice write up.
Hi Usman,
What are values? You are in a GLOBAL VILLAGE. See what the youth of Iran have done? The Iran regime claims that they are instigated by BBC.How can this happen? When a nation hides from competition, it faces this type of dilemma.
You correctly said people in India used to get VHS vedio of pakistani serial like Tanhaiyyan because we liked it.I love Pakistani ghazal singers though i donot know any meaning of ghazals!!!By bringing out quality programmes you can compete with cheap soaps.
“”Why do we allow all Indian Channels to be allowed to shown and some of Indian programs being allowed to show on local TV channels. This is a mass brain washing of our youth and this is the biggest of threats to our existence than Talibanization, terrorism or enemies across the border and the world.”"
Indian TV is full of AMERICAN PROGRAMS/AMERICAN STYLED PROGRAMS.
Does that a “threats to our existence”???????????
hahahahaha……….
Stupidity has many names one such is Pakistani.
“”Our survival is in adopting Islam in its true of forms that can support our survival in the modern world and above all make our youth proud to be Muslims first and then Pakistanis”".
When Jinnah created Pakistan, he wanted it a SECULAR,LIBERAL ,DEMOCRACY……….just like in the west.Now Jinnah was a Muslim and was HIGHLY EDUCATED.
question1>> WHY DID JINNAH CHOSE “WESTERN MODEL” OF DEMOCRACY AND “NOT” THE ISLAMIC MODEL OF GOVERNANCE???????????
question2>>Why did ANOTHER GREAT MUSLIM LEADER- ATATURK OF TURKEY TOO CHOSE THE WESTERN MODEL OF DEMOCRATIC SECULAR GOVERNMENT “NOT” THE ISLAMIC MODEL OF GOVERNANCE???????????
what does this show??????
Not so intelligent men throughout history thought religion will solve all their problems.Thats the BASIC PROBLEM.
REAL INTELLIGENT MEN thought otherwise.
By Nadeem F. Paracha
On the day renowned Islamic scholar Dr Sarfraz Naeemi was brutally slaughtered by a suicide bomber of Baitullah Masud’s terrorist set-up, the Tehreek-e-Taliban-Pakistan (TTP) [1], mainstream television talk show host, Dr Shahid Masood, and former Amir of the Jamat Islami, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, were discussing the ‘infiltration (of foreign agents) into the fold of TTP.’
Bizarrely, Dr Masood went a step further while talking to his second guest on the show by asking him whether certain members of NGOs in the NWFP might also have infiltrated Baitullah Masud’s organisation?
It was his good luck that conservative politician Ejaz-ul-Haq was on the other end of the line. Otherwise, any person with a bit more sense would have either blasted Masood’s absurd innuendos, or better still, laughed his head off!
Imagine, people trained to administer polio-drops to young children turning into suicidal infiltrators of fascist Islamist organisations? I doubt any other talk show host can top this one.
It is a rather stunning experience watching certain TV talk show hosts, journalists and assorted ‘experts’ continuing to find newer and more bizarre ways to stick to an obviously reactionary and, if I may, paranoid line in this respect, especially at a time when a majority of Pakistanis, including well known religious scholars, have started to freely exhibit anger and bitterness towards phenomenon like the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. [2]; [3]
The question arises, is this a matter of defending an ideology for which these TV and press men are ready to face ridicule? Or is this peculiar attitude about something else?
Sceptics would suggest that this is nothing more than these gentlemen first determining a populist line of attack that they discover gets them instant attention, and then sticking to this line. [4]
Their on-screen and on-paper attitude becomes their professional-ideological identity and, in a way, they become prisoners of this mind-set. Their new-found celebrity status and economic wellbeing (at least in their minds) becomes ever-so-deeply entangled with this largely reactionary identity that they have adopted for popularity’s sake.
Thus, the above dilemma also sees most celebrity talk show hosts increasingly losing track of the shifting nature of populism. They end up defending the ideological comfort zones that they had built around a preceding phase of populist thought, sounding ‘out of it’ as a result.
The above is exactly what has happened on most local TV talk shows and on the op-ed pages of the country’s Urdu newspapers. For example, prior to the showing of the Swat girl flogging video by mainstream TV channels [5], and more so, before the controversial ‘peace deal’ between the government and the Taliban in Swat collapsed, most frontline talk show hosts, Urdu journalists and televangelists had gradually built up a long-winded narrative that explained religious extremism in Pakistan as being an expression against ‘American imperialism’, ‘Zionist conspiracies’, ‘Hindu infiltration’, ‘economic inequality’, and ‘injustice’. [6]; [7]; [8]
But this narrative started to display all of its loopholes the moment the TV channels exhibited an about-turn and started running the video, and especially after the ‘peace deal’ with the government collapsed. [9]
Educated follies
Whereas critics have blamed populist TV talk shows and certain Urdu columnists for trivialising complex issues and presenting – in a rather romanticised manner- what is clearly a barbaric contingent of extremists, there are others who have shown more concern over the phenomenon’s influence on young Pakistanis.
They believe that already distorted versions of history and Islam are taught (and uncritically swallowed) in most schools and colleges. They fear these shows and columnists are furthering this trend, instead of checking it.
What’s worse, these hosts and journalists are bypassing academically sound works of history and politics, and instead going directly to the already debunked works of conspiracy theorists, most of whom are anti-Semites and dangerously compartmentalised in their thinking. [10]
TV host Iftikhar Ahmed in his show confronted his counterpart Masood and asked him to explain why he lifted chunks of material from Turkish pseudo-scientist and controversial Islamic creationist Harun Yahya’s book, ‘Last Days,’ to construct his own TV documentary and book, ‘End of Times’ that was run on a mainstream Pakistani TV channel?
Whereas in back-to-back articles, columnist, Fasi Zaka took to task ‘security analyst’ and celebrity TV speaker, Zaid Hamid, indicting him for ‘digressing dangerously into hate speech’ and adding, ‘blanket condemnation (of Zionists, Hindus and Christians) – whom Hamid blames for everything that is gone wrong with Muslims- is for demagogues, not TV anchors.’
Zaka also demonstrates how Hamid distorted history just to score some bizarre points, one of them being that the ‘Sikhs in Punjab were really Muslims!’ [11]; [12]
Educationists who were already fretting over the way generations of Pakistani students have been taught skewed history lessons about Islam and Pakistan – at times through state-approved history books – are now worried that the biased and distorted imagery of Muslims and other faiths in text books are being given glamorous currency by certain TV personalities.
After the 1971 break up of Pakistan and the war with India, educational discourse on nation building in Pakistan became much more introverted. The shock and horror of the defeat in East Pakistan led to the reconstruction of ideological boundaries in a much more narrow form. A violent, militaristic and negative nationalism, which saw enemies on every border, was reconstituted. This nationalism was not so much for progress or development as much as against Pakistan’s myriad enemies lurking behind every door.
According to eminent Pakistani academic and reformist, Dr Rubina Saigol, this new nationalism required a re-ordering of the past. Those unacceptable to the newly formed insecure national self had to be violently expunged. The pages of time had to be cleansed of the enemy’s presence. Ram, Buddha, Jesus Christ, Gandhi and several others, who had earlier been allowed in with a generous hospitality, had to make unceremonious exits from the pages of history textbooks. In their stead, the Khulfa-e-Rashideen, belonging to Arabia and to an ‘other’ and alternative past, were welcomed warmly into the texts. [13]
During General Ziaul Haq’s dictatorship, religion as an instrument of homogenisation and control became centre-stage in educational policies. An elaborate study conducted by a group of distinguished Pakistani historians and educationalists in 2003 states the prevalence of a theocratic vision in social studies textbooks.
The report noticed the following in Pakistani social study and history books: An insensitivity to the existing religious diversity of the nation; incitement to militancy and violence, including encouragement of jihad and shahadat; a glorification of war and the use of force; inaccuracies of fact and omissions that serve to substantially distort the nature and significance of actual events in our history; perspectives that encourage prejudice, bigotry and discrimination towards fellow citizens, especially women and religious minorities; and omission of concepts that could encourage critical self awareness among students. [14]
During the Zia era, science too faced the dictator’s Orwellian Islamisation process. Sullied science and farcical concepts of religion came together in an official conference called by Zia (at the cost of millions of rupees) in which papers on the following, (and absurd) topics were read: The harnessing of Djinns to create an alternative energy source; chemical compositions of Djinns; measuring the temperature of Hell; calculating the formula for sawab (blessing); and measuring the speed of Heaven! [15]; [16]
The (un)common man
Interestingly, whereas one should expect the proverbial ‘common man’ to be the most affected by the above-mentioned phenomenon in the media and education, it is the expanding urban middle class that is responding a lot more prominently to what they are learning as ‘Islam’, ‘politics’ and ‘history’ in schools, newspapers and on television channels (and, of course, on the net).
It can be safely assumed that since a bulk of the classes that make up the ‘common people’ are the ones who are directly facing and being bludgeoned by the frightening terrorist attacks in the cities, most of them are now rapidly changing their perceptions about the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. [17]
The above may also suggest that the ideological divide between Pakistan’s middle-classes and the classes bellow them may have grown – even though, by largely responding affirmably to TV shows based on conspiracy theories and reactionary populist rhetoric, sections of the country’s middle class actually believe they are sympathising with the common people.
During a recent spate of interviews that a mainstream TV channel conducted with residents of the war-torn Swat Valley, the interviewer was hard-pressed to get an anti-American and/or anti-Army statement from most of the interviewees. In fact, some of them exhibited curious facial expressions when the TV interviewer spouted anti-American/anti-Indian rhetoric to rouse the interviewees.
If private mainstream TV is reflective of the politics of urban middle class Pakistan, then shows that continue looking for ‘hidden hands,’ ‘foreign agendas’ and ‘enemy infiltration’ in the matters of the Taliban and other such extremist organisations are only exhibiting a serious disconnect between urban middle-class Pakistan and ground-level realities.
Over and over again, the state and government of Pakistan – in spite of committing numerous logistic and policy blunders – have proven the direct involvement of home-grown terrorists in cases of unprecedented destruction, murder and mass bloodshed.
And yet, channels continue to give wide open space to absurdist theorists, who are behaving as if the hard proof available in this context may take the gloss off their TV identities – identities constructed on the sensationalist art of putting forward incongruous theories, most of which have absolutely no roots in reality or in sound academic investigation.
Take, for instance, a private TV channel’s coverage of the mass blast that razed the Islamabad Marriot Hotel. Two days after the attack, a prominent Pakistani TV and press reporter, Ansar Abbasi, reported that the attack was actually against US Marines staying at the Hotel. [18]
Critics immediately censured the report, accusing it of trying to justify the atrocity, and in a way suggesting that maybe it is okay to kill people as long as they were Americans. Critics also claimed that American Embassy members had been stationed at the Marriott for quite a while along with members from other western embassies, so why did the reporter choose to report this after the blast?
Abbasi was again in the picture recently when on the day TV channels started to run the Swat girl flogging video, he was heard lambasting on air a (female) TV news anchor for ‘sensationalising’ the news of the flogging. [19]
But the irony of it all is that the same reporter has, on record, ridiculed politicians and ‘secular intellectuals’ who had criticised the TV channels for sensationalising the Lal Masjid episode and overtly highlighting the Farah Hamid Dogar case. [20]
He had also accused such critics of trying to curb freedom of the media. Ironically, he was quick to describe the flogging video’s airing as an ‘irresponsible’ and ‘sensationalist’ act by the media, whereas before this he had joyfully found the exhibition of all the blood, gore and the revengeful swearing of the (albeit armed) ‘victims’ of the Lal Masjid by the channels as perfectly justified.
As the consensus against the Taliban and for the military action takes hold more than ever in the country, there is now clearly a feeling of exasperation and disarray amongst those TV and press journalists who have had a field day gaining celebratory attention, especially the sort that they moulded for themselves by reporting and commenting on the two-year-long lawyers’ movement and during the Lal Masjid debacle. [21]
Critics within the media maintain that the reporting on the Lal Masjid episode in particular was overshadowed by media men with ‘rightist backgrounds’, who ended up glorifying and sympathising with the terrorists holed up in the mosque with sophisticated weapons. [22]
Senior journalists, including Najam Sethi, Irfan Hussain and Imtiaz Alam, have lamented the fact that rational and objective voices were drowned out by most mainstream TV channels, and sensationalist TV anchors were given a free hand to run the show, with most of them even going to the extent of conducting live interviews with the terrorists who had taken over the Lal Masjid and its madrassa. [23]
Though most TV talk show hosts’ and televangelists’ narratives are liberally sprinkled with clichéd rhetoric revolving around classical political Islam’s take on ‘western economic and political imperialism’ – even though many academics believe political Islam was actually ‘a construct of [the] West’s anti-Left agenda during the Cold War’ [24] – it is interesting to note that almost all of these political shows and religious programs are punctuated with dozens of commercials of products and brands made by western, multinational corporations.
For example, a show that keeps harping about ‘economic terrorism’ (and various economic conspiracies) by western economic interests is actually sponsored by products of large multinationals.
So why hasn’t anyone noticed the glaring dichotomy? Moreover, why don’t the companies raise an eyebrow about the content of such shows when asked by the channels’ marketing departments to sponsor them? Can it be that most urban, educated Pakistanis running these companies are likely to be fans of such shows?
In the last couple of years, a series of televangelists have become popular mainstays across various TV channels. Their fame is reflecting a growing interest among the urban bourgeois to rediscover the ‘power and meaning of Islam’, and regarding one’s place and behaviour in society and the state.
Thus, these televangelists are achieving what the conventional mullah failed to. That is, to make the notion of looking and sounding Islamic acceptable among the so-called educated elite. These evangelists – from Aamir Liaquat to Farhat Hashmi, Zakir Naik, and even Juniad Jamshed – with their brand of dressed-up evangelism are actually the softened versions of the scary, ferocious mullah.
The message remains the same, though: One needs the services of a wise, holy agent to reach the wise, Divine Saviour. Of course, this is something your neighbourhood mullah has also been insisting for years but only looking and sounding a lot cruder.
This ongoing fad may have managed to captivate large sections of the urban middle class, but it has in no way broken the shackles of obscurantism and distortion from religious debate and thought. On the contrary, it has merely dressed it up and made it more acceptable to the educated middle classes, helping obscurantism to now survive as an unquestioned and newly fashionable entity in this class as well.
For example, whereas Aamir Liaquat’s following mainly comes from the more conservative sections of the petty-bourgeois, those making up the fan list of televangelists like Zakir Naik and Farhat Hashmi and politico-religious speaker, Zaid Hamid, also constitute a large sprinkling of men and women from the elite sections of the middle- and upper-middle classes.
Recently, pop stars and trendy fashion designers have been known to hold ‘talk sessions’ with Zaid Hamid, some even going to the extent of calling him the ‘new Iqbal.’
Perhaps disappointed by another one of their favourites – Imran Khan’s now-I’m left-now-I’m right somersaults – and unable to relate to the populist politics of parties like the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Mutahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Awami National Party (ANP), these classes have found men like Naik and Hamid to represent that ready-made, middle ground in politics and religion they had been looking for, the sort they wouldn’t have to do much thinking or reading for.
Of course, these men offer anything but a middle ground, with Naik obsessed with demonstrating his scholarly muscle through meaningless intra-religious wrestling matches and Hamid awestruck by the somewhat unsound and unsubstantiated conspiracy theories involving Zionists, Hindus and the Americans.
One flew over the cuckoo’s nest
In the last three years or so, critique of the conspiratorial and largely reactionary model being followed by most TV news channels and Urdu newspapers has grown louder and deeper, especially in the mainstream English press.
A number of journalists and columnists associated with the English press have stepped up their criticism of the ‘negative and, (at times), destructive role’ being played by popular talk shows and religious programmes, which they blame for whipping up a militaristic mindset and hatred, sometimes also sympathising with extremist points of view. Some critics also believe that these channels and journalists do not overtly criticise the extremists because they fear they will be attacked. [26]
Thus, their critics suggest that such journalists and channels do not have any moral right to criticise politicians as well, which they take great pleasure in doing.
Recently, especially after the fallout of the Swat peace deal, some Urdu columnists and TV hosts have decided to drop out of the closet and take the extremists and their ‘pro-jihad’ colleagues head-on. Two journalists immediately come to mind in this respect: Imtiaz Alam and Hassan Nisar.
Out of the two, Nisar has been a lot more aggressive, becoming an iconoclast of sorts in the spheres of the largely rightist Urdu media. [27]; [28]
This is an important development because since the language they are communicating in is Urdu, the much-needed alternative to the largely convoluted quasi-Islamist narrative their colleagues have constructed will now have a better chance of being heard on a much larger scale.
“This is a mass brain washing of our youth and this is the biggest of threats to our existence than Talibanization, terrorism or enemies across the border and the world.”
The convulated grammatic structure of this sentence gives two meanings. Either the “mass brain washing” is a considerable threat after Talibanization and terrorism etc or that the “mass brain washing” is even a bigger menace the above mentioned. I think the writer meant the latter.
A lil’ anecdote. It is said, at the time the fierce and overwhelming number of Mongol troops were about to burn Baghdad under the command of Halaku Khan, the Baghdadi intellectuals and ulema were in the middle of a heated debate,arguing if a toad’s urine was na-pak or not.
Take what you want out of it Mian saab.
I am a huge admirer of old PTV productions and do agree present day quality on TV has gone to the dogs but the dominance of trash culture on TV is not only a Pakistani phenomena. Jerry Springer anyone? Nonetheless, the article is highly contentious and presents woolly reasoning that borders on bigotry.
“Our survival is in adopting Islam in its true of forms that can support our survival in the modern world and above all make our youth proud to be Muslims first and then Pakistanis.”
Does the writer mean to say Non-Muslim Pakistanis should settle for status of a second rate citizen of the republic, which a majority of them already are. Callous and irresponsible statements like these are sprinkled through out the article and contrary to what some of the other commentators say, makes it a sub-standard sensational piece.
where are the answers?????????
i dont think they will come
I have the answer…………………….India for sale…………………….dhoni guilty for match Fixing…………www.indiatimes.com……………………………..shame on you indians
@12
This is bad luck of Indians and Pakistanis cricket players when they loose whole media points their gun towards them with all possible allegations.Now Indians have to face hard times as this time the lucky drawer is in favour of Paksitan.
by th way what is relevancy of this news update with captioned topic.
no comments……………..i keep my words.
I partially agree with authors statement, yes the quality of TV programing has gone down, not just the comedy but the over all entertainment. I can not tolerate 5 minutes of a Indian Soap opera, ridiculous story (twins, triplets, quadruplets), 200 year old granny still alive, apparently have 500million Rupees assets yet travel in a rickshaw (may be out of modesty). The camera angles are good for causing a sever acute attack of convulsions on audience, and the makeup requires a whole other article. Not to mention all of them have the same story line where no one dies, even if one does it turns out they were never dead to begin with.
Ok coming back to the issue at hand, one thing is for sure the quality of work have came down drastically. One would expect with so many production houses opening in Pakistan, the quality would go up instead a complete opposite have opened may be those houses are front for other businesses, which many of them are. it seems the yard stick for these authors is from “severely mentally handicapped” to “retarded yet can copy paste” .
The only two comedy programs worth mentioning are “Four Man show” and “Hum Sub Umeed Sey hein”, apparently every channel is trying there version of Fourman show with a competition for producing the worst one. Times have changed and you can not enforce the values/criteria of past now a days. At times its nice to stick to older values but then at times it is just plain old stubbornness, its time for evolution.