Beneath her stern countenance, Asma Jahangir is a mellow person with extremely unpretentious and simple likes and dislikes. She rates herself as an ordinary music listener, not having a penchant for classical music and songs. According to her, she hardly gets any time to listen to music. It is only while working at home or travelling by car that she turns on the radio or the cassette player for some kind of music. “I never owned a radio or a cassette player in my life. I have cultivated some taste in music at this age, which is greatly an inspiration of my daughter who can play several musical instruments,” tells Asma.
She reveals that she once attempted to learn the harmonium and singing in her college days from an ustad, but soon gave up. She would also play piano in her school. Her sister, she says, is the only person in her family who is immersed in music. “I didn’t like ghazals a lot. I preferred wedding songs and folk music, which I still enjoy.”
Despite that, Asma Jahangir is a big fan of Farida Khanum, whom she regards as one of the best in the field. Her voice and singing style is getting better with age, opines Asma. According to Asma, she was in third year of college when she first attended a Farida Khanam concert. Since then, she has never missed a chance to relish Farida’s live performances.
Surprisingly, Asma likes almost all the new pop singers of Pakistan. In Western music, she has been an ardent fan of The Beatles and Elvis Presley. Asma believes that music can be used to convey a political message. “We have used music and songs to bridge the gulf between Pakistan and India. Music can never be a depoliticising factor. Activists all over the world make use of poetry and music to mobilise and motivate people,” says Asma.
Having enjoyed the time when the Pakistani film industry was alive and thriving, Asma would also frequent theatres and even watch the matinee shows after college. But she says that she had to study hard to justify her fondness for cinema. Most of her watching was, however, controlled by her parents. “I do not like to watch violent movies or too much realism. That is the reason I can’t see Mother India, though ‘it is a marvellous film’.”
Recently, Asma watched Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s creation Black, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee, and she says that she is in ‘complete awe of its magic’.
Says Asma: “Black is a great film; better than any other flick I have seen till now. It is beautiful and magnificent. I like its direction, grandeur, lighting and acting. I like almost all aspects of the film. On a number of occasions while watching the film, I could not stop my tears. What I didn’t find amusing in the film was a scene where Amitabh slaps and beats his young pupil. That scene could have been done differently.”
In Asma Jahangir’s opinion, Black is a fine depiction of how one could empower the weak and vulnerable. After Indian movies were banned on the Pakistani cinema, she had a chance to watch the Indian movie, Bobby in Kabul and liked it immensely.
Amongst the Pakistani lot Waheed Murad is her favourite actor, though Nadeem is also on her list of favourites. Asma finds Shahrukh Khan’s face “full of expressions”. She likes Shahrukh’s Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Veer-Zaara. Asma does not answer and only smiles when it is mentioned to her that her movement inspired some portions of Veer-Zaara.
She believes that cinema has the potential to build bridges between Pakistan and India. “As Pakistanis, we are crazy about Indian films and film stars, on the other side, the Indians are very fond of Pakistani television serials”.
Paying tribute to Indian celluloid, Asma Jahangir remarks that Indian cinema has brought social and women issues to the limelight, which Pakistani cinema did not do. Her recent favourite is Sabiha Sumar’s Khamosh Pani starring Indian and Pakistani actors. In this respect, Asma Jahangir also prefers Iranian films on different social issues. Shatranj Ke Khiladi, Salaam Bombay, Monsoon Wedding, and Fahrenheit 9/11 are some of her favourites.
She thinks very highly of master directors Satyajit Ray and Shyam Benegal.
Asma Jahangir is an avid reader but is not too interested in Urdu literature. The reason she cites is her training and upbringing in convent schools that exposed her only to western literature. However, her mother encouraged her to read Urdu books also. “ My father used to read political and historical literature, so I also developed taste in them. I had read Glimpses of World History as a child.”
In school Asma Jahangir read all English classics including Emma, Wuthering Heights and many Shakespearean plays. “These days I am reading political histories of different countries, as it helps me in my work as United Nation’s Rapporteur. I also relish Indian and Pakistani literature on politics, on 9/11, the pre-9/11 situation, USSR occupation of Afghanistan and Pakistan-US partnership in the Cold War days,” tells Asma.
Despite the fact that Asma Jahangir has not read much of Urdu classical literature, Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Habib Jalib still inspire her. “Because of my convent education, I don’t have a grasp on Urdu and Persian, which are pre-requisites to understand classical Urdu literature. Faiz’s Hum Dekhein Ge still invigorates my spirits. I know almost all of Habib Jalib’s poems by heart, some of which he wrote during our joint struggle for democracy. I like the ones that he wrote during General Ayub Khan’s rule better than his other works. Jalib is a poet of ordinary people, and that is the reason I consider him to be a great poet.”
Beneath her stern countenance, Asma Jahangir is a mellow person with extremely unpretentious and simple likes and dislikes. She rates herself as an ordinary music listener, not having a penchant for classical music and songs. According to her, she hardly gets any time to listen to music. It is only while working at home or travelling by car that she turns on the radio or the cassette player for some kind of music. “I never owned a radio or a cassette player in my life. I have cultivated some taste in music at this age, which is greatly an inspiration of my daughter who can play several musical instruments,” tells Asma.
