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Celebrations in a row
It appears that our local television channels, terrestrial as well as the ones whose viewership (however insignificant) is dependent on wily cable wallahs, are stuck in a rut. Why on earth would one like to see the Shehzad Roys, Jawads and Najams over and over again crooning out their candyfloss tunes whenever one wishes to be entertained? On this Baqra Eid (and Basant and Valentine’s day), viewers were subjected to, no matter what channel they switched on, a cluster of mindless pop concerts and even more mindless dramas.
Gone are the days when a stellar (acting-savvy) cast would enhance the profound, yet easy-on-the-ears dialogue of good writers on special occasions like Eid. Gone are the days when Nayyara Noor, Ustad Amanat Ali or even Mohammad Ali Shyhaki and Alamgir would come up with soul-stirring music for TV junkies. These are the times when pop pep is the order of the day, if you know what I mean.
Having said that, pessimism is the opium of the weak. And being excessively caustic never contributes to constructive criticism. In this regard, PTV’s Eid-cum-Basant transmission could be commended, for at least they made an effort to dish out variety, if not be different. One major proof of this was their special show for children Kehkashan, hosted by comedian Hanif Raja and Farzana Nadeem and produced by Zartaj Ali. Hanif was his usual self, rib-tickling the audience in a programme intended to entertain the younger generation, something that the satellite channels don’t deem important.
The special play Eid shopping, written by Anwar Maqsood and helmed by Ali Rizvi, was fraught with regular one-liners and punctuated by trademark puns that the television drama writer is famous for. With Moin Akhtar and Rubina Ashraf as the lead couple, the play, one suspects, couldn’t garner the laurels that its makers would have liked. Not even the street-wise lads discussed it at their usual hangouts and habits.
However, two of PTV’s music shows need to be mentioned here. One was Komal teevar, produced by Afifa Sofia and the other Sahira Kazmi’s Sangeet unplugged. While the former was a rather traditional programme in which renowned ghazal singer Gulbahar Bano displayed her vocal range, the latter tried to break certain conventions by virtue of presenting a fusion of the contemporary pop genre and the classical or neo-classical style of singing.
Sangeet unplugged assembled ghazal singers Salamat Ali, Tina Sani and pop star Ali Haider under one roof — a unique idea that only Sahira Kazmi could come up with. Still, there were certain things that left a lot to be desired. For starters, the set design and the lighting never appeared to compliment the thought behind the show. Then, Salamat sahib sounded quite the way he sounds. He wasn’t making any particular attempt to impart a distinct touch to the programme. In fact, his version of Bahadur Shah Zafar’s splendid ghazal, Baat karni mujhe mushkil (originally sung by Mehdi Hassan) was a shoddy effort. Ali Haider strove to be different. Perhaps he was relishing the fact that two big names in Pakistani music were singing alongside him — and responding to his fluffy compositions. That may have been the reason that the best item of Sangeet unplugged came in the form of a rather soothing rehash of Haider’s Chandni ratein where Tina Sani and Salamat Ali melodically matched a classical tune to the pop star’s famous theme song of a drama serial. It was an auditory delight.
All three were impressive. And who could not lend one’s ears to Tina Sani when she sings Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s inimitable poem, Gar mujhe is ka yaqeen ho? A truly super composition! But one felt that her back-up-vocals-like participation on Ali Haider’s Qarar was quite unnecessary. She’s cut out to do meaningful stuff. One other marked feature of the show was the instrumentalists that were accompanying the vocalists. They were not amateur guitar wielders or drum beaters, but seasoned musicians like Azhar Hussain on keyboards, Nafees on sitar and Kishwar Allah Ditta on bass. Their handling of the instruments was impeccable and lent great credibility to the entire concept of the show.
On the whole, on a small screen which was/is strewn with the Jawads, Shehzad Roys and Najams crooning their usual series of songs on the eve of Eid, Basant and even Valentine’s day on “this and that” channel with “this and that” anchor, Sahira Kazmi’s Sangeet unplugged seemed to be a better pick.
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