LAHORE: A session “Finding Jinnah ­artists’ interpretation of the book” on the second day of Faiz Festival 2022 at Alhamra on Saturday provided an insight into various aspects of Jinnah’s depiction.

Written by Dr Furqan Ahmed, the book contains portraits of the Quaid as visualised by artists. Slides showing the portraits of Mr Jinnah could not be displayed on the screen owing to ‘unknown’ reasons.

Educationist and curator Salima Hashmi, who moderated the session, said the book is ‘unusual’ as it shows how young artists look at Jinnah. “There is some kind of invisibility of Jinnah and the book makes him visible.”

She spoke of artist Colin David’s portrait of Mr Jinnah playing billiards and rated it as one of the best art pieces. Ms Hashmi also mentioned how Jinnah was portrayed during Gen Zia’s dispensation.

Dr Furqan Ahmed, a gastroenterologist by profession, said he tried to dispel certain perceptions about Jinnah. “There is no harm in depicting Jinnah as a man.”

He said the book focuses on Jinnah’s identity and art works include paintings, sculptures and video installations along with essays.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Ali Raza, a historian and a teacher at LUMS, said the book was fabulous and he was spellbound by the images. Dr Raza said he was intrigued by Mr Jinnah during his school days and how he had been portrayed in textbooks.

Talking about his essay “Will the Real Mr Jinnah Please Stand Up”, [which is included in this publication], Raza said he tried to focus on the ambiguity of Jinnah’s persona. He said Jinnah was opposed by politicians, citing an example of Khaksar Tehreek.

BREAKING THE BIAS IN MEDIA: The session titled “Breaking the bias in media” dealt with portrayal of patriarchy and gender bias in TV plays.

Actor and director Sarmad Sultan Khoosat sat with screenwriter Amina Mufti, Kashf Foundation managing director and a development activist, Roshaneh Zafar, and senior actor Simi Raheal to analyse the content being shown in TV plays.

Mr Khoosat said bias against an individual’s voice is a real challenge. He said he did master’s in 2001 and film as a subject [except a few modules] was not taught at that time. He referred to his play “Akhri Station” in which he introduced fresh graduates.

Citing a data, Ms Zafar, who has been working in the realm of women’s economic empowerment, said just 17 per cent of women are screenwriters and 25pc female producers globally. She was critical of TV channels’ ‘obsession’ with TRPs [target rating points]. She spoke of how her team had to convince channels about the content which is supposed to generate low TRPs.

Ms Zafar said there is a need to break the bias in reference to viewers. “A considerable chunk of women [read housewives] want to watch quality content.”

Picking up the thread, Amina Mufti said ‘template’ content showing women in retrogressive roles is supposed to fetch high ratings. She spoke of the late Haseena Moin who portrayed women in proactive roles.

“We are not peddling any agenda. A woman is a human and she should be shown as such,” Ms Mufti said.

Simi Raheal said this is an endless discussion, adding she believes in real life stories and mentioned some plays which did away with stereotypical portrayal of women.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2022