Comedies on television have become a farce-and not in a good way. Save for a few politically oriented comedy shows like ‘Hum sub ummed se hain’ and ‘Hasb-e-haal’ that garner prime time slots, the genre of comedy has been relegated to the backwaters of the broadcasting networks.
Actor Ahmed Ali Butt who is known for his humorous persona and his comic performances in the play ‘Jutt and Bond’ and ‘Inspector Khojee’ feels that “since the entire country’s focus has shifted to the news, television networks have also shifted from the purpose on entertainment and moved towards ‘infotainment’ programming that projects politics in a humorous way.” Naughty by nature, Butt acerbically quips that, “comedy has shifted from the performing arts to
the government where people are amused by our political actors who are conducting the biggest sitcom of our times”.
No wonder then that a staggering 40 out of 90 channels that are currently on air are news channels. The statistic is ironic considering that while the country has been facing some of the worst political, economic and social setbacks in its history, citizens should ideally be starved for entertainment. Playwright Vasay Choudhry, whose latest offering of ‘Dolly ki ayge baraat’ had been a phenomenal hit not only because of its hilarious portrayal of the veteran, Bushra Ansari as a fashion designer from Faisalabad, but also since it spoke of socio-political issues in a humorous way. “Our biggest irony is that our channels do not want to invest in comedy inspite of the fact that if you notice only funny films like Munna Bhai and 3 Idiots have been box office hits in this region since the subcontinent is plagued with issues and people are fed up of this and just want to have a good time now and laugh.” As a playwright who has written both comedies and serious scripts, Choudhry is also critical of production houses and television corporations that do not
offer adequate compensation for comedy which he says “is a niche and a difficult genre to enter” nor the protection of royalties for plays that are hits and go for re-runs.
Yet if there’s one thing across the board that actors and writers have bemoaned is that comedy seems to going down the tube (pun intended). The queen of comedy Bushra Ansari has gone so far as to say “I hate sitcoms. I hate this laughing like idiots behind a play. Sitcoms in Pakistan have been a failure because that is not our nature of satire. Our tradition has been to do comedy plays and they will always be successful. Pakistani audiences cannot laugh on just one liners that are the premise of sitcoms. Also the genre of sitcoms is very western and emerged in the country
with the success of the American show ‘Friends’.”
Meera Hashmi, thespian and actress who was part of the initial team of ‘Family Front’ that initiated sitcoms in Pakistan like her seniors and peers feels that the media explosion in broadcast has resulted in poor quality programming. “The general belief is that if it is comedy it should not be taken seriously so people don’t put the work required into a comedy production. If the intentions and hard work are not there, projects are bound to go downhill.” However Meera feels that trends are changing and people have seen so much of bad programming that they are no
longer responding to it and thereby challenging the media to end the mediocrity.
The time when ‘Anghan Tera’ and ‘Sunahray Din’ reigned the television channels was deemed as the golden era for broadcast and comedy in the country, where viewers zoomed in for a taste of sophisticated wit and erudite humour. “Our sense of humour has historically been very different from the Indians whose cheap programmes and programming techniques have filtered and adulterated our television screens,” says the senior playwright Mohammad Ahmed. “India’s humour came from its street theatre while ours came from our literature hence the vast difference
in the ethos of the genre. But now that the Indian aesthetic has been imported everything on the channels is becoming similarly garish and loud. What’s worse is that vulgarity has seeped in and many producers who emulate the Indian paradigm proudly defend it as mass entertainment. Our masses have always seen educated humour and not this crassness that was confined only to a certain class that visited Lahore’s street theatres.”
The media explosion paved way for many people who traditionally worked at its periphery as menial workers but then moved up the hierarchy to take up positions as directors, producers, writers and actors. The absorption of such labour force is cited by seasoned professionals like Muhammad Ahmed and Bushra Ansari as well as the newer entrants like Meera Hashmi and Vasay Chouhdry as a resulting force in the downfall of the genre of comedy on television. Ahmed is so fearful of the over arching effects of this phenomena that he is fearful that “television will soon reach the state of our notorious collapsed film industry.”
|
