Culture Cloning

....... and what is wrong with mujra !

.......... other than the fact that it can be a rather expensive habit and most of the singing and dancing courtesans can`t hold a tune and are a little on the fat side, what is wrong with this venerable institution that has entertained many generations of desis ?............

..............and what do you want to replace it with ?....... bombay-style dance bars and toronto-style strip clubs?...... that`s okay too, but they are not the same - nothing, not even the beautiful french-canadian strippers from montreal, can replace the classical eastern mujra which has been part of our culture for centuries .............. culture is what it is, and you can`t go about engineering it to suit your personal prejudices, hang-ups, idiosyncracies, fears, misguided morality, bigotry and religious idiocy ..........

........... lets not get carried away and bad mouth the honorable people of heera mandi who have brought so much happiness to joyless men living in that sad part of the world ............. there is nothing like leaning back on the gao-takya, sniffing the garland of white motia wrapped around your wrist and tossing red hundred rupee notes at her feet ...............

...... as they say, bandar kiya jaane adrak ka maza !

Re: # 79

Tahmed:

What`s the difference? Am I missing something?

Shaista,

``If this is what our media gurus have learnt from the national debate on the topic than I am really disappointed.``

er..shouldn`t that be ``media maulvis``...? :-)

Zahra #84 Let me put it this way - the range of services provided in the shadows of the badshahi masjid goes beyond that provided at the bolshoi theater.

Why can’t people take this article lightly?

I love Indian Music. Movies are good…I only have Indian channels on my dish and I find Pakistani channels boring and non-entertaining.
My only complaint is that Indians don’t speak good Urdu. They speak a cruder version and I wish someone could teach them Urdu before they get on the TV or Movies.
I love the new version of the song Kanta lagaa... hi lagaa… oh! Man she can do things with her hiney.
I have some great memories with this song…
Mera pia gaya rongoon,
kiya hai whaan say telephone,
tumahi yaad satati hai,
jai main aag lagati hai.

..and love the new version...

Peolple talk about Mujra and Hira Mandi and the Napier Road but there was a time when the Hyderabad Sindh Kotha/Chuckla had the best dancers in whole Pakistan… Some famous actresses were dancers there and I have the privilege of watching some when I was barely eighteen. But, Mujra came to Pakistan via the Urdu speaking as there was no Mujra before partition in any Pakistani cities except may be in Lahore.

Hyderand Kotha was later taken over by Swati and Pathan girls and they were famous for saying “jaldi karo naa BHAI” and destroyed the whole scene.

Napier Road Karachi was still good in the early 80s but then the Islam set in and all dancers turned Islam pasand and started offering Namaz for Mujra to paying customers…(namaz has certain good angles) Some of my friends reported that girls often would cover their face and body for the mullah audience…. What a pity...
So Indians are good and let every one watch them… I wish they improve their Urdu skills.

Naqash Bandi
qawali again is not a Pakistani tradition it was brought to Pakistan by People from Ajmer Sharif…(I don`t know why Ajmer is ``Sharif``, is Delhi Kamini any thoughts anyone?)

hamidm #83 i am glad you are concernced about bringing ``joy`` to those joyless men who go to mujras. that is not what i am talking about, nor is their well-being exactly a high priority item in my view.

i am talking about these ``courtesans`` you mention: do you think any young girl with any choices available to her would actually aspire to become a ``courtesan`` where (at best) she would be dancing to bring joy to some fat lump of betel-leaf chewing flesh? and (when not at best, which is more usual) provide additional services to these creatures. even the movie ``umrao jan ada`` which glorifies the mujra shows umrao jan being kidnapped from her home and sold into prostitution.

He alive and kicking!
I was missing Salim Chauhan

Shaista bibi

Why don`t you put this bickering to rest by posting a list of entertainment programming that you will allow on Pakistani television.

#90

I would prefer that all Pakistani channels should be leased to Indians for better programming...TV and movies are for entertainment and Pakistanis are begining to forget what entertainment is...this article reflects that without any doubt.

Culture and civilizations are fragile and get broken often. New cultural icons emerge and old civilizations lose relevance. The cultural influences people are worried about now may not be there 10-20 years down the line...

All they have to do is teach Indians some Urdu and Pakistanis would love them…well they like them already…

tahmed,

..... like i said, ``culture is what it is, and you can`t go about engineering it to suit your personal prejudices, hang-ups, idiosyncracies, fears, misguided morality, bigotry and religious idiocy`` ........... and your concern for the artistes of heera mandi is misplaced ........... many of them graduate to become big time film stars and others marry feudal lords and captains of industry to live in the lap of luxury ............. i am talking about those who have their fine establishments on main street and not in the back alleys ...... my favourite was the girl who starred in ``stop for tops`` commercials and later did the movie ``road to swat`` ............. remember?

hp,

....... people of my father`s generation tell me that lahore had the finest night-life in all of pre-partition india .......... it was also fine (except for the ten days of muharram) in the seventies, before the discovery of wahabi islam ...............

Re: # 91

hp,

.......... i agree .... pakistan should get out of the tv entertaiment business before they kill someone by boring them to death ........... let the indians do it because they are much better at it - we should stick to producing talk shows to keep the mullahs and politicians off the streets .........

Ranjit #66: ``In Dish satellite, there is a channel called TV Asia and they have a program - Abhi to Main Jawaan Hoon, which is broadcasted by one, Shiraz Sharif in New Jersey. This program shows old hindi movie songs tied together by a theme for an hour. It is one of the best programs in TV and I watch it regularly.``

I subsribed to `Dish` less than a year ago. Mt primry aversion to Hindi movies is their long meandering story line, that goes on and on, something like Pandit tahmed32`s posts. However the programme you mentioned is my favorite also.

Shiraz Sharif is a good host, but sometimes he makes mistakes also in mentioning the music directors. He sometimes confuses Naushad with Shankar Jaikisan or vice versa, but otherwise his knowledge of the Bombay scene is pretty good. I recently learnt that he helped Amin Sayani of Binaca geet Mala at Radio Ceylone.

Shaista JI,
Namastey. I agree with you on the song `Aati kaya Khandala`. The Bombayiya hindi is an insult to any language. I saw the song on a song DVD without the story line contest.

Mr. Khan grinding and jerking his pelvis gave me the impression that Khandala was something obscene, until my Sirdarni explained to me that it was a hill station near Bombay. It is indeed a very scary song for Paki children to watch and sing. They are all liable to grow uo into Hamidm2s and believe me no sane person wants that. Not even Indians wish that upon their worst enemies.

Other than that, Shaista ji, take it Ahista.

Re: # 87

``I don`t know why Ajmer is ``Sharif``, is Delhi Kamini any thoughts anyone?) ``

I think for the same reasons that Nawaz was sharif and mushy, a kamina :)

mannyd

Hope no Hyderabadis would be reading this, but if there a language that is an insult to one`s ears it is the Deccani :)

---

HP

Were it not for its script, Urdu would rule in India. As things stand, `good` urdu would become a thing of the past.

Re: # 87

``I don`t know why Ajmer is ``Sharif``, is Delhi Kamini any thoughts anyone?``

no serious note, ajmer is home to a revered aulia, chisti.