In November 2006 the Urdu service of the the British Broadcasting Corporation
(BBC) commissioned a series of films under the Baat to Karni Padegi (We will
have to talk) series on issues of sexuality in Pakistan. Three of the films from
the series are reviewed here. Please note that the review includes spoilers. All
the films are in Urdu.
Mardangi Tere Kai Roop (Many Faces of Masculinity)
Fareeda Batool /6 mins
In general Pakistani men are more empowered and have
greater mobility in terms of access to services and information compared to
their female counterparts, be it access to schooling, health care or general
recreation including commercial and casual sexual. There is enough data to show
that a large proportion of men do engage in extra marital sex, but when it comes
to an open discussion and acceptance of it they just plainly deny its existence
in our society.
There is a huge market for mujras (a style of dance) and
sexually explicit stage shows with crude dialogues, dances and lots of skin, all
performed for male audiences. Women are objectified in these stage plays and in
the mujras they dance to sexually explicit songs to the gratification of male
fantasies. In some instances these dances form a strip show that is adapted to
the local culture. These shows which are also marketed through CDs and DVDs are
produced by men for the benefit of an all male audience and are marketed through
the video shops and internet cafes where they are in demand like hot cakes.
Though the men appear free in seeking to feed their sexual fantasies through
these shows and plays, they do not have the courage to talk about their sexual
desires openly.
Mardangi Tere Kai Roop is a documentary with brave and clever
camera work and dialogues. The production team was able to interview and shoot
the men who frequent these net cafes/shows and the men who work behind the
scenes for these shows. One producer of the videos proudly told the interviewers
about his innovative idea of bringing in males with the females to add extra
excitement which turned out to be really successful. A net cafe owner told the
interviewer that he was losing business in the initial phase, but since the day
he introduced the idea of showing sexy films in the cafes, his clientele
increased substantially. They felt that the strict gender segregation in
Pakistan leads to such a high level of demand for these kinds of videos.
Darvaze
(Doors)
Sharjeel Baoch / 6 mins
This film is a tale about the coming of age of a
child who has grown up observing the contradictions of character in his elders.
The film focusses on sexual behaviour. In a country where sex and sexuality do
not exist outside the bedroom of a married couple and where sex education is
considered useless and a Western imposition, the film draws attention to the
fact that the young people are left basically on their own to learn from
pornographic movies, peers and elders. The idea of doors has been used as a
metaphor to symbolise the different thresholds of perception as one gains
experience in life with age.
The opening shot shows a close up of an adolescent
boy who invites the camera to follow him towards a window where he watches the
housemaid, mopping the floor while surfing television channels. The camera stops
at her cleavage which is the focus of the boy’s gaze as well. At the point when
she stops at the song of her choice, the audience can see the legs of a man
coming out of the bathroom with a towel tied around his belly. There is a clear
sexual tension between him and the maid and there is very little to guess when
we see – through a keyhole – the maid following the man, their feet touching and
the towel dropping. Suddenly, there is a loud bang on the door and it appears
that the neighbours are trying to break into the house. But the next scene shows
that it was in another apartment. The same man, now dressed, walks towards the
mob banging frantically at the door. Once the door is opened you get to know
that this empty flat was being used by a young couple for their sexual
escapades. The couple is seriously rebuked for their ‘morally loose’ ways and
for ‘corrupting’ the neighbourhood, the man who was with the maid has the
loudest voice and suggests sending the couple to the police. As they leave the
flat, he notices the boy (who appears to be his son) looking out from his window
and admonishes him to get back to his studies. This is a classic film about
double standards in our society and leaves us with uneasy questions about what
children would learn after observing their elders’ public and private behaviour.
Ek Pakistani Love Story (A Pakistani Love Story) Maheen Zia /4 mins
This is a love story of a college girl who is involved with a married
businessman. They are shown to be playing the ‘love of convenience’ as the man
needs sex without strings attached and the girl needs favours in the form of
gifts and a good time. The film opens with a shot of a window and the rising
smoke from a burning cigarette. The background sound indicates a phone call
which appears to be from the male character’s office. He seems to be out of the
office on the pretext of some work. Then in the next few minutes, the dialogue
with the girl tells us that the she is the beautiful college girl who is going
out with him for gifts and parties. There are no characters on screen but the
voices and the cigarette fumes with the moving curtain provide a natural
interface.
The lack of a ‘human face’ also allows the filmmaker to get away with the
problem of showing a man and a young woman in intimate positions, which
otherwise may not be approved by the censor board and the cultural sensibilities
prevailing in Pakistan. The dialogues are cleverly written to show a new trend
of a ‘sugar daddy’ kind of relationship that is increasing in our society. The
introduction of the movie says that ‘that love is not a new or unique emotion
but the way it is expressed changes over time’.
This movie is a commentary on the commercialisation of love in our society. This
new façade of love looks like ‘commercial sex,’ on the surface but since the
sexual act is exchanged for monetary gifts, and the price is not negotiated in a
businesslike manner, it enjoys more legitimacy and is equated with ‘love’.
Because extra marital sex is illegal according to the Sharia Law of Pakistan and
society in general does not approve of casual relationships, labelling it as a
love package at least gives some air of legitimacy to the relationship. The film
neither condones nor condemns the behaviour, but shows how this new form of love
allows for sexual adventures for men who can afford this financially and women
who can afford it socially.
Azeema Faizunissa is a doctoral student in the department of Sociology
at the University of Hawaii with a Fellowship from the East West Center, Hawaii,
USA. The main focus of her dissertation is the youth of Pakistan as a potential
for economic and social development. She is particularly interested in the
intersections of health outcomes with poverty (class), gender and the interplay
of the issue of access to services.
