I promise that soon enough I will get back to real posts. I have so much to say but sooooo little time. May is super crazy month for me. SUPER CRAZY BUSY. So until then, to appease myself and to ease my own guilt every time I see that same "May 12th, 2008" on my latest post, I will post another of my favourite Bollywood songs.
I find this song so haunting and beautiful. This one is from a movie which was a the first of its kind depicting a cross border love story between a Pakistani woman and Indian man. The movie was enjoyable. However, I hated the way they showed Pakistanis. It wasn't anything negative, just inaccurate. What Punjabi Pakistani does the whole adab thing? NONE!! What Pakistani Punjabi man wears pajama-kurta? NONE!! What Pakistani Punjabi woman wears the gharara? NONE!! Not in everyday life at least. Seriously! They depicted us Punjabi Pakistani Muslims like their own Muslims from, like, Lucknow or something. Ugh! Not that there is anything wrong with their culture, but our culture is different. Just because we are desi Muslims does not mean we are all the same. Ohhh...I should do a critical analysis of Muslims in Veer-Zaara. Add to my long list of critiques. Anyhow, at least we weren't portrayed as pure evil like in some other Bollywood films. This film came out when India and Pakistan were just starting to this latest bout of good relations. Personally I think the fact that this film was a hit means that the people of the sub-continent perhaps are not so hostile to each other.
Song: Tere Liye
Film: Veer-Zaara (2004) (If you have not seen this film and plan to see it, do not click on the link. Desi people cannot keep a secret.)
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2 comments:
I really like this song. The movie was good too, but I agree with you about their depiction of Pakistanis. You would think Indian filmmakers and actors would know more about us, but I guess not, lol.
I remember Pakistan and India were playing cricket against each other at this time too. It was to celebrate the positive relations they were building. Overall, I enjoyed the movie, but there were some things that bothered me. I got the feeling that India was the portrayed as the "superior" country, especially at the end where they made a HUGE deal of him coming back to India. It was so dramatic and epic. Do we ever see the girl missing Pakistan?
Oh I know what you mean. That annoyed me too. I mean she moved to India after she thought he had died. And then at the end she stayed in India. He was in Pakistan unwillingly whereas she chose India over Pakistan. Oh, I could do a whole critical analysis of the India supremacy of this film. There was a subtle anti-Pakistan thing going on in this film for sure.
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