First it was Saas Bahu story, now it is a non-traditional love story. No matter how you put it we as Pakistanis are being bombarded by foreign media and culture. Our culture is facing immense and increasing pressure to either get with the program or get out of the system. Yes it is true, in this global village we are part of a world economy and be it our products or services or entertainment we must compete. But unfortunately being part of the global village all the countries in the world tend to keep their values and culture intact and in fact they try to impose and expand it to others. On the other hand we are not only losing our own culture but adapting to a mix culture of unknown land and unknown consequences.
Now it may seem that I represent an extremist nationalist point of view that says no to Indian Dramas and Films because apparently India is our sole and born enemy, but in fact the sect of society I represent is more of a moderate Pakistan. Yes I watch all such programs but how many of educated people like me have the opinion to watch the program and at the same time maintain our own culture. If I watch Indian dramas I do not go around talking in Hindi and imitating Hindu wedding culture into ours. I watch it for entertainment purposes only and sometimes even to make fun of the rituals and screenplay of drama by itself, I mean seriously how many women in India or anywhere in the world go to bed dressed like a bride with all their jewelry on them and I am may not know much about Indian culture but I don’t think there are a lot of people getting or giving divorce day in and day out of their lives after all there are values and culture in each and every society.
The point to make out of all this is that we were, we are and we will always be in a cultural war run by TV channels and news channel all across the board. We have to take a stand as Pakistanis and Muslims and decide for ourselves as to the extent of our participation in this war. Unfortunately instead of proactively participating in this war and sending our own troops in we have retaliated and are enjoying the fruits of war which we think the enemy left behind. But in fact enemy left this for us so we forget our own values and culture. We have seen numerous talk shows and discussions in past few weeks about the influx of Urdu dubbed dramas imported by local channels from foreign countries like Turkey or Spain. The problem isn’t that our public is being exposed to such dramas, but issue is our illiterate public is being exposed to such culture in their language and they are not able to make a decision on their own as to whether to follow this or condemn this situation. It is human nature, be it man or women to be attracted to opposite sex specially when portrayed so glamorously there is no Muslim or Hindu or Christian value in it, it is a human nature instilled in every human being by God, Allah, Jesus etc. So if our pubic is exposed to such shows shouldn’t at least our channels, owner of media groups, government and even the educated class take a notice of this and ensure that only people who really understand what’s the purpose and origin behind these shows be exposed to it and not the general public. Majority of our population lives in rural areas, a vast majority doesn’t even know how to read or write, a vast majority probably has never been outside their village but when they are exposed to this vulgarity on Pakistani air waves they may generate an opinion in both extremes. One could be their use of this culture in personal lives, which causes our value system to collapse, other could be to come out violently against these shows and cause massive destruction because we know how getting these illiterate people exposed to face book and YouTube has turned out. Making an intentional issue out of nothing is part of our culture. Not condemning the acts by itself but our people don’t understand that at the end of the day its not YouTube or Face book that is uploading contents it’s the people and denying such services will cause our people and youth to suffer and nothing more. Getting back to the point of international entertainment being portrayed as Pakistani on our TV channels, it is imperative to know that these dramas appear in our Prime Time and cause families, children, youths and adults to be ashamed of watching such things together. Have we reached a point that we are so numb to our culture and values that we will disregard our rich history and values for an hour of entertainment?
