Why Queen must be banned in Pakistani cinemas

By
The Horizontal Column
-
38
250

It will damage the society and spoil our women

 

This is an urgent plea to all cinemagoers in Lahore: please do not watch the Kangana Ranaut starrer Bollywood movie Queen. By the time you read this, most cinemas must have already taken it down, considering it was released two weeks ago. However, I believe it should never have been released in Pakistan and I am surprised that it was given the green signal by the censor board.

On the face of things, there is nothing in Queen that would result in it failing the censor board’s test. And whatever there was – a kiss or two, a bit of vulgarity here and there – was already censored by the board. However what needed to be banned, what really should have been censored, didn’t manage to grab the censor board’s attention.

Vikas Bahl’s Queen contains elements and scenes that can have a disastrous effect on Pakistanis, and it is very irresponsible of those sitting in the censor board to ignore all these things and instead just focus on kissing scenes. The rest of the movie can do significantly more damage than those few vulgar scenes.

Queen showcases the transformation of what really was the perfect South Asian girl into her unrecognisable form. A woman whose universe centred around her wedding; the marriage; would-be husband; family’s needs, wants and desires, all of a sudden starts to focus on herself. Teaching a Pakistani woman – or a South Asian woman, for that matter – that she can focus on her own self, think about her own life, her own aspirations, and that none of this is actually a bad thing, can prove to be very very dangerous.

For ages we have been producing women of a particular brand. They are taught certain things, told to act in a particular way, expected to mould their life according to a set of rules, all of which is designed to maintain their men’s stranglehold over them. Our women are told what is good for their man, best for their family regardless of what she thinks about it, is all that matters. Any woman defying these norms is a bad, bad woman and is slammed as such.

Queen1

Now, even though many other movies and shows have endeavoured to put these evil thoughts in our women’s heads, and have had their respective successes as well, the path taken by Queen is unprecedented and hence prodigiously more menacing. The almost blasphemous feministic material is all over the movie, without ever presenting itself as such.

Why Queen is extremely dangerous is because it does not have the self-importance of your average “feminism” movie. It does not come with the pretext that it will change the universe; it does not clamour about giving the South Asian women a strong, powerful message. And hence, through its subtleties and simplicity it manages to do exactly that. Queen manifests the profoundness of simplicity. This makes it so much more dangerous for a Pakistani man than any feministic nonsense in the world.

Almost every Pakistani woman can relate to Rani (the character Kangana Ranaut plays), and by the time the movie finishes, a lot of them would be asking those questions that the society has been doing its best to shield parry away from them. Queen makes the women ask if the societal norms are right. It makes them perceive their lives and their own selves differently. She is a different woman coming out of the cinema – different in a very independent, very self-confident way. Every Pakistani woman would start to, or want to, see a reflection of Rani inside her own self. And once that happens, all the societal handicaps that our women are bestowed with would be jeopardised.

It’s solely the censor board’s responsibility if Pakistan starts producing independent women.

I would like to request all the readers to make sure that the women in their houses do not end up watching Queen. All the cinemas that are still playing the movie should be permanently closed for the damage they are causing our society and all DVD shops should be raided to ensure that the pirated versions of the movie are not sold either. This is in the best interest of this country.

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38 COMMENTS

  1. I think the writer of this post needs to grow up ! Look to hidden truth than mere superficial truth. The article is more to show anti India than the content. Good luck and pl do continue writing these post so truth be hidden.

  2. The writer should have a good look into his image for women. And stop being sexist. Each individual in this world has the right to live life in their own way & standards. Stop judging individuals judge yourself. I’m still wondering how can a national daily even print such articles.

      • Wow ur so right. Its satirical and ironic. Clearly it was meant for women. Y use this kinda writing. To show the world how women are oppressed ppl in the world think Islam oppresses Women. They dont know that nt Islam but men and culture oppress women. Ha!!! very funny. Get a life. And ur nt the all wise and sensible one. Allah SWT is.

  3. This writer really needs to start living in the current times and take a second and closer look at his ideals. Women are are not owned by men and each woman has the right to live her life however she wants, to fulfill her own dreams and ambitions. Please take down this article immediately. It is shameful to think that people still cannot think of women as individuals, as humans.

  4. Dear commentators, I think you're missing the satire in this article. It's actually well-written and is supposed to be a slap on the faces of male chauvinistic south Asian societies. More power to women and more films like Queen please.

    • seriously, every one can read english and not understand. I’m a male from Pakistan and I could immediately tell this was all written in sarcasm trying to send a message about the problems of women here and actually PRAISING the message of queen. sheesh cmon guys

      • Yes. Unfortunately, it's a problem with all of us South Asians… we've become so angry and restless that we start criticizing issues and opinions just by observing the surface without delving deeper to try and understand the underlying reason, logic, perspective, and reality. If we learn to be more patient, non-judgmental, and empathetic towards others our region will be a much better place to live.

  5. the writer has got it all wrong…the girl was still respectful to the guy and his family…she came back to her parents because the only lesson she learnt was that she doesnt need a man to complete her…whats wrong with that?
    She rejected a man who wanted to marry her when she was more outgoing and less naive! I resent the vulgar part in the movie and its nice to hear that its censored in pakistan ..its funny you think that a movie like this will influence our women…theres much more worse going around in our country. We being muslims shouldnt be watching hindi movies in the first place…so why do we want to watch them and then want to change them…its not meant for us any ways!

  6. I am sorry you have some deep troubling childhood issues with women. I am sorry your mother left you. She probably couldn’t tolerate the amount of stupidity that oozes out of you. I am deeply sorry!

  7. ‘For ages we have been producing women of particular brand’. Lol. It is the women who, oh so painfully, produce downgraded thinkers like you. It is entirely your opinion if you did not enjoy the movie, but to talk about women in such a degraded context is just vile and sickening. Just one advice to give. Sit in a time machine and arrive at 2014. Peace.

  9. GOD PEOPLE!! THIS IS SATIRE. SARCASM ANYONE?
    She's taunting the beliefs here in Pakistan regarding women. She's conveying a very important message. Stop taking everything literal. Sheesh.

  10. Honestly, I am of the opinion that a society needs mix of both, Women who just care for the family, live under man's command etc, and outgoing women who think for themselves first etc.
    What i agree with is that if a woman wants to live her life her own way she shouldn't be stopped or pressed upon, similarly, If a woman likes to live a household life, be selfless, then she shouldn't be looked down upon or targeted as oppressed. This balance is very critical for the society.

    Same is for men too – balance in both directions. We need some men who leave their dreams of becoming a car racer, travelling etc. to take a job care for their wife and kids. and we also need men who follow their dreams only 🙂

  12. Lol if people understood sarcasm DAWN would be selling newspapers for 250 instead of 25 because there would be handful of subscribers lol 😛 Haad hoti hai yaar. lol @tanishha :writer ka childhood hi badnaam kar diye 😛 😛 haha

  13. THAT is exactly why the world laughs in our face! People here won't recognise a joke even when it is staring them in the face! SATIRE PEOPLE! IT' S SARCASM. To PT, the satire pieces you publish are awesome but you should still stop publishing them because they are so wasted on most of your intellectual readers.

  15. I would say…what a waste of time by dawn news to post this on FB. The writer has no idea what he or she is talking about. There’s no clarity of idea to depict a perfect woman. I believe forget about this movie…what about the soap operas on our national channels who are totally disgraceful and unmeaningful.
    Dawn media reporter need to edit this kind of post rather than just post it sttaight away on social media. I cam feel sorry for the writer as it doesn’t make any sense what is written.

  17. a woman who thinks for herself or about herself is a bad bad woman??
    seriously??
    that doesn't even make any sense.. sheesshhh..!!

  18. Well written article it’s just that some people require broad headline that this article is a piece of satire…… I was one told that speak according to audience and it seems your audience is not naunced enough to grasp it

  22. it is a sick article, even if it was meant to be sarcastic…
    it is not that the reader does not understand satire…but if your audience could not pick your idea it means you have expressed so lowly…
    satire is not easy to play with.

  25. i agree with a few commenters, playing with sarcasm is a hard thing and should be dealt with care, anyone reading few few lines gets the idea that the writer is serious. sarcasm should really speak for itself.

  30. I had to read comments to realize that it's sarcasm. But one can't blame folks for missing it. With Pakistanis you can't be sure of anything.

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