Latest news with #JeetoPakistan
Express Tribune
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Nobody's content with the 'content'
Recently, Fahad Mustafa's old comments against family vlogging and the overuse of the word 'content' resurfaced online and caused an uproar among Tiktokers and YouTubers. "'Content' is the most overrated word in this country. There is no such thing as content. Everyone is selling their families. They haven't even left graveyards alone. They go to their mother's grave, and record themselves saying I'm missing my mother, please pray for her. What kind of 'content' is this?" Mustafa had said when asked about sharing the screen with digital content creators during a TV appearance. "I can tell a good or a bad story. But I can't sell my family. I can't sell myself. If you go on a film or TV shoot, it takes time to do this. They can't understand that this takes us 8 to 10 hours since they live in a 10-second world." While the comment offended the Instagram, TikTok and YouTube content creators especially Rajab Butt, as Ricky Gervais says, "Just because you're offended doesn't mean you're right." This back-and-forth has sparked a debate between the traditional media vs digital 'content'. But it's not a clash between Mustafa and Butt. The actor didn't even mention the YouTuber by name. The scope of this is much bigger than a forced, illogical personal feud. Content overload What Mustafa spoke about is a worldwide concern of artists in the face of countless challenges faced today. Be it AI coming in as a wrecking ball to destroy authentic human expression, shorter attention spans engineered over the last decade by social media overconsumption or the declining understanding of storytelling and art due to the aforementioned issues, there are already more than enough battles artists today are fighting to preserve their chosen media and forms of expression. This is not to defend shows like Mustafa's Jeeto Pakistan, which feed into the same Black Mirror-esque humiliation-in-exchange-of-gifts convention. But Mustafa has created work with a certain artistic integrity in film and TV both, namely Actor in Law and Kabhi Main Kabhi Tum. However, phone cameras and social media platforms combined today have created an illusion that everyone is an artist, actor, or filmmaker. While the democratisation of the media has had numerous benefits, and this is certainly not an issue of gatekeeping, talking into a camera and showing what you cooked for lunch does not exactly require an abundance of talent or skill. There are many arguments to be made against family vlogging. The internet is full of stories of disgruntled and traumatized individuals forced by their in-house vlogger, be it a parent or a child, to be documented 24/7 for the sake of views. But the crux of the matter isn't even that. It's the fact that 'content' has replaced art, cinema and storytelling. The issues start with the usage of the word 'content' which piles up every artform into one giant automated factory where every creation serves the algorithm and the algorithm, in turn, feeds it back to us. It disintegrates the distinguishing characters of each art form and strips it of any value. This is why Mustafa's comments about the word ring true. If everything is content, then there's no difference between a feature film that takes years to produce and a bag of apples. This argument doesn't devalue platforms like YouTube which can be used for a myriad of purposes from education to art and music and everything in between. It criticizes the forced homogeneity of all art forms. And family vlogging is definitely not an art form. Casting influencers In recent years, even in Hollywood, we have seen a number of so-called social media influencers turn to film and TV. But none comes to mind when thinking about who has excelled and been recognized for their skills. One can bring up Logan Paul but he has succeeded in WWE and pro-wrestling is a vastly different kind of storytelling than film or TV. Films which star the influencers usually land on streaming platforms which again play by the algorithm and casting content creators becomes essentially the same as product placement or a gimmick to cater to the said individual's social media following. Earlier this year in an interview with Variety, Ethan Hawke also lamented the fact that filmmakers are being forced to cast based on Instagram following. He said, "Sometimes I'll be setting a movie up and someone will say, 'Oh, you should cast Suzie.' I'm like, 'Who is she?' 'She has 10 million followers.' I'm like, 'OK cool, has she acted before?' 'No, but ' And you're like, 'Wow, so this is going to help me get the movie made? This is crazy.' So if I don't have this public-facing [platform], I don't have a career? And if I get more followers I might get that part? What?" Just because someone is a social media 'content' creator doesn't automatically mean they'd be good at acting or creating any kind of art. The mindset involved in both is on the opposite ends of the spectrum. That ties in with another question: aren't most studio films made with the intent of profit and hence, they cast bankable actors to attract their fanbase. How is that different from casting a digital content creator? One response to that would be that the bankable actors can usually, if not always, act and do their job well. It's the same as when Pakistani media networks and digital platforms tried to make the 'Chaiwala' into the next big star after he went viral for his looks. It didn't work. As a filmmaker, there's a massive difference between working with trained professionals and amateur enthusiasts. Most of the time, the lack of understanding of the process results in a low-calibre work. But we live in a world where everyone only wants to be on screen and get those 15 minutes of fame. And if 10-second reels can do that, who would spend months and years to tell a good story?
Express Tribune
5 days ago
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Slavery disguised as freedom
Listen to article Growing up in Pakistan has its own benefits. One is devoid of a democratic society but is also free from the needs of a democratic society that has to obey lobbies inside the country and at the same time lie about people representative. We indulged in rote learning inside Pakistan but once exposed to books authored by foreign authors, it didn't take a long time to understand the truth as it was. In fact, it is quite acceptable, rather fashionable, to value foreign everything in Pakistan. Imported stuff is good stuff. In the United States, however, kids grow up with the mindset that anything American is the best. And it is not much different than kids growing up in Pakistan but as mentioned above, the Pakistani kids get to be exposed to foreign sources and realities. The American kids never get to learn that perhaps other countries make better cars, are better mathematicians, make better tools, speak multiple languages, and above all know the truth much better than them. Freedom inside the minds of Pakistani teenagers and older youth is tantamount to experiencing realities other than the ones taught to them by their society. Freedom is not to memorise the lessons in the textbook or watch Jeeto Pakistan but rather to read Tom Clancy and to watch Breaking Bad. Freedom inside the minds of the American kids is to read Tom Clancy and watch Breaking Bad. Similar consumption yet very opposite reasons. Freedom to the Americans is to continue to do what they have been doing since that is something people in other societies do not have access to. The inability to experience outside sources of information and the treatment of domestic sources as the ultimate truth has created a society where men and women grow up with the fictitious notion that as Christians they must protect Israel. That idea has somehow become an American idea, more specifically, a Christian American idea. The protection of Israel has been made to be a part of the American Christian life, a life that can only enrich itself from the sources of knowledge present at home, a life that not only is not much exposed to foreign sources but also refuses to value or acknowledge foreign sources. That recalcitrance is also part of the American belief system. The protection of Israel has been made an important part of Jewish and Christian American lives. Kids grow up with this belief system without the ability or chance of venturing into other sources of knowledge that might question this idea. Americans are so deeply entrenched into the idea of theirs as the best knowledge that even educated people who come from other countries are told how their degrees are worthless from an American standpoint. A Harvard student who strongly believes that Israel must be protected is treated above compared to an Australian, Pakistani or Indian student who knows the truth as it is instead of as it has been tailored for the American mindset. Enter Israeli lobbies inside the United States. Their work has been tremendously criticised and rightfully so. However, what many miss is the fact that the work of the lobbies in coercing politicians to be eagerly pro-Israel is made easy by having a population that while growing up in America was trained to subscribe to this idea very aggressively. It is not always the case that these lobbies coerce the politicians to go against their constituencies but rather their coercion is more about reminding the politicians about how the lobbies can stir up the sentiments among their constituencies as well as the general public, if the politicians show signs of having funny ideas such as criticising Israel for killing children or uttering words such as genocide and forgetting to utter words such as Holocaust. For Palestine to be free, the Israeli lobbies inside the United States sure must be defeated but more important is the undoing of decades of mind control to which the American people were subjected. The work must start from there.
Express Tribune
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Meme lords, not warlords
At the dinner table, when my family convenes for its routine dispatch of all things political and conspirational, though often it is hard to distinguish one from the other, I do my part by narrating my favourite memes about Pakistan and India's "upcoming" war. There is one about Sonam Bajwa hosting Jeeto Pakistan, another predicting Salman Khan's marriage at last, broadcast on a local channel's morning show, and one of the most relatable ones, jokes: "Itni garmi mein koi Walima nahi rakhta, inhon ne jang rakh di." Where once, the mere mention, forget possibility, of a Pak-India war summoned impassioned speculations on Ghazwae Hind, all the nuclear arsenal Pakistan has covertly stocked over the years, and a fragmented recall of Naseem Hijazi, Allama Iqbal, and the one nation theory, it should be puzzling that my family and I, like many others, can find fun at the alleged brink of World War III (or fifth generation warfare, if you will). "Jinnah literally put all funny people on one side and drew a line." Are Pakistanis really very funny people, unlike India and perhaps the wider global north? Unbeatable meme game? As if it weren't already a sentimental flex - you may have everything, but we have a sense of humour - it also, quite whimsically, disowns a nationalist fervour birthed by decades of political and ideological whiplash. Our memes suggest chronically low expectations of the future. "There is absolutely nothing India can threaten us with that we aren't already suffering from at the hands of our government. You'll cut off our water supply? We already don't get any. You'll kill us? Our government is already doing that. Will you capture Lahore? Thirty minutes in and you'll return it." Another X/Twitter user puts it more snappily: "Jang kerni ho tau 9 bajey se pehle karlena. 9:15 per gas chali jati hai hamari." Critics with more sobriety or patriotism may read into this accelerating meme-fication of worsening geopolitical instability as naive, wilfully ignorant, or both. Since when did war become a laughing matter? Even a quick scan of Pakistan and India's recurrent antagonisms will show that the cross-border conflict majorly plays out in rhetoric and discourse. For decades, the entertainment industries have led this front, acting as tranquilisers, softening the sharp edges of intra- and transnational narratives of state-making. At different points in history, it has meant something that a Shah Rukh Khan-starrer advocated for Project Milaap, or that Meera so easily took to the explicit romance in her Bollywood debut, Nazar (2005). Come 2025, "art has no borders" is nothing but an easy, feel-good truism. Any expectation that Indian or Pakistani actors will usher in sanity is lost between generic platitudes about humanity and unabashed warmongering couched in patriotism. And maybe that's just as well. The terminally online epoch has conceived new harbingers of sanity - the memesters. At least, on this side of the border. Anti jingoism Any discussion of Pakistan's meme game inevitably circles back to 2019, when Muhammad Sarim Akhtar, a comically disappointed cricket fan, became an internet sensation during the Pakistan v Australia match at the World Cup. His expression of frustration quickly transformed him into the globally recognised "angry Pakistani fan" or "disappointed cricket fan." Earlier that year, on February 27, Pakistan shot down two Indian aircrafts and captured Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman. His now-iconic video, where he praises the "fantastic" tea, sparked a meme that resurfaces annually: Pakistanis wishing Indians a "Happy Fantastic Tea Day," marking the country's swift response to the Balakot airstrike. These are only two instances when made-in-Pakistan memes travelled past national borders. It would demand a separate, focused piece to trace the history of memes here. Millennials are better equipped to pinpoint the moment when viral "blunders" (Meera trying to pronounce photographer) and low production media artifacts (KitKat talcum powder) collapsed into the intertextual umbrella of internet memes. But the present moment requires neither history nor any one generation's standpoint to understand the Pakistani memester, who is practically the antithesis of a jingoist. Unlike the jingoist, the memester resists genealogy and ownership. And do not be misled by its spelled singularity. A memester is not an individual, but a temporary public always in flux. The emerging cyber generations that constitute this public do not bleed green. In fact, they do not bleed at all. Is it because the rotting system we inhabit has bled us dry, and now, there is nothing left to give? Or are we every bit the snowflakes the far right makes us out to be? Perhaps we don't bleed because our generation is all about needle pricks and paper cuts. Nothing goes deeper, beyond the surface. If a jingoist is always looking back in search of a golden past, the memester is content with half-formed ideas, quick hits of recognition, and a partial futurity. This is why memes, in Pakistan, as everywhere else, answer less to generations and more to the speed of the internet itself. Of course, everywhere else the memester has become synonymous with brainrot, a hasty coinage that, as per Oxford Dictionary, refers to "the supposed deterioration of a person's mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging." But not the Pakistani memester. Not at the present moment. 'Not that deep' The memes coming out right now remember the past: "Ab tau Madam Noor Jehan bhi nahi. Jang hui tau Aima Baig k tarane sunne parein ge." Just as they are aware of common grounds: "Border pe Jhol chala dena, mohabbat jaag jayegi sabki." And they are not forgetting what makes us us: "Request to the Indian forces: Please leave your valuables in India before going to Lahore," "Ghar wale phuppo ko mananay jarahe hain kyun k unko jang ka nahi bataya." We are no longer just responding to a fantastic cup of tea or the suspension of Indus Treaty. We are stepping into a future where the war is already over. Some may call it "self-trolling" or mistake it for self-deprecation, but it is neither. When every rational response crumbles into a truism, when every sober argument is already dead on arrival, what is left except a meme? Unlike in other parts of the world, where memes are often seen as a downgrade of public discourse, for us, memes are the discourse - an alternative language built from the rubble of failed conversations and collapsing narratives. And the Pakistani memester is radical precisely because it is a paradox: belonging nowhere, refusing both nationalism and anti-nationalism, making jokes that could belong to anyone, from anywhere. The longer you scroll, the more you wonder: is it a Pakistani or an Indian joking that you can cut off water for everyone else, just make sure Hania Aamir gets a glass? Or maybe you're too busy laughing to care where one ends and the other begins. Because, as they say: it's not that deep.
Express Tribune
15-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Rajab Butt targets Fahad Mustafa once again
Listen to article Popular Pakistani YouTuber Rajab Butt has once again spoken out against actor and producer Fahad Mustafa, reigniting a public dispute that previously sparked backlash. Now residing abroad, Butt shared his latest remarks during a podcast, where he addressed his earlier comments and the controversy surrounding his perfume brand "295." During the interview, Butt reflected on the responsibilities of senior artists in the industry, stating, 'A true senior earns respect through their actions. If you expect respect, you must offer it too.' He criticised Fahad Mustafa for allegedly belittling digital creators and urged him to support rather than undermine rising talent. He added, 'When someone with millions of subscribers uploads a drama to YouTube, it's considered legitimate, but when digital creators do the same, they're accused of exploiting their families — that's a double standard.' Butt, once an admirer of Mustafa's game show Jeeto Pakistan, said his perception changed after Fahad's past remarks, stating he no longer holds the same respect for him. Offering advice, he said, 'Next time you see a junior succeed, appreciate him instead of demeaning him. That's how you earn lasting respect.' The renewed remarks have sparked conversation once again, as the divide between mainstream and digital content creators continues to grow.
