Online Discussion

Stop telling Sharmeens and Adigas to photoshop reality

                                                                                                                  -Moni Mohsin

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s Academy Award for her documentary, A Girl in the River, has been much celebrated at home. Deservedly so.

Like her first Oscar-winning documentary, Saving Face, which spotlit the horror of acid attacks, this too is a visceral, urgent piece of filmmaking. But alongside the jubilation is another view, persistent and petty, that is inevitably voiced at such occasions. Widely shared by politicians, journalists, religious leaders, in short ‘patriots’ of all stripes, this opinion has it that Sharmeen has done a grave disservice to her country by highlighting the misery of ordinary Pakistanis to further her own career. Hence the Twitter trend: DisownSharmeen.

Why, he asked, ‘had Adiga chosen not to write about the so many nice, nice things that are happening in India?’ The same critique was also trotted out when Danny Boyle’s film, Slumdog Millionaire, won big at the Oscars. Or when Malala won the Nobel Prize. Or Sharmeen her first Oscar. Really, why can’t all these people just photoshop our reality? Why can’t they hide our flaws and emphasize our virtues so we can win the respect and admiration of western societies? (Many ‘concerned citizens’ in Pakistan ask why Sharmeen didn’t make a film about that tireless humanitarian, Edhi, or better still, about the victims of drone strikes, cataloguing American injustice, rather than our own.)

Truth wins: The buzz around Sharmeen’s film has prompted Nawaz Sharif to say that the practice of honour killings in Pakistan should come to an end.

Cultural Studies:

Prime duty of any literary writer is to present real and true picture of his/her Nation. Writers have ‘Freedom of expression’ as well. Thus they are free to portray the real image of country. But so called protector of culture may not like that their Nation and culture are reveled in black light in front of world. They are ‘Too sentimental’ and ‘Orthodox’ regarding their culture. Therefore Indian Government banned the documentary made on “Nirbhaya Gang Rape”. They said that because of this our culture will be distorted and we will not have more foreign tourist. In the same way ‘A Girl in the River’ was not accepted by wide range of people because they consider themselves as guard of culture. They cannot allow the story speaking harsh reality of Nation.

‘Padmavat’ movie also banned in several states of India. Because it speaks about dark side of Indian culture. Therefore many people tried to restrict the film.

Postcolonialism:

People are of the opinion that writer should write good about their nation, they must sing only the glory of nation. In this way we are going away from reality. It is general belief of people that white people give awards to third world country because they are very happy to see the bad image of once colonized country. But it is not so. T.S Eliot portrayed harsh reality about his country in the poem ‘The Waste Land’. And also it won many award from his country. Thus it is quite false belief that foreign countries are giving awards only for that reason. Or writers are writing only for awards from white people.

Of course western interest can be narrow in its focus and agenda driven. But whose is not? Instead of frothing with self-righteous rage or manufacturing hysterical conspiracy theories to justify other people’s selective interest or indifference, we would be better served to confidently define our own priorities. We have to fight our battles, celebrate our heroes and tell our stories truthfully.

And if we find that these stories shame us, then we must do something about them. But for those of us still fixated on the ‘image’ issue, it’s quite simple really: you want better PR? Improve the product.