An Oral History Project of Women Working in Television Industry of Pakistan
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Women in Television; an Oral History Project of Women Working In Television Industry of Pakistan Sadia Mahmood* Fouzia Naz** ABSTRACT This paper looks at oral histories from notable female producers, directors, writers and actors from the Pakistan television industry, particularly those involved in creating television drama serials. These oral histories are centered around their experiences and perspectives of events that have been recorded in books about the Pakistani television industry, but the point of this study in particular is to put forward personalized perspectives that narrated on a detailed level the way that the larger political contexts. The oral histories have highlighted multiple issues and were able to provide rich detail and anecdotes about the way power structures, legislation, state and censorship affects the day to day operations and logistics of acting, producing, directing and writing. Key words: Television, Drama, Oral Histories, Censorship. *Assistant Professor, Department of Mass Communication, University of Karachi **Assistant Professor, Department of Mass communication, University of Karachi 21 Jhss, Vol. 6, No. 2 , July to December, 2015 Introduction There are multiple ways of reading and understanding representations of the past. Traditionally, official archival documents are the way historians put together narratives about past events. Furthermore, history is often seen as grand and imperial; grounded histories are usually ignored. This paper attempts to unearth accounts of such grounded histories. In particular, this paper examines one such kind of alternative history. This paper looks at oral histories from notable female producers, directors, writers and actors from the Pakistan television industry, particularly those involved in creating television drama serials. These oral histories are centered around their experiences and perspectives of events that have been recorded in books about the Pakistani television industry, but the point of this study in particular is to put forward personalized perspectives that narrated on a detailed level the way that the larger political contexts. Choosing to study women’s accounts was important because it is important to understand marginalized perspectives since they reveal the most nuanced understandings of how larger histories actually happened on a mundane level by virtue of their marginalization. The main research question for this study is as follows: In what ways have women television professionals experienced working within the television industry in Pakistan? This question lends itself to smaller sub-questions: 1. What were these women’s observations on the way the television industry functioned in terms of employment? 2. How did they perceive shifts in official work policy with every new government that came in? 3. Are there differences in the drama serials aired during the PTV era as opposed to the private channels’ era? 4. What are their opinions on the way women were represented? 5. What obstacles did they face in their careers? Methodology The method used for this study was oral accounts of what it was like to work in PTV. Since the aim of this study is to look at more social accounts of the way PTV was run, this was the most prudent method. Oral accounts of histories help us to shift focus away from overarching narratives about the larger picture, which often erases narratives and experiences of marginalized 22 Women in Television; an Oral History Project of Women Working In Television Industry of Pakistan groups1. Furthermore, oral history is a better way to extract meaning from the past. Official histories are able to outline the larger mainstream events, but oral histories offer accounts that draw insight and a cohesive understanding of the undercurrents surrounding those events2. More specifically, oral history has been a useful tool in the reclaiming of women’s history, especially as a challenge to mainstream accounts of history that ignore cultural and political links that are often ignored3. Barbara Freeman’s book on Canadian women in the media and their rights is one such example of how the collection of oral histories from the women working in magazines and other forms of media demonstrates the nature of media content creation4. This study features nine women who played some sort of role in the TV drama serial industry in Pakistan. They are: 1. Ayesha Khan - Actor 2. Fehmida Nasreen – Producer and Director 3. Haseena Moin – Playwright, Screenwriter and Dramatist 4. Marina Khan – Actor, TV Presenter, Director and Producer 5. Misbah Khalid – Director and Producer 6. Noor ul Huda Shah – Producer and Writer 7. Riffat Humayun – Writer, Director and Producer 8. Rubina Ashraf – Actor, Producer and Director 9. Sania Saeed – Actor, Host, Theatre Artist and Director. Context The appearance of PTV created a rush of new technological media stimulation in Pakistan. However, since its beginning, PTV was firmly run by the administrations of the time. Every time the government changed, so did the structure and substance of this medium. Understanding the capability of this medium as the most dominant means to create narratives made it a key tool of the State. It was known to be the mouth organ of the government. The 1 Paul Thompson, “The Voice of the Past: Oral History,” The Oral History Reader, ed. Robert Perks and Alistair Thomson (London: Routledge, 1998), 21-28. 2 Allesandro Portelli, “What Makes Oral History Different,” The Oral History Reader, ed. Robert Perks and Alistair Thomson (London: Routledge, 1998), 63-74. 3 Joan Sangster, “Telling our stories: feminist debates and the use of oral history,” Women’s History Review 3 no. 1 (1994): 5-28, DOI: 10.1080/09612029400200046. 4 Barbara M. Freeman, Beyond Bylines: Media Worker’s and Women’s Rights in Canada (Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2011.p 31 23 Jhss, Vol. 6, No. 2 , July to December, 2015 control on PTV was not only practiced on the content but rather likewise on its workers. The history of PTV is illustrates how State power interacted with media personnel and created a clear power dynamic. With each new political setup set up PTV would experience radical structural changes which were apparent with immediate impact. It was unexpected and to a degree comic. This applied to all the genres of content being screened. Field Marshal Ayub Khan The proliferation of TV in Pakistan was imagined and actualized in General Ayub's period. Since its beginning it was apparent that the TV will be under direct control of the administration arrangements. In his inaugural speech he stated, “Government will have major control, a major share in whatever form the new corporation takes, and government will have the main say in the policy of programs and in projecting views and ideas and so on.”5 The enlisting and terminating of TV staff were additionally subject to the different preferences of the higher administration. Amid the debut occasion in Rawalpindi, the president was made to sit on a seat which was freshly painted. The president sat on it and the wet paint stained his suit. Later, the president went in to assess the TV station and found a flock of birds nesting. The PTV director Z.A Bukhari's was terminated soon after6. By the end of Ayub’s era, PTV was established as a government mouthpiece that was used by the administration to broadcast the achievements of the state to the point of falsehood. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Under Bhutto’s government, there were hopes that the socialist PPP would loosen the reins on PTV, but it was proven false. At this point, the independence of Bangladesh was a huge loss for the government, especially since many blamed Bhutto himself for starting the war. This conflict meant that PTV was still strictly monitored and it was made sure that any hint of anti-state sentiment was suppressed. 5 Dawn Newspaper, URL: https://www.dawn.com/news/1147037. accessed on 02 Jan 2012 6 Akhtar Waqar Azeem, Hum Bhi Wahin Mojood They. (Lahore: Sang-e-Meel Publications, 2014) 24 Women in Television; an Oral History Project of Women Working In Television Industry of Pakistan A drama competition was held in 1973, and the five PTV stations were asked to send submissions. Karachi’s station submitted a play called “Sangsaar” written by Haseena Moin. Although the play was the winner of the competition according to the judges, the Director Program Agha Nasir was summoned by the higher authorities and reprimanded about the critique of current political affairs in the play. After this event, the award was given to some other play7. There are some more incidents that illustrate how even the slightest errors that accept the leaders of the time had very serious repercussions for the employees and directors of PTV. Once Bhutto was giving a speech and during recording process some technical fault arose due to which Bhutto got angry at the technical workers. After the recording is over a government officer was left to supervise the editing of the speech to make sure that the part where Bhutto got angry was completely deleted8. Another incident was the sign that PTV used to show with said ‘Intizaar Farmaaye’. Once, a comic was made out of the sign and depicted a man who is sitting under a tap waiting for water. This was interpreted to be a joke about the current water shortage. As a consequence, Issaq Ansari the director was suspended immediately9. General Zia-ul-Haq It was during General Zia Ul Haq’s Martial Law that PTV was used most obviously as a propaganda tool. Zia did not allow any representation of Bhutto, and instead made sure that his speech on 5th July 1977 was aired live. In the coming times PTV faced the same situation where General Zia used this medium over and over again for his propaganda: “….the use of defamation was raised to be a fine art during the regime of the late General Zia-ul-Haq.