Status and statures determine how you would be treated
within bordered subcontinent.
During the first week of 2017
social media was stormed by sad mourners on the tragic death of Mr. Om Prakesh
Puri. Om Puri an Indian actor, performer and a household name, known for his
long list of acting talents in films like Aakrosh, Arohan, Ard Satya, Machis
and many more glorifies his journey to becoming a superstar. Puri’s iconic contributions
had not just earned him a good financial status but also a global recognition. Puri’s
work has earned him highest awards in India during the very recent years of his
acting career that motivated him to become a global sensation appearing in
multiple British, American and Art films.
While around the same time across
the border there has been another artist not known for grand awards, but for
some other reasons that her equally big in Pakistan. She never got any awards
not because she didn’t deserve any but mostly because we as a society don’t know
what to value and how to award it. It took us over 70 years and counting to
appreciate art, something our neighbors learnt a long time ago and they even
shared it with us, yet we somehow lost it or refused to accept it. She is
Nusrat Aara an actress known for her iconic antagonistic role in the most
famous children’s play ever called ‘Ainak wala Jin’.
I concluded that we are not just
divided by a border but against an understanding that we lack as a society.
Nusrat Aara was known for her
role as ‘Bil Batori’. Her acting gave children the worst nightmares back in 90s
when she became a household name for retaining an iconic position on TV
screens. It was next to impossible to imagine that an artist irrespective of a
meek media industry would end up living a nightmare herself. Sure it’s common for
artists to fail and just lag behind while the world sways away but her story
goes beyond that failure that we can practically rationalise.
The same day when Puri passed
away social media was mourning on his tragic demise, a newspaper in Pakistan published
an article that Nusrat Aara was found paralysed and begging on the road near
Data Sahab a shrine she was forced to call home.
Having met Puri twice on literary
festivals in Lahore that he used to attend quite often, Puri cherished love and
enjoyed stardom not just in India but also in Pakistan, where media industry is
still struggling to exist. People in Pakistan adored him too. People used to
wait in lines to meet him, demanded autographs and pictures with Puri.
Something that Aara missed out on all her life and we grew up and forgot about
her as a performer. A quarter of that appreciation might have changed her fate.
Nusrat Aara was bigger than Om Puri back in 90s but lacked status because of a
weaker media. Yet Puri was mourned and Aara was not even noticed while she
struggled to feed her stomach. With that part I think I might
say it was not just the media industry’s fault entirely who brought Nusrat to this
shrine, it was us too, since we didn’t develop good enough heart to appreciate
art without a status that everybody wants to have a link with.
Her story reminded me of ‘Andy’
from Toy Story who also grew up and left Woody and Buzz in the adeck, we could
not forgive him for doing that and till the end of the movie we kept thinking
that this boy didn’t deserve Woody and Buzz. Yet we left not a toy but a human
being who made us laugh and who completed our childhood. She is not the first
artist who is meeting a similar fate, Muna Lahori (Zakoota Jin), Babbu Baral
(actor/comedian), Murtaza Hassan aka Mastana (actor/comedian), Muhammad Farooq
aka Ladla (actor/comedian), Majid Jehangir (actor/comedian), Mahmood Khan (actor/comedian)
all died crying for help and mercy, all of them ended up on the road while
lived to making us laugh. These and many other artists who made us laugh were
not even close to earning our concern and sympathy when they needed the most.
Since appreciation is a lost cause eventually these performers were treated
like disposable bags that carried valuables to home, but when it reached home
valuables were locked and bags were discarded. Eventually even these artists
stopped begging for work and ended up begging for food and we kept appreciating
arts in bigger arenas.
But its not all dark we still
love art and we love to laugh on shows like Fifty Fifty, Feeka In Amreeka,
Ainak wala Jin and so on. They will remain in our access on Youtube but in real
life we have nothing to appreciate or own as a society. May be it is because we
have learnt to appreciate art through status and statures, that others define
for us. If an artist from a renowned last name like ‘Sethi’ would be advertised
we would instantly make it huge in Coke Studio. We would be updated with his
Twitter posts and over glorified skills, but in a much bigger surrounding we
may even mourn over a loss of an artist like Puri, and every other wall will be
sharing his post and dialogues and their concerns about his epic journey.
But our love for art pretty much
slaps us as a society who continues to ridicule their artists, performers,
athletes that we have disposed over the years all in the name of status. If
Nusrat Aara would have had a last name of Sethi, Jehangir, Hashmi, Maqsood,
Chaudhry, she would have been hosting a morning show or organizing intellectual
debates in public spheres. She would not have even been close to getting an
actual nightmare of finding herself sitting on the stairs of the shrine of Data
Ali Hajveri begging for food. This says a lot about us and our society that we
will continue to live in. She has unfortunately made a mistake for choosing a
life of a performer in Pakistan.
Yet we love art and performances
that adds up to our intellect, pride and our positivity.
