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Hollywood films stereotype Pakistan's Pathans as the bad guys, says Janaan director

Hollywood films stereotype Pakistan's Pathans as the bad guys, says Janaan director

Will the upcoming film be successful in breaking long-held stereotypes against Pakhtoons?
23 Aug, 2016

Add a Pakistani terrorist and you've got the perfect, on-trend addition to any Hollywood film on terrorism.

In the past it was Russia, but now Pakistan is the adversary of choice in western films. While the west keeps pumping stereotypes through their films, how many local films have been or are being produced to eradicate that standpoint?

Based on Pakhtoon culture, Janaan features a love triangle between leads Armeena Khan, Ali Rehman Khan and Bilal Ashraf. The film is predominantly a rom-com, but the narrative focuses on altering the bias people hold against Pakhtoons.

"We're proud of breaking stereotypes," says co-producer Hareem Farooq to Images. "When we thought of Janaan initially, we thought we had to break a lot of stereotypes — we want to change the image of Pakistan on the international map. Yes, it's a rom-com, but we've explored Pakhtoon culture, because it's a misperceived part of our country, even within our country. You can't stereotype Pakhtoons based on one label. We've shown [the community] in a lighter way, who they actually are."

Director Azfar Jafri chimes in, "If you see Hollywood movies, when they want to show an antagonist from our region, it's usually a Pathan. Which is wrong." And Hareem nods in agreement.

Still from Janaan.
Still from Janaan.

By portraying a positive outlook of Pakistan and shifting perspectives on Pakhtoons on a global scale, the Janaan team hopes to eradicate the extrinsic connection created between Pakistan, Pakhtoons and terrorism through its upcoming venture.

Although the film is primarily based around Pakhtoons, the director and producer claim that it is highly relatable and will resonate with the audience. The director adds, "Yes, the film revolves around Pashtuns and Pakhtoon culture, but everyone can relate to it, even people abroad because it's based on humans, human relations, the love connections, which is universal."

Hareem Farooq, one of Janaan's producers, says her team made a conscious decision to cast relatively new faces. "All the stars in our country are from TV, TV is something that's in every household, and people do get tired of seeing them [the same actors] again and again," she says.

The film promises to be a family entertainer without any objectionable material, but at the same time Hareem points out that the media has a duty to uphold, one which is powerful and should be used responsibly.

"It's not completely about comedy, it's not completely about romance. Yes, it's entertaining with an extremely feel good factor, but it has a subtext to it. Media is a responsibility, film is a responsibility, TV is a responsibility: it's a responsibility to your audience, people follow you, people get inspired by you. When you watch a good film, your thought process gets provoked. So even if we manage to provoke one individual's thought process, we'd consider our job done," says the co-producer.

Behind-the-scenes from the upcoming film. Ali Rehman Khan, Armeena Rana Khan and Bilal Ashraf.
Behind-the-scenes from the upcoming film. Ali Rehman Khan, Armeena Rana Khan and Bilal Ashraf.

But will the film manage to grab the audience without any star power? Hareem says it was a conscious decision on their part to cast relatively new faces.

"When this whole film revival [in Pakistan] started, people thought that by using stars who have a large following, the film would be a hit, but after the last few attempts at that approach, this proved flawed. What is more important for a film is the story, the way it's been told, the way it's been executed and it needs to have good actors," she says.

She explains, "Star power doesn't matter as much anymore that the audience will go watch a movie because of them. Plus, we wanted fresh people, all the stars in our country are from TV, TV is something that's in every household, and people do get tired of seeing them [the same actors] again and again. So it's a debate, why would anyone want to pay Rs500 or Rs1000 to watch the same stars you see on TV. Plus, we have a really good cast!"

"[The film] focuses on an upper-class Pakhtoon family," says Ali Rehman Khan. "The general image of a Pakhtoon family is that they're terrorists... that they're not very smart. That's what we're trying to break, that we're normal and as dysfunctional as any other Punjabi, Sindhi family."

Adding to what Hareem said, Imran Kazmi empahsises that the film is not about the stars, it's about the storyline.

"We are here to tell the story, we are not selling our film on the fact that we have bigger stars or we have smaller stars or fresh faces, we are selling our film on our story, its direction, its technicalities," he adds.

One of the lead actors, Ali Rehman Khan, who is Pakhtoon, explains that while the film is based on the Pakhtoon community, it is constructed around a certain class and is not entirely reflective of the community.

BTS of lead actors in the film Bilal Ashraf and Armeena Rana Khan.
BTS of lead actors in the film Bilal Ashraf and Armeena Rana Khan.

"We can't represent a whole segment of society, but we're targeting a certain segment in the film and it focuses on an upper class Pakhtoon family. We're showing a regular family, but the general image of a Pakhtoon family is that they're terrorists, they're looked at in a negative way, they're made fun of, they're either akhrots, they're not very smart, that's what we're trying to break, that we're normal and as dysfunctional as any other Punjabi, Sindhi family," says Ali.

The actor adds, "We're very proud people and we're very proud of our culture, but that doesn't make us any different, we're very proud to be Pakistani."

Comments

Ahmer Aug 23, 2016 02:22pm
It is not only Hollywood, it is Bollywood as well.
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Saleemullah Khattak Aug 23, 2016 03:36pm
Its a good effort of the producer and the cast to alleviate the fallen image of the Pakhtuns, in media and in society. Pakhtuns soft image was also tried to project in Kiran Johar's "My name is Khan". Now-a-days Pakhtuns culture are projected domestically and abroad as barbaric, ignorant and vulgar by certain TV channels.
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Journal_Pasha Aug 23, 2016 04:21pm
Which Hollywood movie has portrayed Pakhtoons in bad light? Apart from Zero Dark Thirty, A Mighty Heart and Homeland (which is a TV series not a movie) I cannot think of any other movie. Even the aforementioned movies are based on real life events and story-lines are focused on Pakistanis not specifically Pakhtoons!
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Zak Aug 23, 2016 05:52pm
@Ahmer that's because it's same agenda.
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Zak Aug 23, 2016 06:00pm
Great move, media productions should be of international standard so they can be dubbed in foreign languages and sold around the world.
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Zak Aug 23, 2016 06:03pm
@Journal_Pasha others are GI Joe with the rock, play station games showing Peshawar like Somalia, latest is Foxtrot, tango Charlie. All anti pakistan but depicting pukhtoons.
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Vijay Aug 23, 2016 06:48pm
Bollywood has depicted Pakhtoons as very loyal, dependable and family oriented people. Amitabh bachann’s film Janjeers is the proof. The great Rabindranath Tagore wrote “Kabuliwala” a relationship between a lonely Pathan who misses his daughter and a very young girl.
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Arisha G Aug 23, 2016 08:00pm
Hareem a producer already? Good for her. Glad to see the entertainment is thriving. Good point about new faces, even though it is understandable that some tv actors would like (or might harbor secret ambitions) to be a movie star.
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Anwar Sadiqque Aug 23, 2016 08:51pm
Stereotyping unfortunately happens in all societies. Liberals will condemn it whereas the conservatives will freely use it.
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really? Aug 23, 2016 09:20pm
@Ahmer Please give an example of a movie where Pathans are depicted negatively in Bollywood. I can remember at least 3 movies where they were depicted very positively: Kabuliwallah, Zanjeer, Aa ab laut chalein.
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zak Aug 23, 2016 09:55pm
@Zak yah, every one in the world has an agenda against pakistan. World has nothing better to do
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Futurewizard Aug 24, 2016 02:27am
It's simple thats how whole world know you..
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Mukul Aug 24, 2016 03:01am
@Journal_Pasha good comment easy to throw out statements without giving examples also it will take more than a film to improve image of Pakistan anywhere
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Riya Aug 24, 2016 09:34am
Amitabh Bachchan played one of his iconic characters of Badshah Khan in the movie Khuda Gawaah. The movies shows pathans to be a very loyal and fearless.
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Sherafgan Khattak Aug 24, 2016 12:37pm
This is really a great idea ; being doing job in Islamabad among other province people, i am facing same problem. Pukhtuns are not differnt human as they are portrayed in Pakistani media as well International media. Good work Janaan team and good luck.
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