NFP’s Music Video Review: Shehzad’s ‘Qismet Apnay Haath Mein’
Comment: Radical clichés
by NFP
People come to this
Beyond the age of reason
People fed on famine
People on their knees,
People eat each other
People stand in line
Waiting for another war,
Waiting for my valentine
(Sisters of Mercy, Valentine)
Shahzad Roy has been one of the most successful stories of reinvention coming out from the fledgling Pakistani pop scene. From an average purveyor of candy-pop, he first started showing signs of some sonic edge with his highly infectious Saali song and video.
Perhaps politicised by what he experienced during his stint with the pro-education Zindagi Trust, Roy unloaded a solid gem of an album called Qismet Apnay Haath Mein. Two of the outstanding songs on the album are Laga Reh and the title track. Both are irreverent takes on the current Pakistani political scene.
The recently released video for Qismet Apnay Haath Mein is not that bad either. But while showing a little tale of woe — though again in a tongue-in-cheek manner — Roy and director Ahsan Rahim (who also directed the Laga Reh video), get stuck in a somewhat reactionary cliché.
The inspiration of the video seems to be the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison, but is not as radical as it is posing itself to be. Taking place in a Guantanamo Bay-like prison where we see the protagonist of the Laga Reh video — who was arrested at the end of that video by white men in suits —escaping from the prison only to be struck down by what seems to be a drone attack.
So what is the video’s statement? Is it about the local government in liaison with sinister western agencies arresting conscientious Pakistanis, putting them in prison and then striking them down?
If so, then I’m afraid this narrative will only be able to please the loud reactionary deniers we see every so often on our television screens vehemently denying any local involvement in the insane number of terrorist attacks this unfortunate republic has been experiencing in the last five years.
With the success of the Laga Reh song and video, Roy had the perfect platform to finally set a precedent in the local pop scene by becoming the first celebrity who was gritty and bold enough to comment on the death, destruction and fear being perpetuated. Instead, Roy decided to conclude with a cliché. This cliché unfortunately can only discourage Pakistanis to take that bold leap and be able to see through the shallowness and self-inflicted lies all the rampant denial theories and rhetoric are made of. Such clichés distract us from recognising that the monster called terrorism lurks within, not outside.
Here is where the Qismet… video seriously misfires, unfortunately putting Roy in the loud union of misplaced deniers, rather than in league with those brave enough to break-out from the frozen clichés us Pakistanis are still stuck with regarding terrorism.
The history of terrorism speaks volumes of the fact that not unless a society’s overall psyche turns its collective conscience against the terrorists, the state and the government can do little on their own. The terrorists will always manage to survive, even thrive, in a society riddled with conspiracy theories and denials.
For example, there is more debate on television on the American drone attacks in the NWFP than there is on the bloody terrorist attacks that take place elsewhere in Pakistan almost every second day. The irony is, since it is a documented fact that the drone attacks kill more militants than civilians, are our TV channels and musicians like Roy suggesting that the killing of common civilians by Islamic terrorists is less important than the “shame” of violent militants being killed by American drones?
