Thursday, November 28, 2013

Dhoop Kinare

So I first watched this series through pirated video cassettes (remember them?) that had been recorded in Pakistan and pirated across to India all the way back in 1987!!

It was in 5 cassettes and the video library guy would charge Rs.10 for each and we had to see and return them in 1 day! And the whole family (minus my dad) would sit glued!

And it was worth it! Have watched the complete series at least 4 times!!!

The level of story and acting was wonderful.

The casting was wonderful too.  Each and every actor was good and appropriate for the role!

So apparently that time in Pakistan they had a group of actors directors etc who would make shows with very tight budget much like NSD plays in Delhi, India now.



So let me fill you in with some stories behind the show and also what happened to some of the people after.


So let me start with who else - Ahmer Ansari!! Urf- Rahat Kazmi

So in real life Rahat Kazmi was quite an intellectual and had actually gotten through to the Pakistan IAS - which he gave up for his love of acting- which is unheard of - then and now!!!


He has done quite a lot in this field and actually in education too- is a principal at a college now! 

He was married to Fellow thespian Sahira Kazmi- quite gorgeous



She was actually the director of Dhoop Kinare!!!! And apparently seriously scary! If you want to see them together see -  
Parchaiyan - based on "A portrait of a lady". Well done though I don't like the plot - but that's just me.

So apparently she was so scary that - Dr Irfan (Sajid Hassan ) was seriously scared of her. 

A funny incident was - if you have seen the show Ahmer Ansari's hair suddenly changed tremendously half way through. It looked really bad!!! The Story behind  that is that Rahat Kazmi and Sajid Hassan were bored and hanging out and they decided to give him a katora cut - put a bowl on his head and cut around it.

As you can imagine his wife the director had a heart attack!

The next person to talk about of course has to be
Dr Zoya Ali Khan (Marina Khan).

So she had a British mom and was a Pakistan air force brat who actually couldn't even really speak Urdu 

The real life Anji, (
Kehkishan Awan) was a close friend of hers and she was visiting her at a shoot and got offered a role. The breakthrough role for her was Tanhaiyyan.

She even had a her own talk show for a while. Even did a DK reunion on it- quite interesting! 
This is the link


She moved to Canada sat some point.

Dr. Irfan was injured badly in a bombing incident but is still a TV personality.

So back to Dhoop Kinare- first the title song- which I LOVE!!!





 Then this song when they go on the field trip - a favorite.  So click the link- it has the actual video- I am not being able to embed it though. The thing with DK is that is a sooooo subtle!




I have JUST found out this was written by one of my favorite poets- Faiz!!!!!

Given I'm on a roll for songs- this has nothing to do with the show- but a ghazal I love by Nayyara Noor with a similar name. Yeh Dhoop Kinara





Anyway- back!

One of the things I appreciated most about Dhoop Kinare, was that while being a romance (am a sucker for a good one) it was not at all hysterical but well thought out. Well plotted and well executed. 

Another interesting thing is, you know the maid/surrogate mom Fazeelat Bibi (
Azra Sherwani) - she was actually quite sophisticated in real life- very often wore a sari!

So while in India it was traditional to wear a sari and considered modern to wear a salwar kutra it was the opposite in Pakistan and only the most modern women wore saris!

But if you think about it - saris are pretty sexy. You have a huge strip of waist and back showing!

So apparently in ancient India they didn't even have blouses! Seems to me it's trending that way again!

The whole culture used to be extremely "open" till the advent of the Muslim culture. 

I find the whole concept of shame (interms of clothes/clothing) is also very interesting.

Man was obviously born naked. Then they started Covering up and covering up. And now in so many different cultures and religions, in fact in almost all of them, it's bad or shameful to show skin!

I mean - Why? What's so good about not showing skin and what's so bad about showing it?

The whole thing about inciting inappropriate thoughts - the ones who think it - does the abundance or lack of clothing really make a difference to them?

I sometimes think it's just another thing people use to define themselves and judge others.

I personally believe- to each his own- though of course if I see someone scantily clad it does unfortunately still shock me! Alas the conditioning of society!




5 comments:

Anonymous said...

i have to check this one out, i was not born when this series came out.
i believe to me (and its only my viewpoint i wont impose it on anyone i apologize in advance if it hurts anyone or if you disagree) that sense of shame creates a sense of self.for example if i feel guilty or ashamed of something i have done i would have an idea who i am,what level of conscience i have...i would learn about the human side of me..shame would make me feel for others sentiments.. im not only talking about shame related to exposing oneself im talking about the general shame one might feel.
i mean it creates awareness about what is acceptable and what it not. usually you will notice that where there is shame there is a sense of guilt even. if you do something inappropriate then you feel guilty and this guilt factor is what sort of keeps a check and balance on certain acts one might commit. i dont know how to put it in words but i believe the concept of shame was created to control the behaviour of mankind/communities/people etc. i hope you understood.

MG said...

to- Anonymous- God you're young!
So= Have edited the post as the shame I am talking about here is only in relation to clothes. I think what you are referring to as shame in your comments sounds almost more like conscience to me- I think that is very important and if that makes you fell bad or ashamed when you have done something wrong- that's extremely appropriate ! An Indian saying "Aankh ki sharam" or shame in the eyes when having done something wrong- I think it shows the values in a society of person. So i do agree with you- but I think this is better at an individual level and not something I want from society.

Anonymous said...

haha not that young im in my early twenties :P and yes that is the shame i was talking about,in general sense...i believe i went bit off topic there. by the way i think you should watch 'Aunn Zara' its a light comedy show based on a typical punjabi family and a 'beeba bacha' (as they say overprotected boys with overly controlling moms and sisters) maybe you would like that. the main lead in it started out as making spoof videos on youtube and somehow got noticed and landed a deal on tv projects. this is his 2nd or 3rd show and the only watchable one which became a hit. he has alot of fans and the show is made in a typical vlogger format. the show is not very crisp or sharp in editing but it does have some hilarious funny moments. if you understand the cultural references and punjabi jokes then its a nice light watch for the weekends :)

Anonymous said...

One thing meenakshi is that 'Dr Irfan' of dhoop kinare never died in any bomb blast. He is still alive.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sajid_Hassan

Atif

MG said...

Apologies for Killing off "Dr.Irfan" prematurely. He was only injured in the bomb blast and is still alive- which actually makes me very happy! Yay!