The Albela Brothers (Saleem and Honey) are the programme’s main comedians who make witty comments but they overwhelm the roles of other comedians such as Agha Majid (nicknamed Aroo Grenade). Rubi Anam (nicknamed Sadiq) is an outspoken stage comedy performer but she is limited to expressing herself in Punjabi only. Over the years, the comedy knowledge of viewers has also increased immensely and so has the demand for novelty in comedy. The parting of Sakhawat Naz in August 2013 was a real setback. Both Jahangir and Amanullah failed because they could not innovate as per the demand of the new age, though both are experts at the old (or traditional) style of comedy. Another failure was Amanullah Khan, an eminent (Punjabi) stage comedian. He showcased himself but could not make a fresh performance. In Jahangir, one could find hope to cater to the comedic needs of Urdu speaking viewers. The entry of Majid Jahangir (a comedic legend of Fifty-Fifty fame) was much praised. The same is also the weakness of the programme because viewers from other cultures or provinces may not associate with the medium of comedy and satire being presented. The strength of Khabarnaak lies in its strong association with culture, especially Punjabi culture, which finds overwhelming expression in it. The parodies (or mimicries) of Sheikh Rasheed, Rehman Malik, Tariq Aziz, Shahbaz Sharif, Ali Azmat and Anwar Maqsood are excellent to name a few, though Ali has still to work on the parodies of Firdous Ashiq Awan and Jahangir Badar. The parody of Iqbal performed by Ali as Afat Iqbal was a big hit. In this way, the programme has allowed new talent to surface. Nevertheless, one of the major reasons for Khabarnaak’s success is the variety of roles (parodies) played by Mir Mohammad Ali, who is now the Azizi of Khabarnaak. Unlike Zainab Jamil, Mirza does not sing to supplement the singing repertoire of the programme. Khabarnaak meets the aesthetic needs of its viewers especially after Sofia Mirza joined in as a co-host, but it is still devoid of the bursts of laughter that invigorated the shows of Hasb-e-Hal. He also writes the programme’s script to circumvent it meandering aimlessly from one point to another and keeps the partaking comedians conditioned. Iqbal started Khabarnaak in September 2010. Iqbal also took care of the aesthetics of the viewers by introducing Najia Baig who brought along a new dimension of presentation through her voice and winning laughter (or cackles). Ahmed is a talented, educated and versatile comedian of unmatched quality who justified playing the character of Azizi. Iqbal is also credited with introducing Suhail Ahmed (who was a stage comedian) to television viewers. Iqbal brought along with him the character of Azizi (expressed in his columns) to Hasb-e-Hal. The programme could be considered a practical expression of his thoughts, which he used to put down in writing in his weekly column (under the caption Hasb-e-Hal) for an Urdu daily. Aftab Iqbal, the host of Khabarnaak, introduced a new concept of comedy-cum-satire to the electronic media when he began Hasb-e-Hal on a different private television channel in January 2009. In this age of competition, Khabarnaak radiates a message of success to other programmes of a similar nature and also to political talk shows through its practice of innovation and variety. The areas where political talk shows are wanting are innovation and variety. There is indeed an immense competition of survival amongst political talk shows. Critics argue that the programme panders to the (psychological) needs mostly of the lower strata of society but the question is this: should that be taken as the programme’s weakness or strength? Why is the lower section of society not entitled to entertainment? What about the practice of inviting Sheikh Rasheed, a politician, to political talk shows to achieve the ratings target needed to keep the show viable for the television channel? The appearance of Sheikh Rasheed or Faisal Raza Abidi as solo flights may popularise that particular episode of the talk show commercially but not the rest of the episodes. If an anchorperson or a producer wants to know how to make a programme popular amongst the masses, watch Khabarnaak, a comedy-come-satire (late night) show on a private television channel.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |