Meter & Lafanga

In a span of less than one year, VJs Meter and Lafanga have carved a name for themselves amongst the Pakistani youth. Instep takes an inside look and finds out what makes the flop aadmi and ultimate anglicized akhrot tick…

By Maheen Sabeeh

The men for the masses There is a stereotype that comes with being a VJ. Usually VJs are the urban hip youngsters, sometimes with crazy hair, designer bags, spontaneous attitude (that may or may not work) and English language, often laced with ‘fake’ accents. Some are intelligent and pretty, others are annoying and successful and that is perhaps the most basic definition of what a VJ epitomizes in Pakistan.The term ‘VJ’ took its first footsteps in a popular dance club in New York, the Peppermint Lounge and the concept came to Pakistan more than two decades ago when a program called Veejay was launched. Now, we may have five music channels but there are few VJs who have made a name for themselves amongst the Pakistani masses. Two of those rare exceptions are Meter and Lafanga.
Amidst the horde of English speaking veejays who are obviously emulating the West, Meter and Lafanga stand out as clearly as Atif Aslam’s voice does in the music scene.And that is essentially because they are not trying out a formula that plagues most music/youth/lifestyle channels. Urdu is the language of Pakistan and both Meter and Lafanga realize it. Meter can’t speak Urdu with correct enunciation and yet he still attempts it as much as he can along with Lafanga, who knows that English is not the language of his people.
Roughly six years ago when VJs Dino, Anoushey and Faizan Haque started out, they were accepted… in the absence of others. But now it is easy to find Anuoshey-type VJs on every channel. VJs don’t have identities that separate one from the other. It’s the same type of clothing, some type of gibberish and this is why Meter and Lafanga stand out. They ask the most offbeat of questions – that range from (a) where did the dupatta go? (b) water shortage in Pakistan (c) lack of healthcareThey prefer walking the streets and interviewing the average man on the roadside as opposed to celebrities, they cater to the Pakistani youth that urban hipsters can never truly understand and they have made it their mission to understand, guide, remind and help the youth of Pakistan to realize their full potential. That is why their popularity is on the rise.
Who are they? VJs Lafanga and Meter are actually Nabeel Sher, 23, and Asif Khattak, 28, respectively. In person, these guys are an extension of their VJ ‘characters’.Asif is the older, slightly wiser but headstrong Pathan. His views are firm but behind them is a logic that is hard to turn down. “I know I’m very convincing,” he says with a chuckle. Asif does hold a soft spot for Nabeel, who is five years younger.“He’s like my younger brother,” says Asif of Nabeel to which Nabeel responds, “There isn’t anything I wouldn’t know about him.”
With a curled smile and playful demeanour, Nabeel is the guy most boys of Pakistan will relate to with a natural ease. Compared to Asif, Nabeel is a little more relaxed and a little less serious about life and everything else in between. Having lived in Karachi for most of his life, Nabeel has seen the ups and downs personally that plague the lives of most Karachiites.”Most of your youth is spending time on the Internet. Playing games, chatting with infinite number of girls and vice versa, cramming up in a room with ten DVDs and not coming out even for fresh air – and that is because they have no avenues of entertainment and because sports is not developed in Pakistan. Tennis, hockey, cricket, football, snooker – why can’t they be shaped in such a way that instead of wasting time or hiding at home, kids would actually come out.”
For Nabeel, it isn’t a job at a youth channel that has made him connect with the youth but now he has a platform to voice his concerns.”Who cares about the biker boys?” and adds, “These are the boys who roam the streets and pass comments on women. But you have to realize they need something to do. Where do they go? You go to anywhere between Expo Centre and The Forum, families are allowed. So a bunch of rowdy boys are discriminated against. They are a part of your youth,” says Nabeel disappointedly.These are the issues close to his heart and this is where ‘Flop Aadmi’ stemmed from. “Flop Aadmi is someone who tries to do the right thing but ends up in trouble. And yet, he is not a complete loser and that is why people understand him,” says Nabeel retrospectively.On the other hand is Asif, who is neither as joyful nor as optimistic as Nabeel. Having spent a major chunk of his life in Saudia Arabia, Asif has beliefs that many would call “rigid” but for him, it isn’t about what people think. “It really doesn’t matter. I don’t try to be a parent to the kids who’re watching me. But the things that they’re discovering, I’ve been through them all probably and I know what its like,” says Asif sagaciously. Living abroad as a Pakistani is never easy and Asif knows it only too well. Growing up in Saudia Arabia, Asif has seen the racialism that comes with being an outsider. “I was always told that ‘you’re a second class citizen, you get in trouble and it won’t be nice’. And even then I always defended Pakistan to the point that it often got me in trouble. Later I realized that I was defending something that wasn’t there,” says Asif with a hint of disillusionment and continues, “50 per cent of our population is under 18. And I feel that partly our youth is ungrateful. Life is what you make of it and you don’t always need money to be happy. The problem here is that the communication gap between parents and children is just too wide and that is something that needs to be tackled. This is why when I say something on TV, it might be listened to by the youngsters because I am not their parent and if I’m still saying it, there is a reason for it.” Both Asif (Meter) and Nabeel (Lafanga) are connected to the youth of Pakistan and yet the questions they ask, their ideals make them the unconventional guys on TV, especially a youth channel. Most of their co-hosts are not like them and one can sense a level of friction. “We have professional relationships and we get along fine. We may not agree on everything but we do know how to respect our counterparts,” says Nabeel. Sadly enough, even in Pakistan, there is a stereotype is attached to one’s nationality. The fact that Asif is a Pathan whose Urdu enunciation isn’t really good is used as a stereotype against him. “There is a new breed of Pathans, Punjabis, Sindhis coming in but yes, I have been subjected to domestic racialism because of who I am and the accent with which I speak,” he says. Hopefully, Meter will make that accent a lot more socially acceptable. The one factor on which they both agree in is that even as they are in the media, they are not really in it for the fame. “I don’t know if I’m good enough to be invited to the social parties that have become a norm and neither do I want to be. It’s all a pretension and I don’t care for it,” says Nabeel nonchalantly. It takes guts to create VJs like these, and Aag did exactly that and has manged to turn them into the unlikely superstars of the Veejay world. Lafanga, the ‘flop aadmi’ and Meter (‘jis ka meter tou down hai’) have become hugely popular because the large mass of Pakistan can relate to them. What lies ahead… Neither of these two planned being VJs. But now that they have it, their vision is toward benefiting Pakistan.“I really believe that this is the first generation since our forefathers that has the brain and vision to make a change for the betterment of their country and future,” says Nabeel and Asif seconds that voice. The current volatile state of Pakistan is a cause for concern and both Asif and Nabeel feel that a change is needed especially with elections coming up later this year.“Everyone above 18 needs to vote, they just have to. You can’t complain and not make a conscious effort yourself,” says Nabeel and Asif agrees and adds, “I would say everyone needs to vote and even more importantly they need to vote for someone who is relatively new. Even if they don’t know anything about him, they should vote for him. Because we keep bringing the same leaders back and it is not helping this country.” They may be politically incorrect and yet they make more sense than most of our leaders. And it is this sincerity of these two guys that makes them such a hit. The impact Meter and Lafanga have had on pop culture is unprecedented. They are perhaps two guys who no one is indifferent to even if one disagrees with their views. In some ways, the acceptance of Meter and Lafanga is a sign of what people want. “I’d credit Mani with opening doors for all of us. He was the first offbeat VJ in the urban VJ culture,” says Asif. But what separates Nabeel and Asif from Mani and everyone else is their approach to a subject. Neither of the two consider themselves icons. According to Asif, “I’m only a reminder of how things should be and can be as opposed to what they are. There is a reason why our religion has laws. I’m just a reminder of it.” Asif wants to help the youth and in the future he sees himself making documentaries on issues pertinent to the fabric of our society. “I want to help the emotionally underprivileged,” he says thoughtfully. And then there is Lafanga who is interested in acting. “I would love to work in telefilms should an opportunity present itself. I am not a fan of our soaps anymore because they are just not us but inspired from across the border,” says Nabeel who has acted back in his college days. It remains to be seen where Asif and Nabeel head out next but as long as they are out on the streets of Pakistan, inspiring and encouraging the youth to think, there is hope… for all of us, regardless of what our accents are.

Chak De India****1/2

*ing: Shahrukh Khan, Vidya Malvade, Sagarika Ghatge, Chitrashi Rawat, Shilpa Shukla, Tanya Abrol, Anaitha Nair, Aliya Bose, Shubhi Mehta, Nisha Nair, Sandia Furtado, Arya Menon, Masochon V. Zimik, Kimi Laldawla, Anjan Srivastava, Arya Menon and Kimi LaldawlaDirected by Shimit Amin
 

Shahrukh Khan is the uncontested superstar of Indian cinema. But whenever one speaks of Indian cinema’s finest ‘actors’, Shahrukh is usually beaten to the crown by the versatile Aamir Khan and since recent, even Hrithik Roshan.With Chak De India – which does not boast of exotic foreign locales, high profile heroines, larger than life sets or even nach gaana in the grand tradition of Karan Johar-Yash Chopra films – Shahrukh has reinvented his own image. Indian film critics have woken up to Shahrukh the actor as opposed to Shahrukh the star and are finally appreciating him in a way he truly deserves. As a film, Chak De India is easily one of Shahrukh Khan’s career’s best performances. Shahrukh Khan is the soul of Chak De India. That being said, it is a delightful film also because of the 16 girls, the story and the execution, which is really outstanding here.
It is no doubt a sports film but in entity, it is a human story, tangled with religious differences and how they create divides and what it really means to be a team.Shahrukh Khan plays Kabir Khan, a Muslim captain of the Indian Hockey team who loses out in the final of World Cup. The catch is, he is Muslim and hence, charged with selling out to Pakistan. Kabir walks away from his passion, which is hockey.
Seven years later, he comes back as the coach of Indian Girls Hockey team and aims at bringing home the glorious World Cup. But the girls hail from all over India and arrive in the most raw form of the states they represent. The Indian girls are not the glitzy babes of Mumbai but are really from all over India with the distinct accent and all. The amazingly different backgrounds and personal baggage come with the girls and thus begins the story!There are a variety of reasons why Chak De India is so special. Firstly, it is a fresh story. Hollywood has a plethora of sports films to offer. In India, the two names that come to mind are of Lagaan and Iqbal. It is a refreshing change. Secondly, Shahrukh Khan delivers an impeccable performance. His last two films – Don and Kabhie Alvida Naa Kehna – had a definite room for acting improvement. Even more importantly, Shahrukh fits the role like a velvet glove. More than words, he conveys through his silent gestures: the disheartened player, the angry coach, the believer – all through the eyes.
Kabir Khan is a Muslim living in India, where ethnic issues do exist even today. In real life, Shahrukh Khan has admitted that he can’t relate to Kabir but perhaps for this film he did. In Chak De India, Shahrukh is playing a role for Team India. A staunch supporter of sports – he always supports the Indian cricket team even when they lose! – one can see the patriotism SRK showcases here is for real.Thirdly, Chak De India brings out the behind-the-scene story of hockey. It tells the viewer why it is crucially important for players to play as a team… to really love a game and what it means to be playing for your own country. And finally, instead of lush green fields and saris, one sees 16 highly complex individuals, with extremely different backgrounds, coming together under one ballsy coach. They make a definite impact. In particular, model-turned-actress Vidya Malvade really shines out. The only glitch in the film is the editing. The length could have been shorter. Some hockey practicing scenes could have been shortened and as a result, more effective. Chak De India is another film that is ample proof of how far Indian cinema has come. It is a highly unconventional film for Bollywood standards. And as a second time director, Shimit Amin has proven that he is another Bolly director to watch out for. With Ab Tak Chhappan he made a mark but it is with Chak De India that he will go down in Indian film history… for having the ability to develop an intriguing film on a sport that is suffering in the subcontinent. Ultimately, Chak De India is about India. Like the rest of the developing world, India has its share of chauvinistic populace, which thrives on pocketing money rather than sending their hockey players to compete with the world just because they are girls. It tells one that religious divide is still a part of Indian society. That said, Chak De India also provides hope … the hope of change, the dare to believe. Abhishek Bachchan’s role in Guru will surely make him a top contender for Best Actor award. With Chak De India, it is SRK who will give him and Amitabh (for Nishabd, Cheeni Kum) a run for their award. The competition will get even more intense once Jodhaa Akber releases. Hrithik Roshan as a Mughal emperor will also be a role to look out for. Whether SRK picks up a filmfare or not doesn’t matter because in the end, he has delivered a performance that will no longer restrict him to the superstar label but has put him in the league of A-class actors. Bravo. Despite the patriotic underlining of the film, you don’t have to be Indian to enjoy Chak De India. It’s a film designed to satisfy Shahrukh Khan fans world over! – Maheen Sabeeh *YUCK **WHATEVER ***GOOD ****SUPER *****AWESOME

The original pop wonder boy returns!

Move over Ali Zafar and Atif Aslam, the original blue eyed boy of pop is back and he has become quite a man. Ali Haider’s Jaanay Do is a mature pop album

By Maheen Sabeeh

Artist: Ali Haider Album: Jaanay Do***1/2 With over 12 albums to his credit and a career spun over two decades, pop man Ali Haider has done quite a lot in his career, literally. But the last few years have seen him struggle. The odds were stacked up as high as they go. Ali’s last few albums – from Jadu to Tera Naam Liya To – didn’t manage to make a huge mark. They didn’t create the musical magic and hence fanfare – the kind that was bestowed by fans and critics alike on Ali’s earlier works like Dastaan, Qarar and the brilliant Sandesa. The most consistent pop act in the country (after Sajjad Ali) was suddenly having a hard time creating joyful pop moments that have been his forte.

Amidst all this, Atif Aslam and Ali Zafar rose. They rose and flew high, giving every musician in the country a run for their money. With Jaanay Do, not only is Ali Haider back in the music game but he’s back with his biggest bang in years. And here’s why…A massive comeback Even though Jaanay Do doesn’t match the across the board appeal of Sandesa – Ali’s finest pop achievement to date – but Jaanay Do works because it is a startling achievement for an aging pop star, who stretches his talent to optimum effect. Ali not only produces this album but also writes melodies and a major chunk of the lyrics. What comes through is slightly dark, multi-layered music with dramatic maturity. Mostly, these tracks are sad love ditties, some of breakup, some of heartache, loneliness and so forth. And even so, this isn’t complex wordplay but very straightforward in the lyrics area, detailing relationships that may or may not survive. It’s a dominant factor in most numbers. From the soft title track ‘Jaanay Do’ where Ali croons, “Aana Jaana Tera/Lagta Hai Fasana Tha/Hum Se Milna Baatein Karna Bahana Tha” to the regal and beautiful ‘Sandul’ where Ali sings with fabulous vocal command: “Basti Ka Woh Rasta Bhulay/Apnay Bhi Anjaane Log/”. The heartache is persistent in most tracks. It continues with the beautiful ‘Hamesha’. With its flirtatious bass and classic somber singing by Ali, ‘Hamesha’ is one of the album’s outstanding tracks. With its slightly strange and pessimistic wordplay that goes, “Jitna Dard Hai Utna Chain Bhi/Jalney Mein Kitna Maza/Ek Aas Mein Kitni/Pyaas Hai/Kahan Chuphi Hai Wafa”, it is just a lovely ballad. Another version of this track comes in the form of ‘Hamesha chilled mix’ but that works too, with the difference that of one singular persistent ‘chill beat’. Rhythmic numbers come through with ‘Jub Kabhi’, which reminds one of Ali Haider from his Jadu days but with a more clear understanding of the genre. With a beat comes a bevy of instruments, creating highly entertaining pop moments as Ali sings almost nonchalantly, “Manzil Kahan/Hum Ajnabi/Ya Razadan/”. The foot-tapping melodies continue with ‘Dosti’ which is a simple modern pop/rock ditty. It is the most optimistic number on the album. On a similar musical note one finds ‘Jhoote Nain’ where Ali sings emotively: “Main Nay Tujhe Itna Kahan Tha/Aaja Yahan” but the club music here is just average. Musically, it’s much too flashy with a lot of beats changing gears much too quickly. But vocal wise, it sees Ali experimenting. And then comes the funky ‘Har Sada’ that observes another look at love, as Ali goes, ‘Pyar Ke Liya/Pyar Chahiye”. In other words, it is a tale of a lonely heart. Rejuvenating the old First featured on Sandesa, the new version of ‘Agar Pyar’ surprisingly works. Where the original was deeply haunting, this version of ‘Agar Pyar’ is more soft, delicate and extended. ‘Agar Pyar’ has been one of Ali’s best tracks and even with the new version it remains the same. As the track goes, “Agar Pyar Kabhi Phir Huwa/Jaan Lo Tum Se Hoga/” it’s a love song but it’s much more desperate than it ever has been and that is essentially because of how Ali sings. And it must be said that guitars by Amman really shine here, with riffs playing softly in the background. ‘Purani Jeans’ original was just so much fun. It was one of those songs that really defined the rise of a pop star, of the inevitable change, of freedom and power of music. It was also a reflection of how boys will always be boys… somehow! Ali Haider released a remix many years later but that version didn’t have that ‘grabbing’ quality. But as they say, third time’s a charm. And that’s exactly what has happened here. The rock007 version of ‘Purani Jeans’ is superb. It’s grittier in sound, a fun rock fiasco but it manages to retain the essence of ‘Purani Jeans Aur Guitar’. Faraz Anwar deserves applause here for re-creating this wonderfully melodic track without being ambitious about his signature riffs. The final re-done song comes in the form of ‘Qarar’, which is another one of Ali’s classic hits. The original was soft with a mélange of keyboards magic that was quite delightful, and heartbreaking. This one’s fast and furious. Most importantly, it just doesn’t match ‘Qarar’ – the original. Pop matters Some problems do arise, however. The new version of ‘Qarar’ passes one by rather sadly and you would just rather listen to the original. The music is stretched a bit too thin on numbers like ‘Jhoote Nain’ and ‘Yaron Ne Kaha’ with its overt ghazal-meets-modern pop feel. That said these tracks do not take the album down. Because in the end, Jaanay Do is a cohesive album, which doesn’t have one foot in hip hop, one in eastern classical and a third in rock. It only ‘touches’ various styles and varied instrumentations, even if it doesn’t experiment too much. In some ways, it reminds one of Vital Signs’ Hum Tum, perhaps because Rohail Hyatt plays an integral part in this album by mixing and mastering almost all songs. At the same time, Jaanay Do has a strong character of its own minus the psychedelic nature of Hum Tum. Whether Jaanay Do fares well in the local music scene will depend on its pop virtues, which are present throughout the album. The production quality here is fabulous, crisp, tight and extremely sharp. Old Ali Haider fans will find the same musical charm that has been synonymous with Ali’s first few albums. Finally! Along with some loveliest ballads of his career such as ‘Jaanay Do, ‘Hamesha’ and ‘Agar Pyar’, one also finds some clear, impassioned singing that was last visible on the track ‘Rahan’, which was a collaborative effort between Ali Haider and the marvelous duo of Rushk. With Jaanay Do, it is clear that the charm of the first pop wonder boy of Pakistan isn’t over just yet! – Jaanay Do is out in stores now! *YUCK **WHATEVER ***GOOD ****SUPER *****AWESOME