Urdu and Mass Culture

Urdu television serials have not only declined in terms of their content, but lately, it seems a negligent attitude towards the language has also been prevailing. Grammatical mistakes in the usage of language and wrong pronunciation of words is something which great writers from the past keep lamenting, but to no avail. We have only a few writers from modern times who, along with an effort to present quality material, focus on a refined use of language as well. Their output in the form of dramas can be taken as pieces of literature both in terms of their subject matter and language. I spoke to some of these writers about the Urdu language, its importance in current times and the role which our dramas can play in promoting its correct use.

Bee Gul is an award-winning writer who has given an Afsaanvi touch to Pakistani serials with her incorporation of pure Urdu language in dramatic works. One hardly finds a tincture of English language in Bee Gul’s projects. It is only Urdu which, with all its metaphors and similes, comes into play in her Gul’s writings. The writer says,

All languages are important, not only Urdu. Their importance is connected with the people with whom they are linked. Similarly, Urdu is important as far as its history in our part of the world is concerned. Neglecting that history, of course, means an indifference towards all those people who have made efforts to not only form a language, but have helped it develop and thrive. Your emotional references are reflected in your language and may not always be easy to translate into another language, eventually forming your identity. As far as the deterioration of the language is concerned, it started quite earlier. When language migrates, it changes just like people do after migration. Some scholars of the language chose not to come here, hence by working in India in the field of Urdu and consciously or unconsciously, resisted its spreading. But a lot of work has been done in Urdu literature, and when you come to think of it, the majority of the big names were Punjabis, but they learnt the language, worked in it and produced literature amply. When people like this were gone, no one was there to fill the space, hence a gap was created in the production of good work in the language. And even up till now, no major work is being done. A lot of stuff is being written but not of good quality. The same goes for Urdu drama as well, the senior writers of which were responsible people who took a burden upon themselves to write in correct Urdu language and not let it be destroyed. Currently, no one seems to be responsible enough to take care that correct Urdu has been written. We are making use of wrong Urdu in our dramas and no one is ready to work on it because no one knows the language. It is anything but Urdu, and it is quite painful to read poorly written scripts and then their performed execution without any editing. This medium can be very easily used to keep the language alive, even if not to promote it. But since we do not even teach Urdu well in our schools, there are no scholars being produced in it. One other thing I cannot tolerate is Roman Urdu and I never agreed to read scripts written in it, for if you do not know how to write Urdu, how can you work in that language? It has also become a trend to present ourselves as “cool” by speaking wrong Urdu, whereas ironically, we are speaking wrong English as well at times. We haven’t even diligently worked on English if we have neglected Urdu. It’s very important to read, love and learn your language. Exposure to any language opens up a new avenue for your thoughts.”

Zafar Mairaj is someone who has an excellent command over various dialects, and one comes across a different set of characters every time in his serials who speak the language in a way that they do not remain individuals, but types representing a certain region of the country. Lately, the writer has been writing on social issues and presents a different perspective on language, tracing its history and geography first and then arguing on its complexities. Zafar Mairaj says,

In the case of drama-writing, in an attempt to correct Urdu language, we at times destroy the characters. All the characters cannot have the same language. There are various jargons, and while developing characters, we fail to realize how language has its various forms, and make all our characters seem more or less the same. Drama writing is a creative activity, and should incorporate feelings, attitudes and cultures, all of which come into play at different levels in a language. We are not discovering new attitudes, and are therefore not creating new and interesting characters, although this really matters while writing literary pieces. A character’s language is the most important thing but since we do not have characters, we do not have a rich language in our serials. This has a lot to do with our ignorance of many ethnicities residing in our very own country.”

Saji Gul is someone who gels psychology, surrealism and social issues together in his works. Gul tries his hands skilfully at various genres of the language in his serials, one example being Sannata in which monologues had a very important part to play, and the other example being O Rangreza which had Urdu ghazals in it as well, recited by the character of a poet. Saji Gul says,

Urdu was created as a result of a lot of cultures mixing, and therefore gives space to multiple words, becoming easier to understand for many people. In the course of history, however, it has been forced as a national language at times, creating a dislike for it in some regions of the country. Drama has made the language both prosper and fail at times. Considering that the drama has to reach the common masses, literariness is often avoided, for a verbose or poetic language may not give a realistic touch to serials. This has also resulted in too simplistic a version of the language being promoted. Classical Indian singers and senior actors seem to have a more profound understanding of how literary Urdu language and pronunciation works. Even the titles of our dramas have grown so vulgar. They aren’t beautiful or poetic any more. We do not have patrons of Urdu language any more, who gave it cultural importance. In an era of capitalism, it seems as if culture is also something that has been neglected and given less importance before commercial concerns. Maybe that’s the reason why the language has also failed. But still, it can be rekindled if translations are done in it and global literature is presented through it.”

Amna Mufti is not only a dramatist, but an award-winning Urdu language novelist as well, who can be relied upon for writing on any subject. She has proven herself as a versatile writer who not only skilfully handles sensitive social issues, but can write both comic and tragic works. Amna Mufti says,

“While regional and provincial languages do exist, Urdu continues to reign as the medium of communication in India, Pakistan and many of their neighbouring countries. Urdu contains words from multiple languages, which makes it sound familiar to many people working in different fields from different backgrounds. The most important thing is that it has also become the language of the entertainment industry. The Indian film industry, one of the biggest industries of the world, has Urdu as its language. The more refined its usage, the more popular the film, an example being Umrao Jan Ada. As far as its literature is concerned, we might not always see positive results in poetry and novel, although work is being done in the genres, but in the case of blogging and micro-blogging, Urdu’s use is as widespread as that of any other language. Urdu television drama has a huge market in all those places where the language is spoken. Even in countries like Canada and America, there are large populations of Urdu-speaking people who are exposed to Urdu television dramas through satellite. They revive their language by watching those serials and it is quite possible that people around them, be they their own children or even those people who aren’t acquainted with the language, do get to listen to it through these serials. As a result, I believe, the language is still flourishing – regardless of whether it is perfect in drama serials or contains mistakes.”