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Saturday, April 28, 2007

Where Did the PTV Compeers Go?

' Theatre is the mirror of the society' , says Dr. Johnson. Theatre was the only media of that age. With the passage of time the form of media changed, but its function and purpose remained the same. This purpose and function is to educate the people with providing recreation to them. Electronic media, especially television plays a very affective role of influencing the way of thinking and manners of a nation. Usually it is considered and is true as well that PTV is watched by the majority of our people because of its wide coverage and traditional way of performance. People learn many things from PTV. An anchor person or a compere of TV is watched and copied by the viewers and listeners. His way of talking and performance influences the people.

PTV has produced exemplary figures in the realm of compering like Tariq Aziz, Naeem Bukhari, Moeen Akhtar and Mustansar Hussaain Tarar. These anchor persons taught the viewers how to speak and express themselves. Their brightened performance comes out of their knowledge and their learning. They have a recognized literary importance. Mustansar Hussain Tarar has not only been the Chacha in morning transmission, but he is also a novelist and travelogue writer. In our childhood we would wait for Chacha Mustansar on our TV in the morning. Apart from him there were also people whom we try to copy in conversation and way of expression.

                   But unfortunately, now there is an enormous decay in the field of compering. The people who are coming as comperes and anchor persons in many programmes of PTV are not eligible for this job of responsibility and seriousness. They do not even know how to speak. Their performance remains shallow because of lack of knowledge and learning. The most intolerable thing happened in this regard is Anglicization of Urdu. They speak a very strange language which is acceptable and comprehensible for a minority of the people. In other words they are destroying our own national language. Apart from this debate there is no seriousness in their attitude. Their questions and conversation to the guests are not apt, but childish and sometimes silly.

                   Especially the programmes broadcast during Ramazan Mubarak were pitiable as far as comperes were concerned. There was only Shamoon Hashmi who performed aptly and accordingly. In one programme Khursheed Ahmed, a renowned Naat performer, was invited. The compere was constantly calling Qari Sahib. He corrected her that he is not a qari because it is a different and vast field that needs special attention and devotion. But she said that she called Naat performers qari  sahib . At the end of the programme, Kursheed Ahmed Sahib performed a Naat Sharif. He read the Maqtah in which the name of the poet is mentioned. The compere asked a  funny rather a silly question,

' Qauri Sahib yeh Naat ap nay likhi hay?'

That Naat was also very popular,

'Yeh sab tumhara karam hay aaqa keh baa tab tak bani owi hay..'

This shows the knowledge and observation of our new and young comperes.

We request the responsible authorities of PTV to reform all this and to present learned comperes and real presenters on the screen of our TV. We want to see the revival of the golden era of PTV and it is not difficult. There must be merit for the selection of comperes and nacre persons. There are well literate and well learned young lot who can revive the tradition of actual compering. They will be able to educate the young generations how to think and how to speak.

By

Jawad Iqbal Jawad

 

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