Pakistan Women’s Cricket & Hockey

I came across this excellent article by Issam Ahmed in the Guardian Unlimited on Pakistan’s Women Cricketers and was mesmerised.

“In last summer’s Bollywood blockbuster, Chak De! India (loosely translated as ‘Come on ! India’), screen icon Shahrukh Khan is charged with coaching a group of talented women hockey players, who, blighted by politics and written off by the media, have never achieved much. In a heart-warming tale based on the actual team’s historic gold medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, Khan eventually succeeds in uniting his players into an all-conquering outfit, who ultimately sweep aside the mighty Aussies to win the World Cup.

Across the border in Pakistan, where, despite long-time political enmity, Bollywood flicks have long held the No1 spot in the cultural stakes, no such fairytale ending beckons for Pakistan’s current women’s hockey team, nor indeed for women playing the country’s most popular sport: cricket”. For full article click here

Shahrukh Khan And The Case of Being Fair

Shahrukh Khan’s recent decision to back a skin lightening cream may lead to the stars fall from grace. It’s extraordinary that being dark himself, he should endorse a product that perpetuates racial stereotypes.In a write-up for BBC, Naresh Puri’s recent article puts the disappointment of Shahrukh’s decision into perspective.

“One of Bollywood’s biggest film stars is being criticised by Asian campaigners for promoting a skin-lightening cream – a product that is now on the shelves of British shops.

The 40-second advertisement from India starts like so many others promoting razors or hair dye – but it’s an ad with a very big difference.

There’s a man who has no luck with the girls. He has markedly darker skin than his friends and the girl he is after. In a real song-and-dance Bollywood extravaganza, one of the biggest heart throbs of Indian cinema, Shahrukh Khan, hands over a cream to the hapless chap, along with some mild admonishment.

Within a few weeks, the young man has turned much lighter-skinned and confident. As he strides down the road like a modern-day answer to John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever, the girls start flocking to him and chanting: “Hi handsome, hi handsome.” Khan comes back into view with the product, Fair and Handsome.

The skin-lightening cream for men, along with its more feminine counterparts, has found its way into Asian supermarkets and stores in the UK.

While Khan’s advert has not been shown yet in the UK, it too has made its way to British consumers via YouTube. And the product’s success or failure in the British market place may say something about the nature of beauty and the politics of race.

To read the full article.