This is a remarkable documentary on many levels
but by the end all I really wanted to do was take a shower. The world it
explores is so unrelentingly seedy and desperate that it made my stomach
sink down to me feet. But documentaries than can make you feel visceral emotions
is a good thing. The filmmaker Saad Khan leads us head first into the
dark near forbidden slimy theatricality of the Mujra dancers who perform
in these disreputable venues for an audience of all men. The Mujra art form
goes back hundreds of years to the Mughal emperors when women danced for
the royalty. Times have changed and so has Islam - particularly in Pakistan
where as one woman says you can be killed for wearing a shirt that shows
too much arm. Or you can kill your sister or daughter for dishonoring the
family and face no punishment. From palaces to squalid theaters.
It is a dangerous world - the women and transvestites who perform to survive
are pariah's in society, in their families and are the targets of abuse,
violence and in a few cases are murdered by men angry at what they do. The
dancing is no doubt very suggestive and when I say suggestive not suggestive
of anything but sex with dramatic hip movement and wide open legs. It is
not high art and gets monotonous fairly quickly. But they are fully clothed
and even cleavage has to be limited. Our strip clubs make this stuff seems
pale by comparison but the men in the audience get more than a little enthusiastic.
When I write seedy and slimy that is attached much more to the men in this
world who exploit the women, to the men in the audience, to the dingy surroundings.
The women themselves are kickass in ways we can't imagine. They go through
this daily experience knowing their lives are in danger to support their
family. They are tough and comically vulgar - some of the dialogue used to
insult or threaten people is stuff I would never think of - such as "I will
*iss in your sister's *unt". Where the hell did that come from.
The film follows three women - Afreen who is a star on the circuit and wants
all men in Pakistan castrated; Uzma who dances at private parties and is
trying to get to Dubai and has an incredible fallout with her boyfriend in
which he is recorded trying to get someone to beat her; and Reema a transvestite
dancer who falls out of the transvestite community and is banned by them.
The filmmakers got amazing access to the women - though often kicked out
of theaters. It took them years to put the film together and then years to
get it shown. It is up on YouTube and has a 20 minute interview with the
director and editor at the end that is very interesting. Not for everyone
- there were moments when I wondered if I wanted to continue but it goes
where no one else has and probably wants to.
