The Star
June 21, 1984
Uzma Gilani
“I’ll never advise my daughter to take up performing arts as “a career,” says Uzma Gilani, ad-woman and TV star.”
Thirty-eight-year-old Uzma Gilani faces no serious problems in combining her career and home. Both run smoothly. She is a lucky woman indeed!
Her husband, Syed Enayatullah Shah Gilani (of Bahawalpur), a Deputy Secretary in Agriculture Ministry, only visited the TV center with her once. After he met nice people like Yawar Hayat, Khalid Ejaz, Munawwar Taufiq, Rafiq Warraich, Mukhtar Siddiqui and Agha Nasir over there, he allowed her to work for PTV. “Had he been opposed to the idea; I’d never have insisted. Still my own family do not approve of me being an artist, but I don’t take that seriously.”
Contented
“I’ll never advise my daughter to take up performing arts as a career. It was just a fluke with me―as is with most of our artistes! We start with no basic training, with no extraordinary talents”.
Uzma recalls her early days of TV with a touch of nostalgia. “Most of the credit goes to the friendly atmosphere at the TV center. Today people just can’t imagine how nice those days were ―14 years back. We used to work with team spirit, we’d sit together and discuss things.”
Her 16-year-old son has recently enrolled in the Kakul Academy for military training. Her second child, a daughter is studying in the tenth class. For more than a year now, Uzma has been working as an ad woman with the Lahore branch of Midas. She has a limited circle of friends, mostly women, with whom she has always been popular. She is contented enough to look back on her life and decide that she has done well for herself.
Uzma believes she has been one of those wise women who have, well in time, adopted careers. “During the past fifteen years things have changed a lot. I can easily foresee the future when women working will be in the forefront of national activities. If we do not realize it now, we will be faced with long queues of jobless women in the near future. It never helps to keep your eyes shut from reality.”
Uzma feels that the problems of working women mostly exist in our upper-middle-class strata, “who mainly depend on their husband’s salaries.” These men should have no reason to feel embarrassed about women contributing towards the family expenses. I don’t blame the men only. In fact, I have great sympathies for our men. Mard becharey tau barri kamzor cheez hein. I can’t even understand how they can be chauvinistic towards women. They are weaker than women, ―mentally, and feel protected when they are with women. They alone suffer all the tensions and worries of today’s life financial or otherwise. Women do not suffer as much from the prevailing conditions as men do.
“I think there is only one relationship between man and woman, that of mother and child. If a kid expresses domination or chauvinism, how will a mother react to it? I am not suggesting that we women should behave motherly towards men, but it is already in our nature.
Look, I really don’t have any complaints against men. They treat you the same way as you like to treat them. If a woman wants to have sexual relations with a man, he will readily oblige, he will even turn a real goonda. But if she keeps a platonic relationship, the same man will make a really good friend. And remember one thing: a woman cannot be left without an option; she can never be ‘exploited’ if she is not ready for it. In fact, it is always the woman who initiates a relationship with a man in any direction. I never call my men colleagues ‘Bhaie’.”
Heroine
Uzma believes it is not correct to say that men do not allow women to work. “It all depends on the women. I personally know lots of women who themselves are not inclined to work. It is so with my own family. They say their real place is in the home. It is also said that to work with men in offices is very difficult.
There are, however, certain reasons for that. If there are only one or two women in an office of 12 or more men, there will surely be problems.
All the men will want to attract their attention and there will be jealousies galore!! But where the ratio of men and women is the same. One doesn’t envisage such problems.”
Uzma blames both the parties where a marriage breaks down due to a wife’s job. “I’d only say, that these women failed to convince their men about the usefulness of a career, which could have benefited the whole family.
Maybe something like ‘male chauvinism’ exists somewhere, but I have no personal experience about it.”
Coming back to the TV. Uzma presents herself as the best actress around, though I was not fortunate enough to be one of the pioneers of the medium, as I joined it in 1970.”
Uzma says she was the real heroine of ‘Nasheman’ and not Khalida Riyasat, who won the Best Actress Award for the same serial. Khalida had only played a side role with a boy, while the whole story centered around the old woman, played by Uzma. “I wonder why they still have that typical concept of a film heroine on TV – where there is no nach gana and acting alone counts. They put old roles in the category of ‘character acting’ which is in fact no different to ‘best acting’.
I am not claiming the award, but I must say that they should consider a role of a 70-year-old person for the best actress award if it is marvelously performed.”
Uzma has recently turned down a few old age roles. “Only because the passive, pitiable and motherly roles! played in ‘Nashemen’ and other plays were a hit, they started offering me similar roles. Sol refused to do them. I don’t mind adding gray to my hair and putting lines on my face, once in a while, but I am a versatile actress, so to say, and I have proved that.”
Uzma admits that acting and the whole production at PTV are yet far away from the realm of realism. “But the whole nation is to be blamed for that. We are all not ready to recognize the facts, this is the case with PTV as well. Our women are not really that ‘Mazloom’, not all of them, as they are presented by the PTV. Our policymakers will have to change their philosophies.”
Gloat
Uzma has a lot of complaints against her juniors. She says in her days she used to listen to the seniors and there was a family like atmosphere at the TV centers. “Mehnaz Rafi” took special interest in my performance and my dresses.
All of us worked with a desire to make the production a success. But today people have a lesser sense of dedication and devotion towards their work. They are more interested in their personal projection. They often gloat over their success in how they ‘washed out’ the performances of a veteran actors or actresses in plays.
Uzma believes artistes here are not financially secure, like they are all over the world. “Even in a poor country like India, the artistes earn a lot. In other Muslim countries also, artistes are paid enough to maintain a good standard of living. Here we are a neglected lot although we are playing our due role in society and we being a good name to our country from the outside world. I’ve even heard that PTV’s plays are shown to the students in India’s art academies. May I ask, where we artistes are really placed in this society?”
Exploited
Uzma says PTV producers should be given proper training with specialization, in their respective fields. “Our producers try their hands in every area, in order to make themselves ‘all-rounders’. No person can be the master of drama, music, documentaries and children’s programs at the same time. That’s clear enough.”
Uzma says there is no ‘be rah rawi’ at TV centers as alleged by some people. In the first place, we TV people are noticed more. If I smoke in public, the word will spread around like wildfire. Secondly, TV is a place of assorted people likes and dislikes do exist, and I don’t see anything wrong with that. There may be some ‘garr barr’ but it varies from person to person. A small number of wo men are really exploited by men, but there are more who want to be ‘exploited’ themselves knowingly. Such women are lured by the glamour of TV men. They also want to enjoy the freedom of being out of their homes.
Maybe I say so because I have had no such experience. But I am sure no woman can be exploited against her will.”