[hidayah227]

Citizen Khan is a new comedy series about a self appointed community leader (Mr Khan) who is also a member of the local mosque committee In Sparkhill Birmingham
I would like to know your views on this program. Would you view it as an Insult, ridicules, Unfair portrayal or just plain funny? Some Muslims who witnessed the show have described it as mocking our Holy Book 'Quran' and also the Place of worship 'Mosque'. They say the whole show is constantly mocking either the pakistani culture or the religion Islam. How do you feel about this and what are you view? If you have not seen the first episode you can watch it on bbc iplayer .

[badman]

Salams,
It's on bbc1 now, it's so funny. Adil Ray's playing a character resembling the character of om puri from east is east. Done a very good job! I hope he goes on to make a full movie from this. Maybe just a start of things to come from the talented Mr Ray!! Insha'ALLAH!
So far so good (thumbs up)

[The-Mughal-Sister]

People seriously need to get a life. They have gone all militant over Adil Ray, the man behind the comedy sketch.

The programme is about stereotypical Pakistani man who buys cheap bog roll and thinks he's king of the world because he is on the Masjid committee and has a Hijabi Daughter who's a bit of a loose canon.

Hello? We have these people in our societies and our homes, he just portrayed that with some funny gags and displayed how we all pick and choose what we wish from Islam. People are blind to their own short comings. It's ironic that people are complaining about the Hijabi actress, when they have their own daughters playing the role for real!! lol!! Sort 'em out!

I didn't find it that funny, but the backlash against him, is quite funny.

It makes a change from watching Pakistani men grooming white girls documentaries, Masjid teachers beating kids, terrorism to a light hearted comedy.

This post has been edited by The-Mughal-Sister: 28 August 2012 - 10:54 PM

[Mudassar-Rana]

badman, on 28 August 2012 - 10:32 PM, said:

Salams,
It's on bbc1 now, it's so funny. Adil Ray's playing a character resembling the character of om puri from east is east. Done a very good job! I hope he goes on to make a full movie from this. Maybe just a start of things to come from the talented Mr Ray!! Insha'ALLAH!
So far so good (thumbs up)

We are a very insecure community - there will be many who will take a militant attitude to this programme rather than just saying it isnt funny! I think the goodness gracious me was more funnier.

Comedy is all about exaggerations and thus we shouldnt take things to heart. If you want to protest about something then protest about the yanks getting away with urinating on dead muslims and the quran! Erm no its to risky to stand outside the american embassy might get arrested and thus cant do security jobs over the weekend!

[arzooemadinah]

But as a muslim he have to watch his act not to insult the relegion and mosques etc and culture because in one hand its good fun but the other hand youngsters will make more fun of there culture and english will make fun as well , sister tms its nice for people who got good undertsanding as you got but not for all.

There are many otherways to present stereotype but he needs to stay in limits and watch he will not hurt muslims and will not insult his relegion and culture.

[badman]

Mudassar-Rana said:

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might get arrested and thus cant do security jobs over the weekend!

Salams,
LolZ!!! Brother I think it's called or as they say 'doing the doors'! LolZ! (with that no messin hard man look!) /\_/\.... Hey u lukin at meeeeh? I say kasmeeeeeeh........

[Malaaikah]

Everyone was tweeting about it yesterday complaining about how this program was an insult to Muslims so I watched a bit today wanting to know what all the fuss was about and didnt find it insulting at all. I dont understand how we as Pakistanis can laugh at our own stupidities but when others do it, its called racism or what not... It wasnt all that though not as funny as it couldve been.

[Mudassar-Rana]

Malaaikah, on 28 August 2012 - 11:47 PM, said:

Everyone was tweeting about it yesterday complaining about how this program was an insult to Muslims so I watched a bit today wanting to know what all the fuss was about and didnt find it insulting at all. I dont understand how we as Pakistanis can laugh at our own stupidities but when others do it, its called racism or what not... It wasnt all that though not as funny as it couldve been.

I agree it was harmless, not necessarily all that funny but watchable. In the past we couldnt complain because we had to physically write a letter now Allah has given us the voiceless twitter and facebook and everyone thinks their Charles Dickens penning "femails" to the BBC!

Challenge still stands those who found it offensive could also protest outside the american embassy for their soldiers were let off for urinating on dead muslims and the quran or outside the israeli embassy where a young christian girl was bulldozed for protesting against occupation of palestine.

[YaNabi-Chemist]

If Islam can be truly mocked by such means then I'm not sure it's the same Islam we follow.

Some of it was funny and overall it was watchable.

However, it won't bear a lasting legacy.

[qadrimuslim]

How often do you see Pakistani Muslims making stupid programmes mocking Indian Hindus or Brits?

It's always this way around because Pakistani Muslims are an easy target to mock and ridicule.. Shame on our community. I seriously doubt that Hindus or Jews etc would allow such programmes to be made about them - especially if it were Muslims filming them!

heres the cast names for your perusal:


Regular Cast

Adil Ray ... Mr Khan
Shobu Kapoor ... Mrs Khan
Felix Dexter ... Omar
Kris Marshall ... Dave
Maya Sondhi ... Shazia
Bhavna Limbachia ... Alia
Abdullah Afzal ... Amjad Malik
Writing Team
Adil Ray ... Creator
Adil Ray ... Writer
Anil Gupta ... Writer
Richard Pinto ... Writer
Production Team
Nick Wood ... Director
Paul Schlesinger ... Producer
Mark Freeland ... Exec Producer
Other Cast / Crew
Danny Cohen ... Commissioner
Cheryl Taylor ... Commissioner
Janet Hampson ... Casting Director
Anil Gupta ... Developer
Richard Pinto ... Developer

[sunniskeptic]

I watched it last night and thought it was hilarious in parts -- I certainly wasn't offended by it and I think we
Pakistani Muslims shouldn't be so thin-skinned. It is actually a sign of us being accepted as an integral part of British
society that the main national broadcaster can commission an entire series with British Pakistani Muslims as the main
characters. That would not happen yet in any other EU country.

Does it really matter if the actors were Hindu or Muslim? Adil Ray himself is a Muslim...

Grow up people!

[Know-the-Ledge]

Awfully embarrassing. Awful and cliched and boring, been done a million times and you won't ever see a Jewish or Hindu community caricatured like this, it's only Pakistanis who like this self deprecating humour, fine on a small social scale but to reinforce stereotypes on a national level is just going to back fire and then you'll all be writing about how others don't take us seriously as a community. We're fast becoming like the Black community and making ourselves the target of toilet and cliche humour.

Tms I think the point of the hijaabi has been missed by you, people are not outraged at her dress, attitude, ethnicity or character, but the indolence she committed against the Koran and how that was played for cheap, tawdry laughs. Do you think that such egregious going ons in our communities should be depicted on comedic gags for laughs? Comedy is defined as a flirt with shamelessness, and it is that creative moment which makes us laugh, but shaming the sanctity of the Koran so people can har har is intolerable in my opinion.

[arzooemadinah]

as they showing the hijabi girl and what she done at the end took scarf off and went outside from house but the thing is how many hijabies are doing this wearing scarf infront of families and going out not even wearing proper clothes , not many very few so they can amke the programmes based on reality why they showing what was happening 20 years before in uk . Now time changed and kids dont have to live in fear , they wear whatever they like and I dont think still we can find many who are showing they are haijabi or berd men at home and going out as a gypsy.

Brothers are right we pakistanies can make fun of our releigion and culture very easily and we never offend if others are making fun of our relegion and culture , these sort of programmes suit them who dont have any relegion and when something coming on air need a reality in it but half of the programme is not right . How many houses we got have these amjad and shazia , mr khana nd his wife type characters again very few.

Brother Mr that doesnt mean if we not protesting against america we have to show the world that our girls are living this type life or we allow others to make fun even the muslims (Adil Ray) out of hunderd how many houses got shazia and her sister in there houses v v few so if people are saying he have to think before making this programmes they right . ( Modern muslim or ik esa muslim jo sharm anhe rukhta us may boht furq hay or yeh ik sazish hay esy programmes )

[Mudassar-Rana]

We can only look at it with reference to the pakistani community not any other. Because the hindu community nor the jewish nor any other community have been dehumanised in the past.

With reference to the pakistani community then we have to remember over the last 12 months the television and the press has been full of information about grooming of white girls in northern enland. Due to the seriousness of the allegations and crimes a whole community has been tarnished.

What programmes like this do is at the very least humanise us. To laugh at ourselves is a sign we are at ease with ourselves. We are not insecure about things. Yes in the past hindu's too complained about caricature's of them in programmes such as goodness gracious me. And to be honest we all laughed our heads of then because they were hindu's!

I dont thing the programme was as well made as it could have been. I didnt think the scripting was all that clever and some of the acting was wooden. But guys remember you are now on prime time tv and its not grooming nor terrorism. And if not for anything else thank Adil Ray for that!

If you want to be known for better things then have a look around yourselves - minus 10% of our communities how many of us make a positive contribution to this country?

[Mudassar-Rana]

arzooemadinah, on 29 August 2012 - 11:53 AM, said:

as they showing the hijabi girl and what she done at the end took scarf off and went outside from house but the thing is how many hijabies are doing this wearing scarf infront of families and going out not even wearing proper clothes , not many very few so they can amke the programmes based on reality why they showing what was happening 20 years before in uk . Now time changed and kids dont have to live in fear , they wear whatever they like and I dont think still we can find many who are showing they are haijabi or berd men at home and going out as a gypsy.

Brothers are right we pakistanies can make fun of our releigion and culture very easily and we never offend if others are making fun of our relegion and culture , these sort of programmes suit them who dont have any relegion and when something coming on air need a reality in it but half of the programme is not right . How many houses we got have these amjad and shazia , mr khana nd his wife type characters again very few.

Brother Mr that doesnt mean if we not protesting against america we have to show the world that our girls are living this type life or we allow others to make fun even the muslims (Adil Ray) out of hunderd how many houses got shazia and her sister in there houses v v few so if people are saying he have to think before making this programmes they right . ( Modern muslim or ik esa muslim jo sharm anhe rukhta us may boht furq hay or yeh ik sazish hay esy programmes )

sis AM your missing the point completely. comedy is and always will be exaggeration. If people after this programme start thinking we pile up toilet rolls in the house or use plastic sheeting to protect our sofa's or our girls flirt between western and hijabi during the day then they are in need of a psychiatrist.

[Desert-Sheikh]

qadrimuslim, on 29 August 2012 - 01:21 AM, said:

I seriously doubt that Hindus or Jews etc would allow such programmes to be made about them - especially if it were Muslims filming them!

heres the cast names for your perusal:[/font][/size][/color]

Regular Cast

Indo-Pak's Muslim believe it's a 'kanjar' profession (acting, singing etc), so how can (and where from) they hire 'professional' Muslim crew? 20 years ago, there were many good actors in Pakistan but now majority of the mainstream TV/Film actors even don't know the abc of acting and dialogue delivery.

BTW, no film, drama, book or person can defame the Islam, unfortunately, Muslim are really good at destroying their own religion.

[arzooemadinah]

Mudassar-Rana, on 29 August 2012 - 12:44 PM, said:

sis AM your missing the point completely. comedy is and always will be exaggeration. If people after this programme start thinking we pile up toilet rolls in the house or use plastic sheeting to protect our sofa's or our girls flirt between western and hijabi during the day then they are in need of a psychiatrist.

i know its exaggerations but what I am trying to say we still making fun for our community culture and relegion and what people see they will make out that we all live like that I met a lady few months back and she asked me can you muslim girls marry again with the same man after divorce etc and when I explained to her she said no in tv programmes this happened and she mentioned the programme and said that girl married again with same husband without marrying someone else as she trying to say something wrong you or the tv programmebecause locals think we do everything according to relegion. . mery piary bhai fun kay liye or boht kuch hay zarori nahe hay fun kay liye hum apna relegion culture ya ghar ki betian discuss kareen in programmes ,koi nunga ho to us ko kapara dena cahiyee na kay khood nunga ho jye insaan , shaed app ko bura laga lakin esy programmes ik sazish hain , instead of that he could make same programmes and show few nice cultured educated familes and that reflect our culture to others.

very rare we get chance to show our real relegion and culture to other communities on tv so if he had chance now he could do lot better than that .I am not saying they have to stop but people can react how they want and the programme will carry on and may be he will see in to it and improve this programme.

[chishtinizami]

Know-the-Ledge, on 29 August 2012 - 11:09 AM, said:

Awfully embarrassing. Awful and cliched and boring, been done a million times and you won't ever see a Jewish or Hindu community caricatured like this, it's only Pakistanis who like this self deprecating humour, fine on a small social scale but to reinforce stereotypes on a national level is just going to back fire and then you'll all be writing about how others don't take us seriously as a community. We're fast becoming like the Black community and making ourselves the target of toilet and cliche humour.

Tms I think the point of the hijaabi has been missed by you, people are not outraged at her dress, attitude, ethnicity or character, but the indolence she committed against the Koran and how that was played for cheap, tawdry laughs. Do you think that such egregious going ons in our communities should be depicted on comedic gags for laughs? Comedy is defined as a flirt with shamelessness, and it is that creative moment which makes us laugh, but shaming the sanctity of the Koran so people can har har is intolerable in my opinion.

Completely agree

[hidayah227]

Know-the-Ledge, on 29 August 2012 - 11:09 AM, said:

Tms I think the point of the hijaabi has been missed by you, people are not outraged at her dress, attitude, ethnicity or character, but the indolence she committed against the Koran and how that was played for cheap, tawdry laughs. Do you think that such egregious going ons in our communities should be depicted on comedic gags for laughs? Comedy is defined as a flirt with shamelessness, and it is that creative moment which makes us laugh, but shaming the sanctity of the Koran so people can har har is intolerable in my opinion.

Good point!

[Fekay]

I rarely watch BBC as I find it overly mainstream which to-me makes it crap. But here I think Pakistani community is slightly overreacting. It's a TV show stereotyping the behavior of Pakistanis, not Islam.