Adil Najam
One of the earliest posts we did at ATP was titled “Indians are laughing at Pakistanis.” It was about a comedians from Karachi – Rauf Lala, Irfan Malik, Ali Hasan and others – who were taking Indian audiences by storm in the hit Indian television show “The Great Indian Laughter Challenge.” 40 year old Rauf Lala from Pakistan went on to be voted the “Funniest Man in India”!
Today I heard from a former student telling me how a set of young Pakistani singers are winning Indian hearts in the ZeeTV hit show SaReGaMa Challenege 2007. Three Pakistanis reached the top-8 and one, Amanat Ali from Faisalabad, is now in the final three. The Super Final will be on the 13th of October and while the competition at this level is super tough, many are giving him better than even odds for winning.
I have caught the show occasionally, but had not seen any of the 2007 shows. I have a fondness for South Asian music in general and have always been amazed at the quality of the contestants in Indian music contests. There have been some phenomenal performers in these shows. Unlike many US reality contests (including early rounds of ‘American Idol’) where novelty can trump talent, the musical talent in Indian shows is nearly always phenomenal. So, while I had been skeptical about Kashif Memon making it to America’s Got Talent, this I had to see.
What I saw is actually very impressive. At the end of this performance of Mitwa, note the judges’ reactions at the end of the song. The superlatives they use are astounding, and obviously heartfelt.
If you look at his performances, he seems to excel as much at the ‘performance’ as at the singing. He sometimes improvises by putting his own or a judge’s name in the song and the confidence, charm and charisma he has on stage is certainly catching. Here is one example of this with the Soniya. Note Kareena Kapoor’s reaction.
Of course, the novelty of being from ‘across the border’ must have some role in the success of Amanat Ali and his compatriots. But it has also been a burden at times and because of their follies or other’s intentions inevitable controversies have also emerged. My own inclination is to ignore them for the time being. This is a young 19-year old from Faisalabad making it big – no, huge – in neighboring India. The pressures cannot be easy and, at least on the stage, he is carrying them well. This particular show (15th August) made for some needless controversy, but again, I thought that he not only carried a very difficult song (Aye meray piyarey watan) very well but his opening words weren’t bad either.
His real strength seems to be his classical singing training. It comes across in many of his performances, but in his rendition of this not-easy to sing Ghulam Ali ghazal (hungama hai kuon barpa):
Probably his other songs were better sung, but I got first hooked when I heard this song (janey kahan gaye woh din) which is one of my all time favorite songs from one of my all time favorite movies (Mera naam Joker):
And finally, here is one more great song, beautifully rendered. Tujh say naaraz nahi zindagi from the very momorable film Masoom.
I don’t know enough about the other two finalists to make any predictions, nor do I have any expertise in such things. But it should be obvious from the above that I have been very taken by Amanat Ali’s performances and have been watching his videos again and again. I know a good performer when I see one. And Amanat Ali is certainly that. I wish him well. I also wish that he the intense politics of our region will leave him alone and he will leave it alone too.
P.S. I had written this before the blast at Ajmer today. Our hearts and sympathies go out to all who lost their lives or are injured in the blast. As we have maintained earlier, violence is never a solution to anything and those who use violence to instill fear and create hatred must not be allowed to wreck the efforts of those who want to spread peace and goodwill. All violence, by anyone, anywhere, and for any reason must be condemned and rejected by all. It is in this spirit that we have decided to go ahead with this post which, we hope, has deeper meaning than just highlighting a really talented singer from Pakistan making his mark in India. May the oices of peace always overwhelm teh voices of violence
EXCELLANT AMAANAT,DOING WELL ,NO POLITICS,NO VIOLANCE ,OUR RELIGION TEACHES US PEACE.PAKISTAN DEMANDED WITH THE GOOD INTENTION OF INNOCENT MUSLIMS OF SUBCONTINENT ,.THEY WERE NOT AWARE OF THE HIDDEN INTENTIONS OF THEIR SO CALLED LEADERS.
as we all know by now amanat ali was cheated out from the winning position by zee and hemesh reshmiya. I think everyone knows why and who deserves to be the winner. BUT this post is not about the injustices those guys have done to poor amanat. What i want to know is why zee tv is allowed to suck our pakistani talent out of pakistan. Amanat is now living in india and trying to achieve success in the film industry (although i dont like the kneeling and worshipping the music judges these can go towards shirk) He has recently sung 1 line in a song and is getting more as and when time comes. Problem is that we are not understanding that the indian creative arts industry is ill and needs fresh blood in terms of comedy writers, comedians and singers. They are sucking our identity and making it their own. Tomorrow you will see more shahrukh khans doing pooja and saying india is my country and this has done everything for me. We will see amanat loosing his footing after he has been completely squeezed out as is the nature of the commercialised system. Not only amanat dozens of youngsters are now attracted towards these awards just to get a chance to sing for bollywoood films. Where is our talent going there will be no one identifying as pakistani all would become indians. These guys can early really good money (in hundreds of thousands) if they stay and live in pakistan, they get respect and love, good money to live their lives in a respectable manner but yet they choose to live in india and in the end probably would die as indians. As one judge pointed out amanat you are now India’s amanat.
Hi,
I was not use too to litsen music alot due to my busy schedule but when I saw Amanat clip on youtube 2 weeks before, I spend my last whole week to watch and litsen his songs even postpone my work, sleep everything except my Namaz. I put another LCD on my table where which I have attached with my computer where I can see his clips. He is really a fantastic guy. He boosts, encourage me alot, cause this young boy recognise him all over the world. Amanat you are super hero not because you are from same city from where I am. Well I had started one of the biggest project two months before and now able to present soon in fringe festival, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. I really appriciate this guy for his tremendous performence. Wish him all the very best. May ALLAh live him long. Insha Allah we will ensure the world by our talent, strength, work, that Pakistani are not behind to any one else in the World. Thanks
Again Best of LUCK
Hi Amanat, i gotta know about your superb talent from the youtube after searching for hindi love song..the moment i heard your voice…wow..i fallen in love…i am Malaysian mixed Pakistani but i cant speak urdu….you make me proud bro…really …
pakistan to karachi
iam from pakistan swat iam pathan
hay you did great job and i thanks all indian people who give you voat and plz plz we people are not against each othere
Salam Amanat Ali, This is Nandini from india (A.P) Kadapa i would like to say you are my best hero and i like u r voice somuch, i know hindi, mai kehte hu ke tum 3 finalist me se tum (Amanat Ali) is the best and Topper in 3 finalish, tume pata hai tum pakistan se ho ilkeye indians ko india wale jetadiye hai . but tum winner ho dear, I like u and u r voice,
I LOVE YOU Amanat Ali
You are the winner in Sa Re Ga Ma Pa challenge 2007
Salam, Amanat Ali iam from india , but i like u r voice somuch, you are the best youngest singer in Asia and world, keep it up aur tum feel mathona ke aap ko first prize nahi aaya, but u r the best in final 3 conistents.
Allaha appko aur apke ghar waloku sahi salamat rakhi (Ameen)