Primal screen: Pakistan through the eyes of Lolly, Bolly and Holly
A series of images depicting the stereotypes which Pakistani, Indian and American films typically paint Pakistanis with.
Nadeem F. Paracha
Published
August 7, 2014
Pakistan according to Lollywood (Pakistani films) …
All bearded men are wise …
‘Modern’ women are always dressed to kill …
‘Modest’ women are always very philosophical …
All terrorists are foreign agents …
All good young men are muscular …
All decent Pakistanis are very pious, very patriotic and fantastic dancers …
Pakistan according to Bollywood
99.9 per cent of all Pakistanis are ISI agents ...
Pakistani pop musicians that come to India are all briefed to take over Kashmir …
All Pakistani men look like that scary guard at the Wagah border …
Pakistan according to Hollywood
America according to Lollywood
Nadeem F. Paracha is a cultural critic and senior columnist for Dawn Newspaper and Dawn.com. He is also the author of two books on the social history of Pakistan, End of the Past and The Pakistan Anti-Hero.
He tweets @NadeemfParacha
Comments (89) Closed
SJ
Aug 07, 2014 12:13pm
awesome, groovy another gem from NFP.
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Meeru
Aug 07, 2014 12:20pm
LOL
Al-yay!
Btw, America according to Lollywood heading is a little misplaced. Fix it.
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Akif
Aug 07, 2014 12:21pm
Is it only me or someone else also noticed the change in NFP's style? Nonetheless, a good one.
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Puneet
Aug 07, 2014 12:24pm
Lol
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Puneet
Aug 07, 2014 12:24pm
This is so good
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Amit
Aug 07, 2014 12:27pm
No "India according to Lollywood" post. That's disappointing.
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Farida
Aug 07, 2014 12:28pm
The best one is that how we see outside world - any idea why they give polio drop to women of 70 year old
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AAGB
Aug 07, 2014 12:29pm
thumbs up NFP.
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Khazana
Aug 07, 2014 12:32pm
Hilarious! A good laugh!
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Guru
Aug 07, 2014 12:34pm
Amazing. These pictures convey the prejudices, bang on.
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Ahsan
Aug 07, 2014 12:42pm
@Farida they administer polio drop to a lady aged 70 because she can be a carrier of polio virus and transport it.
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B
Aug 07, 2014 12:56pm
V nice, Keep it up ,Dawn ! Among my fav world newspapers .
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Syed Muhammad Ali
Aug 07, 2014 12:59pm
These are funny.
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Rahim
Aug 07, 2014 01:01pm
Excellent satire once again by NFP. Totally takes Lollywood, Bollywood and Hollywood depiction of Pakistan to the cleaners. Also hilarious was how Lollywood sees America. :)
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sam
Aug 07, 2014 01:01pm
I just had to comment- Its too funny. Keep it up :)
please do a part II :) where bollywood always wins from the last ball six (Sharjah did scar them pretty bad) and how ISI always has girls under cover who only fail cos they fall for an Indian agent.
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Napier Mole
Aug 07, 2014 01:17pm
There should be a law against reading vintage NFP in offices! Hilarious!
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Pak Rat
Aug 07, 2014 01:19pm
This could be big.
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rahul
Aug 07, 2014 01:23pm
WOw NFP... its only you who can see through biases people of different cultures have :-)
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Ayesha
Aug 07, 2014 01:37pm
Lol!! Very funny
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siddharth
Aug 07, 2014 01:37pm
lol , "
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Umer Ahmed
Aug 07, 2014 01:38pm
Hilarious!
But I'm so sure there are some idiots who have no clue behind NFP's satire here.
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Umer Ahmed
Aug 07, 2014 01:39pm
I specially loved how Hollywood and Bollywood stereotypes Pakistan.
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Aziz
Aug 07, 2014 01:43pm
NFP- you made me smile today as I was having a rotten week.I feel better now.
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Saad
Aug 07, 2014 01:48pm
@Amit: Read Pakistan according to Bollywood.. Same applies!
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event horizon
Aug 07, 2014 02:08pm
:-)
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Shahzad
Aug 07, 2014 02:18pm
Simply brilliant!!!!!!!
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S K D
Aug 07, 2014 02:42pm
Hilllllllllllllllllarious! Probably the best thing I have read in Dawn.com eversince I started visiting this site. Keep it up! Laughing together at the follies of all of us builds bridges better than anything else.
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piyush
Aug 07, 2014 02:59pm
Al-grocercy-ul-breakfast-wal-dynamite! Hilarious!
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Zafar
Aug 07, 2014 03:03pm
Super stuff. NFP is right: All three, Lollywood, Bollywood and Hollywood have myopic and silly perceptions about Pakistan.
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Khrram Khan
Aug 07, 2014 03:08pm
Awesome.... good stuff for laugh.... but it shows how badly the medium of movies is used to create such thoughts, which promote hatred among nations / people.
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Yaser Ali
Aug 07, 2014 03:15pm
Good One
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Hilarious
Aug 07, 2014 03:30pm
Nice! Actually, whether it's Bollywood, Hollywood, or anyone else outside Pakistan - everyone views Pakistan in the same light. Not saying it's right - but that's just how it is. We can all share a good laugh at this satire, though...
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Harish Kiran G S
Aug 07, 2014 03:31pm
Nice work, hillarious .........
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Gaurav Arya
Aug 07, 2014 03:52pm
NFP, do you have the slightest idea how cool you are
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Adil Ahmad
Aug 07, 2014 03:55pm
Very funny! Really!
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Ravi
Aug 07, 2014 04:10pm
What about all Pakistanis wearing taveez and skull caps and talking in Lucknowi urdu.
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GA
Aug 07, 2014 05:16pm
@Ravi - that is so true. And even men have kajal or surma in their eyes.
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The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Aug 07, 2014 05:30pm
Hahaha awesome
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KA
Aug 07, 2014 05:30pm
Nice ...
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Anil Nair
Aug 07, 2014 05:31pm
You know what is funny?
The Indian media does actually portray Pakistan like that :O
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Sanjeev Singh Juneja
Aug 07, 2014 05:36pm
just loved it.
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Rajdeep
Aug 07, 2014 05:58pm
So close to reality NFP, in fact one Holly movie "Independence day" they are showing 100s of panicked Indians assembled in front of TajMahal and praying for the safety......
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Naresh Kumar
Aug 07, 2014 06:08pm
Amazing! Mind blowing Ideas and great Illusions
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Hassan Nasir
Aug 07, 2014 06:32pm
Amjad Parveen; haha, couldn't be any better! Al-Yayyyy! :D
NFP sure knows how to 'crack' it up!
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Lyallpuri
Aug 07, 2014 06:33pm
Haha! Very true, specially, hollywood through lollywood
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Foucault
Aug 07, 2014 06:42pm
"India according to Lollywood" please.
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suresh dwivedi
Aug 07, 2014 06:42pm
the best one was... Dad I am gay.
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THAHIRUDDEEN
Aug 07, 2014 07:25pm
this is tooo good :D
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Sridhar
Aug 07, 2014 07:29pm
@Farida Unfortunately, Farida, there is a new development discovered recently. It is called Polio Relapse Syndrome. We had a panel of victims as old as 80+ who shared their stories with us. In fact, the Rotary is examining how it can collaborate with medical agencies and NGOs to see how they can stem the curse.
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Mansoor`
Aug 07, 2014 07:42pm
Cringe-worthy at best.
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Anup
Aug 07, 2014 07:54pm
Terrific NFP, you nailed every mindset, I appreciate your observation on our Indian audience. You proved, generalization is a laziness towards deeper thinking of a problem, it leads towards ridiculous and unrealistic conclusions. Without better understanding of each other it will be easy to be enemy of each other.
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Dr k
Aug 07, 2014 08:25pm
Awesome!
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Asif Naeem Bhatti
Aug 07, 2014 09:02pm
Excellent - simpley too good. Brilliant!
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Humaira
Aug 07, 2014 09:18pm
wow, very relevant and true, but u may add some more expressions, like barhkain, use of weapon, burqa wearing, etc.
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Zahid
Aug 07, 2014 09:48pm
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAlllaaaaaa
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raw is war
Aug 07, 2014 10:08pm
LOL. Rip roaring. Nadeem you were right on Bollywood and Hollywood. Not so on the other two.
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Anwaar Huk
Aug 07, 2014 10:13pm
@Rajdeep YEah I remember even in the movie Armageddon when they're showing people all across the world praying (and then rejoicing) at the planet being saved, they show a million people gathered infront of the Taj Mahal when they're showing India. lol. That was back in 1998 and not much has changed since...
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UJ
Aug 07, 2014 10:14pm
LOL... This was funny ! Kudos from India
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Big
Aug 07, 2014 10:36pm
Very funny
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Kamal
Aug 07, 2014 10:41pm
Wow! indeed. Very artistic and creative perspective.
I began to think what if...What if Pakistan and India became really good friends and then there were many cultural exchanges and people began to trust each other...What if the borders opened up and there was free movement of people between the two countries...the borders had no military presence but a few special helpers to help people crossing either way. What if people began to call them Indians and Pakistanis, not Hindus and Muslims. What will be the perspective between India and Pakistan then? Something to imagine. Possible, sure. It entirely depends on the visionary leadership of each country. How probable is that?
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Naveed Javed
Aug 07, 2014 11:15pm
Wallah NFP!!
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Aleem
Aug 07, 2014 11:47pm
"Almost every single Pakistani was involved in planning the Mumbai attacks
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ali
Aug 08, 2014 12:15am
Al-yayyyy,hilarious.
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Moiz Omar
Aug 08, 2014 12:36am
Mr. Nadeem, you always write the best articles.
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peem pom
Aug 08, 2014 01:27am
Awesome, NFP. Al yay - lol
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Saad Zafar
Aug 08, 2014 03:06am
Al-Yayyyyyyyyy
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Z Khan
Aug 08, 2014 03:12am
Epic. couldn't stop smiling early morning at workplace during breakfast while going through this fantastic collection. Bravo and Al YAYEE :-)
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Javeed
Aug 08, 2014 07:59am
hilarious, keep on :)
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Murtuza Imam
Aug 08, 2014 08:21am
Bang bang bannnnnggg. You did it again!!!. NFP
Come to Texas and Diner/drinks on me.
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Madhusudhan
Aug 08, 2014 09:17am
NFP has done it again!!!!
You have just made my day. Started my day with this article. Well, it has an underlining statement. All people, irrespective of the geographical, cultural and religious divisions are similar. They love peace and want to be happy. Here in my city (Pune, Maharashtra, India), my friends gang includes an a Pakistani guy, an Iranian, French and English (we are part of the same college). We have awesome fun. There is not a spec of mistrust or politics. This is what I want the world to be. No politics and war. Let's open our gates to our neighbours. They share our gene pool afterall.
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Reality
Aug 08, 2014 10:17am
Well NFP, changing the recipe is a good thing to do and that is what you have did. Keep writing, after all its a RAT RACE.
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John
Aug 08, 2014 10:30am
What if all this was true?
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RAKESH RAZDAN
Aug 08, 2014 11:36am
Reading NFP always give me inferiority complex. Why don't we have any like him here in India.
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Zafar
Aug 08, 2014 11:47am
@John What if you're s was just wishful thinking?
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asim
Aug 08, 2014 01:01pm
y r good young men supposed to be muscular?
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PRADEEP BHATIA
Aug 08, 2014 01:43pm
Excellent satire, as always,NFP.
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sri
Aug 08, 2014 02:29pm
had a roll on the floor laugh!! :-) awesome !!
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SAM
Aug 08, 2014 03:44pm
Real nice...rep
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Karachiwally
Aug 08, 2014 04:18pm
It was good that I read it second time, but I observe that some of the pictures have been removed. Not sure why!
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El Cid
Aug 08, 2014 04:20pm
NFP is growing some grey cells even as his hair grow grey !
For once no hate or envy being projected...but much fun.
Rather well done.
Much appreciate.
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Muhammad Awais Farooq
Aug 08, 2014 04:39pm
Big LoL :)
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bombayguy
Aug 08, 2014 05:49pm
Brilliant!
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Akhter
Aug 08, 2014 08:44pm
No one says groovy anymore
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desi
Aug 08, 2014 09:20pm
Sirjee,
Aap great ho. Love your articles, keep them coming!
best wishes,
S
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rahul
Aug 08, 2014 10:28pm
@Ahsan polio drops does not kill the polio virus it just help to develop immunity in child from polio infection. So administring polio drops to women of 70 yrs is foolish act.
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Rashid
Aug 09, 2014 06:46pm
NFP as usual masterpiece. Really loved it.
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Outliers_PK
Aug 09, 2014 07:19pm
That's my photo! The guard from Wagah Border is my photo. Probably found from instagram @theOutliers_pk
I'm happy to see it enjoyed but since you didn't credit me, I might as well credit myself.
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sandeep sharma
Aug 10, 2014 03:06pm
Perfect ...... Great
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Ambuj Tripathi
Aug 11, 2014 12:21pm
Excellent Article. Very well Thought Out.
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