Here We Go Again

Fresh on the heels of Abhijeet's backdoor trashing of his ability, Atif Aslam has once again been slammed on an Indian sing song show, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa. Although this time, it was by somebody with slightly more credentials:

That's right, Asha Bhosle got in on the fun! Well, kind of. A couple things about this video. First, your participants other than Ms. Bhosle would be from left to right: Pritam(Music Director), Shankar (Playback Singer/Music Director), Himesh Reshamiya (singer/ladies man/hat enthusiast) and finally Aadesh Shrivastav (Music Director). Oh there's also a young Sikh contestant named Sukhwinder who gets caught in crosshairs. Poor bastard.

Anyway, this is the second major attack on Atif in the past two weeks. Just as we said about recognizing his popularity in this argument, we must recognize charges that are made by experts in the field. It may be time to use some of the ample touring money he makes for singing lessons. And you really can't hate on the critics, because they came right out and made their point. Also, I like that they hired the same guy to edit this show that does Kusum. The multiple zoom ins, the slow mo, the b&w replays, all so effin sweet. It raises the level of tension to garam masala levels.

It was kind of sweet to see Pritam come to his defense since they've worked together, but he probably stole that argument from a Korean Show. Really nothing else to add here other than Himesh Reshamiya, you sly dog, I didn't know you had that sassy mane under the hat. He should let that thing out more often and let the ladies know what's up.

Abhijeet Not The Biggest Atif Aslam Fan In The World; Also Dick Xenophobe

The clip below is from the new Indian sing-song talent show "Ek Se Bhadkar Ek", which features winners and stars from various other Indian sing-song talent shows, whether it be Indian Idol, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, or Gao Meri Bulbul Paisa Milay Ga. I'm kidding of course, they would never let those no talent douchebagels from Indian Idol on this show.

Moving on, in this clip Sa Re Ga Ma Pa 2007 winner and Shiny Golden Coat enthusiast Aneek Dhar makes the fatal mistake of singing an Atif Aslam song in front of renowned Indian playback singer Abhijeet Bhattachar, who straight up don't play that shit. You can watch the entire clip to watch young Aneek's performance or jump straight to 3:30 to watch the some of the most blatant anti-Pakistan sentiment since Kargil...

Fascinating isn't it? I mean how can you argue with that kind of straight logic. And let's be honest, this is not the first time Atif Aslam's sur has been challenged. Heck, we have even gone on record questioning the quality of his live performances. The problem here is the person leveling the criticism. Maybe if Abhijeet hadn't tried to ban Pakistani singers in 2003, or made the claim that Pakistani singers weren't stars until they came to India, or beat up a union worker whom he considered a "pimp of Pakistani singers"(I want to know where to fill out applications for that job by the way) we could take his words at face value.
But knowing the history, if you watch the clip again, you see his argument lacks a certain "maa ka dood". Saying that he doesn't know or care who the singer is seems like a preemptive strike for the questions that he knew he would have to answer later. If he was genuine about getting his point across, he should have address it in a different forum and basically taken the questions then. He seems to be passionate about the subject, it just doesn't make sense to use this platform to attack Atif. And finally, I know just because something is popular doesn't make it quality, but you have to give credit where it is due. Atif is the biggest star in the subcontinent and he does fill a void in India. A lot of it may be the packaging or whatever, but you can't just overlook the response he has gotten.
Anyway I think I'm done ranting. You know what's funny about this is that I really don't even like Atif.

(Thanks to Nabeel for the video)

He's So Cool, He's So Fine, Out of Ten I'd Give Him Nine!

Oh ho, HERO!

Atif Aslam and the gang are currently touring in North America (except for Mexico...."No es justo!" they're saying in Tijuana) and several of my janne-wale have seen him perform. By most accounts Atif is an underwhelming live singer but by all accounts he gets the crowd excited like no one. Pakistan has had pop-stars dating back to the late 80's who were trend setters and acts like Nusret Fateh Ali Khan and Junoon have reached a world stage, but within Pakistan and the South Asian community no individual has had an impact on pop-culture like Atif Aslam. Since the day Jal dropped Aadat all of Pakistan's middle class teenage boys wanted to be pop-stars. Even in the west Pakistanis and Indians want to be the next Atif Aslam (cough cough). It is amazing how many people purchased a guitar after Atif Aslam came out of the closet with his first song. His essstyle is mimicked all over the world making me excited about my trip to Pakistan because now I get to sport a faux hawk, wear my sister's jeans, and occasionally a paan stained wife beater and some short shorts without facing ridicule. I also get to hold hands with other men in public! At this point whether Atif is better than Jal (definitely not) or whether or not he can hold a candle to Strings (again, no) is irrelevant. He is Pakistan's first legitimate rock star. He's Elvis, he's Elton John Lennon, and dare I say it, he is a cowboy, on a steel horse he rides, he's wanted, WANTED! dead or alive.