The last time this writer
saw Atiqa Odho in person was many years ago when she was
speaking in favour of intellectual property rights for
artists at a seminar. Since then, she's married Javed
and had a daughter by him, Zarmeen, a sprightly seven-year-old
very proper young lady with a discerning eye for shades.
It's no secret that Atiqa relies upon Zarmeen while developing
her range of lipstick, blush-on and mascara. Today, Atiqa
is in the cosmetics business with 150 outlets all over
the country but her love affair with the small screen
continues. In her effort to seek synergy between her two
endeavours has yielded Passion, a weekly television programme
that advises working women on the appropriate 'look' in
the workplace, make-up, hairstyles and all.
Atiqa Odho hasn't left
showbusiness for the cosmetics industry. On the contrary,
her spirit of enterprise and 'out-of-the-box' thinking
has led her into configuring a marriage between vanity
and beauty, and the media. Atiqa's media persona is so
strong that few hark back to the time when she was a stylist
at Karachi's Cuts & Cappuccino way back in 1994.
Aired on Hum TV every Wednesday
at 7pm, Passion targets middle-class working women including
lawyers, accountants, police and immigration officers,
as well as local young women fresh out of college and
looking for a job who want to know how to carry themselves.
Jatiqa is the name of her cosmetics venture, with the
'J' for hubby Javed who provides management and marketing
counselling, though Atiqa herself has demonstrated a flair
for knowing what her customers want. The venture now takes
up all her morning hours.
As for the afternoons,
she's found a challenging assignment with Indus Vision
where she heads creative programming, charged with the
rather daunting task of revamping dramas. The work, she
says, is right up her creative, high-energy alley, and
things are looking up. Although the entrance to the premises
continues to present a very unkempt and congested look,
the transformation becomes obvious when one enter Atiqa's
wing on the second floor - high-tech with sophisticated
editing machines and plenty of young talent going about
their business in studied fashion. "Talent is one
thing we are not short of in Pakistan," says Atiqa
in right earnest. "It is the grooming that's gone
awry. Mostly it's been exploited and misdirected."
Her hot property is a serial
she's shooting called From Kolachi To Karachi, a collection
of 26 plays about the life and times of people in Pakistan's
commercial capital. Produced by Odho Productions, it is
due to go on air shortly. She flashes a segment called
Kalapul about a young adult born on the wrong side of
the divide, with an obsession for crossing over to the
lifestyle of the well-heeled and prosperous. The camerawork,
script and editing is slick and sophisticated with no
melodrama. "Pakistani TV dramas have been held hostage
for some time now by either flippancy or overburdened
by unnecessary pathos, and this has come to be reflected
in the mindset of society with unfortunate results,"
says Atiqa who has made an attempt to redress this downside.
To what extent she has succeeded will become apparent
when the serial goes on air. The work is high-pressure
with all manner of deadlines itemised on wall charts,
and pursued with controlled aggression. She is in her
element and leading a full life indeed.
Atiqa started off as a
professional make-up artist and hair stylist working in
1989, working for various advertising agencies in Karachi.
She's worked with top photographers, and on her web site
www.atiqaodho.com, pays tribute to Asif Raza, Nadeem A.
Khan, Arif Mehmood, Tapu Javeri, Ather Shehzad and Arshad
Tareen. In 1990, Anwar Maqsood starred her in Sitara Aur
Mehrunissa from where she went on to become a household
name in Pakistan. But not many plays have followed since,
partly because she's been choosy about what she does and
her desire for diversity that has led Atiqa to work with
other mediums of expression while raising three kids.
In addition to Zarmeen who is probably the world's youngest
colour connoisseur, there is Bilal (17) and Umnia (20)
who has found her niche as creative director of Odho Productions
while studying law and business management.
"After living in America
for eight years, I got tired of hearing negative things
about Pakistan," she says. "This country has
millions of wonderful people, and I wanted to get to know
some of them a little better and share them with the rest
of the world." Her years in the US came about when
hubby Javed landed a job in New York with a leading management
firm, and Atiqa throttled back on her own ambitions to
play full-time housewife and mom. "After 9/11 there
was this whole confusion of 'who am I' and 'where am I
from'. It basically forced us to reconnect with our own
identity." The return of the native has been good
for the homeland.
She has some very definite
views on where the local entertainment industry should
be headed. "With regard to India, I feel that we
are going to lose ourselves very fast," she says.
"We need to hang on to our own identity. Everybody
seems to be encouraging this India takeover. Nobody will
invest in Pakistani cinema if Indian films are allowed
to run openly. We should have co-productions, and ensure
that our point of view and values are incorporated. We
must be very clear on where we are coming from culturally,
and what our limitations are. We can never go mainstream.
Our strength lies in our writing and scripts, but unfortunately
our producers aren't focused on that. They are going with
masala, and it doesn't work. First, it was 80 per cent
what was being said and 20 per cent who was saying it.
Now that's been reversed. We are not keeping them glued
to that screen anymore. The jumlabazi of Ashfaq Ahmed
and Bano Qudsia is incredible. We have stopped investing
in scripts, and our writers are not putting in the time
and effort anymore. We have forgotten to tell a story
the way it should be told."
Atiqa's been involved in
three Lollywood ventures, namely Jo Darr Gaya Woh Marr
Gaya (1995), Mummy (1997) and Mujhay Chand Chahiye (1998).
Her live appearances have included Rahat Kazmi's Bijli
Piyar Aur Abbajaan staged in 1994, host of the World Team
Squash Championship opening ceremony in Karachi in 1993,
the Lux Style Awards in 2002, co-host with Art Malik for
Rhythms of Indus at the Royal Albert Hall in London in
2003, and the Dance Music Masti at Wembley Arena in London
in 2004.
The desi in Atiqa loves
daal chawal ("it's so energizing and it doesn't make
you cranky or sleepy"). The only time she lived on
a diet of pizzas and burgers was when she was in New York,
ultimately learning to cook her favourite food really
well. "The last 20 years have been very interesting
with never a dull moment. Children should never be a hindrance
to working mothers," says Atiqa, and despite the
popular negative stereotype, she does not find the working
environment in Pakistan hostile.
"I think men in our
society have a lot of respect for women who are serious
about their work. There is also a serious lack of opportunity
for women in the male-dominated cosmetic industry,"
she says, hoping to reverse the situation. Just the kind
of shot in the arm the country needs in its search for
competitive advantage in an increasingly borderless world.
