Jimmy Khan’s single, even before it was released, had us intrigued when we saw the colourful poster which featured a transgender. The transgender issue has been a topic of great interest this year it seems, with the popular transgender model and activist Kami Sid emerging in a strong fashion photoshoot, along with popular drama serial Khuda Mera Bhi Hai shedding light on the problems faced by the trans community in Pakistan.
Jimmy Khan’s song aims to do the same and leaves a significant impact. As catchy as the song is, the focus remains on the video, which shows the average day of a khawaja sira in our society. From being harassed, insulted and objectified, the average khawaja sira is treated in an abhorrent manner and one can’t help but cringe at what is shown. Though what the musician has shown is not news (it is something we see everyday but expertly ignore at every traffic signal and every street corner) the explicit yet artistic coverage of the subject in the video forces one to watch and not turn a blind eye to it.
We asked the musician his purpose behind the video and what he thought he could achieve with it.
Read our interview with Furqan Qureshi, who played the transgender boy in Khuda mera bhi hai
“It’s a reminder of how we treat differences in our country…in the hope of evoking this reality and maybe changing the way we perceive members of this alienated group, the message is quite simply to not exclude and humiliate them, and to recall our own humanity,” Jimmy told us.
The caption for the video, on the artist’s Facebook and Youtube page, says ‘Watch. Absorb. Reflect. Change.’ This is the clear objective of the song and while it may be overshadowed by the video, in this case that is acceptable. The catchy tune has been stuck in our head since we heard it, but it’s more of a bittersweet feeling than anything else.
Watch the video and tell us what you think…
