Daily Times

LAHORE: Coke studio, like most other things in Pakistan, meets an overwhelmingly mixed response almost every time it airs. You’ll hear it everywhere you go, from cafes to taxis and everyone you meet will think it’s their civic duty as a proud Pakistani to talk to you about their minute to minute analysis of every song that gets featured.

This time around, one of the most talked about songs is Afreen Afreen, a rendition of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Sahab’s hit by none other than Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Momina Mustehsan. Momina who, you ask? Momina Mustehsan is a 23-year-old New York based Pakistani song writer and singer. She was co-writer and co-singer to Farhan Saeed’s very popular ‘Pee Jaun’ but her shot to relative fame was when she sang playback for the band ‘Soch’ in an Indian film Ek villian with the song Awaari. Oh and she’s a mathematician, no biggie.

People haven’t really been able to digest Coke Studio’s Afreen Afreen and are seen constantly comparing it to the original which is funny considering how Coke studio covers usually serve as tributes to the original songs and not as an attempt to dethrone or replace (as if anyone could replace Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan). Also, why is that even considered a problem when almost every other drama and movie ‘borrows’ Khan Sahab’s hits all the time (Dillagi and Dekh Magar Pyaar Sey, anyone?)?

The problem seems to be none other than Momina Mustehsan. Girls think her voice is too squeaky and her beauty over rated while the boys can’t really stop drooling over her smile long enough to formulate intelligent sentences. An Engineer and mathematician who can sing well enough to be featured on Coke studio, arguably the best music platform in Pakistan, and we can’t stop talking about how she looks.

That’s what we do to smart independent women. We ignore all their hard work and accomplishments and reduce them to nothing but a face. Women consider them competition and lash out venomously while men can’t look past their beauty long enough to admire them for the skills they have undoubtedly worked hard to develop.

Ladies, the presence of someone else’s beauty doesn’t mean the absence of your own nor will acknowledging someone else’s accomplishments take anything away from your success. Isn’t it time you start building other women up instead of just claiming to be feminists. Today, girl on girl hate is doing as much damage, if not more, to the feminist movement than men hating on women. Because women not respecting women just gives men another reason to succumb to misogyny.

Now to the disease that most deem ‘La-illaaj’ but runs rampant in our society, tharak.

It is admitted that Momina Mustehsan is gorgeous. On her Instagram, every time she posts a picture, she looks admirable, from her hair to her style but that in no way means that we should ever believe that her beauty is all she has to offer to the world.

When someone is singing, they should be appreciated for their singing first and other things second.

Oh and if you’re one of those rare people who really do hate the cover just because they think it’s an insult to the original, here’s to acknowledging the effort people put in towards polishing their skills, no matter what they are, and knowing the difference between appreciating beauty and objectification.