PremBabu Sharma
Shriprakash Jaiswal, Hon’ble Union Minister for Coal today launched Rama Pandey’s book “Begum Bano aur Khatoon” at a ceremony held at The Ambassador Hotel, New Delhi. Dignitaries like Javed Akhtar, Muzaffar Ali, Ashok Chakradhar and Mamta Sharma -Chairperson for National Commission for women were the Guests of Honour along with the presence of Ghazal Maestro Ghulam Ali, Vice Chancellor of Jamia Hamdard- Najeeb Jung and Prabha Thakur, Member of parliament. The book launch was followed by Sufi music, the music which is referred as the music of the soul, from the Rajasthani artists “Babu Khan Manganiyar with group and Jamila Khatoon, Last Court singer of Royal Jodhpur tradition”Begum Bano aur Khatoon talks about the trail and tribulation of Indian Muslim women.
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| Ashok Chakradhar, Mamta Sharma, Javed Akhtar, Hon’bl Minister Shri Shri Prakash Jaiswal, Rama Pandey, Muzaffar Ali and Ghulam Ali launching the Book ‘Begum, Bano aur Khatoon’ |
It’s about their struggle, resilience and their success story. The book carries with itself seven incidences which are heart touching and sensitive. The book celebrates the strength and courage of Indian Muslim women. The author has very closely followed these women and was awestruck with their desire to change their lives’ for a better tomorrow. The book consists of real life stories of Muslim women of modest traditional background who mustered courage and determination to fight for their rights and went ahead to live their lives with dignity. The incidences imprinted in the book have been composed in the ‘drama’ style of literature.
Commenting on the launch of her book Ms. Rama Pandey said, “This book actually reveals the current situation of Indian Muslim women who are often not given the opportunity to prove their real worth. Begum, Bano aur Khatoon is like a dream coming true for me. I have followed these women very closely and now is the time to celebrate & salute their success. They are path breakers, fighters and achievers in true sense”.
Begum Bano aur Khatoon depicts range of emotions and establishes the emerging face of our society. Different stories highlight the zeal among these women who strive to dream and are determined to change their lives. The journey from a house wife to an entrepreneur; riveting story of entering unconventional profession and becoming Criminal Lawyer; fighting the curse of Talak (Divorce) and giving hope to others; a parachute jumper fighting the boredom of household chores whose husband is away working in
Saudi Arabia and a girl athlete whose pre conditions on her Nikaah shocks the society. Rama Pandey has an extensive career of 40 years in diverse fields like broadcasting, acting/theatre, teaching, writing, programme presentation, event management and film production/direction at national and international levels. Right from her childhood, she had interests in the creative field and began her career as a child artist. Her professional experience includes working with DD India and BBC Hindi and her film industry experience includes acting in 8 art films, directing 300 TV films, including 4 a 35mm full length feature film.
She has worked with Doordarshan India as a Producer at a time when the channel was the only source of household entertainment and did some pioneering projects for rural audiences. At BBC Hindi Service at Bush House London, she simultaneously contributed regularly to BBC Asian Television and significantly towards some major field projects of the BBC in Asia.
She has an illustrious writing career with several serials, stories, programmes, films, documentaries to her credit. She has written, produced and directed several multi-episode serial programmes (including Shabash Begum, Suno Kahani, Jaanen Apna Desh*), and several hundred tele-films, news capsules and documentaries. She has written and published Faisle, a collection of true stories of underprivileged but courageous Muslim women who struggled and went ahead to live with success and dignity.
She has numerous laurels to her name. Some of her achievements include being India’s First woman Producer Director at BBC Radio, London (1981), becoming the First Cultural Ambassador of India to be sent to “World Trade Exhibition” held at Montreal, Canada in 1971, being the first Producer Director/Presenter of Indian Satellite Programs, “SITE” in 1972-73 and the first Presenter of “Yuv-vani”, Rajasthan. Apart from these, she owns a longest running show with 500 episodes named “Jaane Apna Desh”, which involves youth & families with LIVE performances all over India.
