Sexy TV host's popularity underscores Pakistan's contradictions - Los Angeles Times

Sexy TV host's popularity underscores Pakistan's contradictions

Many consider Mathira immoral for her provocative attire and willingness to talk about taboo subjects such as sexuality, love and AIDS. Others admire her for pushing the limits.

Love Indicator TV host Mathira Mohammed knows what shes doing, is a good businesswoman, says Pakistani magazine editor Andleeb Rana. Dumb? Its part of the brand. (Faisal Farooqui / 25)

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By Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Karachi, Pakistan

Raunchy. An inspiration. A sex kitten. Pakistan's Paris Hilton.

TV host Mathira Mohammad has been called all that and more. Love her or hate her, she's making waves, as critics in Pakistan accuse her of immorality and supporters laud her willingness to tackle taboo subjects such as sexuality, love and HIV/AIDS.

"A lot of people judge me by what I wear, say I'm not a good woman," she said, loping through the lobby of a five-star hotel in Karachi wearing leopard-skin shoes and a sleeveless Ali Baba outfit, as jaws dropped and necks swiveled. "The clothes aren't anything."

Other celebrities show more cleavage and wear shorter skirts, but don't catch on, said Mathira, as she's universally known. "Whenever I go, the show starts. When I leave, it ends."

Her popularity fueled by a quick wit, sex appeal and shock factor underscores the diversity and contradictions of a country often seen abroad as little more than a land of suicide bombers, Islamic fundamentalists and national disasters.

"Our society is supposed to be pious, yet you have girls like this doing raunchy numbers and they're very popular," said Mazhar Zaidi, a documentary filmmaker. "Pakistan's a complicated society, at one level very orthodox, at another it's just a veneer."

Mathira, 19, started with a yoga cable TV program a few years ago before hosting "Love Indicator," a late-night advice show. Her provocative attire and thoughts on sex, relationships and in-laws soon boosted ratings.

But her big break came when a male caller made lewd suggestions.

"That's sad," she fired back live, without a moment's hesitation. "Pakistan, you are so frustrated. Go to your wife.... If you don't have a wife, find a wife, or do something to get rid of this frustration. Live TV is not a place to release your frustration."

The video went viral.

Her humor, including an ability to laugh at herself, has also caught people's attention.

"I don't believe 'all men are dogs,'" she said, before urging wives to leash their canines. "A dog is a man's best friend and can also bite. It depends on how you treat it."

At a restaurant in downtown Karachi, Afia Firaz, 25, sat eating a sandwich and French fries. "The show is very vulgar," she said. "It's a bad trend for Pakistani society."

Two tables away, outsourcing employee Zia Ahmed, 28, disagreed. "She's the future of our country. It's pushing limits, raising issues generally not spoken about in the media. We're progressing because of people like her."

Mathira plays dumb, fueled by her signature on-air baby talk. But off-camera, in a wide-ranging interview, she's professional and well-informed, decrying Pakistan's growing fundamentalism, huge military budgets and dismal education system.

"She's smart, knows what she's doing, is a good businesswoman," said Andleeb Rana, editor of Xpoze magazine, which featured her on its cover. "Dumb? It's part of the brand."

As Mathira sees it, Pakistan is a small, backbiting society that smiles to her face but flings knives in her back. A Muslim, and hardly a feminist, she decries the hypocrisy of Muslims drinking in private even as they publicly denounce alcohol as sinful. She says her relationship with her God is personal.

She acknowledges the threat of being attacked by fundamentalists but says she's careful and has protectors. Ordinary life, she says, continues in Pakistan despite a view that it's all terrorism.

"There are criminals everywhere," she said, "even Beverly Hills."

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