The ‘Khalli Walli’ show: Comedy for awareness

YouTube music video, “Ja Jawazat” by a group of Pakistani artists called the “Khalli Walli” show has amazed everyone, from expatriates to locals, including the Jawazat authorities (Passport Department), who have appreciated their work.
The comic video has gone viral, and has so far attracted 2,992,369 views on YouTube. The cast and crew members of the now famous show in the Kingdom have been honored by Salman Al-Yahya, director-general of the Passport Department, in appreciation of the group’s rendition of a video clip depicting the country’s ongoing labor raids against illegal workers.
While felicitating the group members, Al-Yahya congratulated them for successfully raising awareness about the ongoing campaign, which is aimed at streamlining the labor market in the Kingdom.
Al-Yahya also said that 100 copies of the song were distributed by the Passport Department during the Janadriyah festival.
Speaking to Arab News, the group’s leader Faez Choudhary, a Pakistani national born and brought up in the Kingdom, said the idea was conceptualized by him during the grace period as the expatriate workers were very worried about legalizing their status to stay in the Kingdom.
“The act in the music video depicts the recent grace period given to expats to legalize their residency status,” Choudhary said.
In the video, a Pakistani expat fiddles with a satellite dish, only to notice a policeman in the distance, prompting him to warn his illegal fellow expats to run for cover.
“I thought about the song, really it’s a good idea, and then we made it in a comical way,” he said.
“With that concept in my mind I narrated the story idea to my team, which basically comprises of the ‘Khalli Walli’ crew members who are mostly Pakistanis living and working in the Kingdom. They appreciated it and affirmed their commitment to work together. The motivating factor, however, was a Saudi national Ahmed Al-Khaldi, who played the role of a Jawazat officer in the song.”
“He told me, ‘We must go ahead with the project as it is good enough to be introduced in the public domain’,” said Choudhary, who wrote the song and conceptualized it.
Al-Khaldi, who played the immigration official in the video, told Arab News, “My character in the song is that of a passport officer. Expat workers are trying to escape from me, fleeing left and right of me and I try to catch them. In the end, there is a message for the passport officers, who are after the violators of Saudi laws.”
When asked if there could have been an issue with the use of uniform in the video without seeking prior approval, he said: “In the end, we were doing a right thing and I had a good feeling about it and believed that it would be appreciated, which came to light later as our work was acknowledged by the Jawazat authorities.”
Apart from Choudhary and Al-Khaldi, Billal Arshad, Omer Khalid, Ghaffar Khan, Zakriya Khan, Mohammed Waseem, Jahanzaib Ijaz, Fawaz Choudhary, Fahad Zahoor, Faisal Abu Fahad, Ali Jamshaid and Amaani Fatimah are the members of the ‘Khalli Walli’ show who acted and provided technical support in the making of the ‘Ja Jawazat’ music video.
“When I met with our group and I explained to them the idea, they liked it. They said we must go ahead, let’s film the song. Then we filmed the song and posted it on YouTube. The number of views so far is about three million. We hope that number goes up to five million and more,” Choudhary said.
Commenting on all the appreciation they have received, he said, “One day I got a message on Twitter from one Salman Al-Yahya saying that he wants us to meet him as we have done good work. I had no clue that he was the director-general of the Passport Department. I left my phone number in the message to him. Next day, I got a call from him asking me and my team to come to Jawazat.”
He added, “When we went there we were very happy as Al-Yahya expressed appreciation for our show and said that the department is looking forward to supporting us in other such upcoming projects.”
He said that they want the ‘Khalli Walli’ show to make more videos for awareness about the Passport Department as it has become famous among expats, who have since become better acquainted with labor rules. Each member of the group was awarded with certificates of appreciation. A collective golden shield was also given to the show.
The ‘Khalli Walli’ show was officially launched on YouTube on June 18, 2012, inspired by the Bollywood song ‘Why this Kolaveri di’ and the Saudi style of saying ‘khalli walli’.
It is the only non-Saudi group licensed by the Ministry of Culture and Information.

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