00:00Oh yaar, don't call him, he's a burger boy, he'll not enjoy it.
00:03Burger Baccha sounds odd, right?
00:05You might have even seen Anamir Singh use the word in Dhurrandan.
00:08On screen, it seems like a throwaway joke.
00:10But in Pakistan, those two words carry decades of meaning.
00:16At its simplest in Pakistan, a burger boy refers to an urban affluent young man.
00:20He probably studied in elite schools, knows his global pop culture, wears international brands
00:25and moves through life with the kind of ease that money and privilege provide.
00:28Think Imran Khan, but more on that later.
00:30I think this is a movement which happens in the history of nations very rarely.
00:36So back in the late 1970s, Pakistan did not have McDonald's or Burger King.
00:40A Karachi businessman tried to bring McDonald's, but they said no.
00:43Burger King, same story.
00:45Pakistan was not ready.
00:47So the Raza family took matters into their own hands.
00:50They studied McDonald's in the US, came back and opened Mr. Burger in Karachi in 1980.
00:55First day sold out.
00:56Students, socialites, business elites, and even political royalty like Asif Ali Zardari,
01:01long before he became president while quoting Benazir Bhutto, all showed up.
01:05Suddenly, burgers were not just food, they were a lifestyle.
01:09Neighbourhoods mattered too.
01:10Clifton and Defence, Karachi's posh areas became burger territory.
01:14If you casually said, let's go for burgers, everyone knew you were privileged.
01:18Alu?
01:19What do you mean, mama?
01:21Fast forward, the term burger stopped meaning food and started meaning lifestyle.
01:25Stylish, English speaking, plucked into global culture, maybe a little out of touch.
01:30Comedians and pop culture ran with it.
01:32You have to drive a car, right?
01:34And by the 2010s, it entered politics.
01:39During the Imran Khan era, young urban supporters of Khan, laptop carrying, social media savvy, educated,
01:45were mocked as burger bachchas.
01:47Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, former federal minister for interior of Pakistan,
01:50even joked that they'd need laptops on their heads to shield them from the sun.
01:54But the joke missed the point.
01:56Koi cheez da mumpkin nahi hain.
01:58In the 2013 elections, these so-called burgers turned up.
02:0213 million first-time voters, mostly young and urban.
02:05Imran Khan's PTI emerged as the second most powerful party.
02:08What started as an insult became a badge of honour, Kaptaan's Burger Army.
02:13If I have the responsibility, I have the authority.
02:16So when Dharanda drops Burger Boy, it works perfectly.
02:19In Pakistan, a burger is never just a burger.
02:22It's class, culture, politics and a little bit of rebellion.
02:25I'm Anish Adhikari.
02:26Thank you for watching The Culture Project on More.
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