Ali Saleem, as Begum (Mrs) Nawazish Ali
© AFP Asif HassanKARACHI (AFP) - The sons of a retired army colonel, Ali and Umar Saleem have both opted for the bright lights of the new cable channels that are avidly watched by Pakistan's young people -- even if their styles are poles apart.
In his camp alterego Begum (Mrs) Nawazish Ali, 27-year-old Ali dons a jewelled sari and make-up for his his weekly chat show and greets his guests with a cabaret song and a mix of saucy banter and hard-hitting questions.
"The purpose of the show is to break barriers and to show that there is no man or woman, no Pakistan or India, no gay and no straight," says Ali, still in costume after recording a show in the southern city of Karachi.
The Late Night Show with Begum Nawazish Ali appears on Aaj Television, Pakistan's third main private channel and one of dozens that have sprung up under liberalised media laws introduced by military ruler Pervez Musharraf.
Umar and Ali Saleem at TV studions in Karachi
© AFP Asif HassanHis creation, a glamorous, bitchy widow looking for a husband, has raised a few eyebrows in conservative Pakistan, but urbanites have largely greeted him with a mixture of amusement and applause.
"When I wear the sari, I only get adoration, I only get praise," he adds, cigarette in hand. "I have never had any threats or discrimination, not from the fundos (Islamic fundamentalists)."
Ali's previous guests have included rape victim Mukhtaran Mai, an Islamic hardliner, various politicians and a Bollywood actress and director.
He says his dream guest is Musharraf himself -- "although the president might get intimidated by Begum Nawazish Ali".
The roots of the character are in his childhood, says Ali.
"When I was a child I was very fond of wearing my mother's dupattas (headscarves). I liked to look at myself in the mirror and admire myself as a lady," he says.
"I prayed to Allah, I wanted to be a girl and wanted to wear dresses."
After the show Ali ducks into his changing room and reappears in scruffy black jeans and a T-shirt and light stubble. Only the bouffant hair-do -- his own and not a wig -- remains.
Umar and Ali Saleem(R)
© AFP Asif HassanAsked about his sexuality, he replies: "I discount these boundaries, I believe that all this conversation is passe. I am trysexual, with a Y."
The programme follows in the footsteps of several satirical shows spawned by the end of the state monopoly on broadcasting in 2003. An animated spoof of Musharraf meeting US President George W. Bush, shown on a rival channel earlier this year, was massively popular.
Meanwhile the programme that Umar fronts on the rival HUM TV station -- called High Octane -- is more straightforward and celebrates the joys of fast cars and vintage automobiles.
"Ali and I are a lot different, we love each other to bits but we don't move in the same scene," Umar, 26, told AFP.
A rally driver and motorsports fan, Umar, says he wants to be Pakistan's version of Jeremy Clarkson, the host of the popular BBC motoring show Top Gear.
Umar reinforced his hard man credentials when his car rolled at 160 kmh in a cross-country rally last year and he lost the tip of his ear, although he escaped serious injury.
The show, he says, taps into the growing fascination with luxury products and leisure activities among Pakistan's young rich, fuelled by an economic boom at the top end of the country's 150 million people.
Ali Saleem(R) becomes Begum (Mrs) Nawazish Ali
© AFP Asif HassanUmar admits he tried to dissuade his brother when he announced his plans to take to the airwaves in drag, fearing he would provoke trouble from religious conservatives.
"But I am surprised how no one really has given him any trouble. People will come to me to say nice things about my show, but there are grown men who will walk up to him and salute him," he says.
He says, however, that his brother's show is "not really my cup of tea" and doubts whether Ali sits down to watch a programme about motor racing.
Not so, says Ali, even if he and his younger sibling are "poles apart".
"I do watch his programme," he says. "But we have very little in common. Every time we have a conversation we have a fight because we have radically different views on life, from the Taliban to politics, everything."
Their father, Colonel Saleem Ahmad Zafar, says he is proud of the mini media dynasty his "amazingly talented" boys have created even if he is at a loss to explain why they are so different.
He also has a gentle word of warning for Ali and his drag queen act.
"I keep praying for his success every time I go to the mosque," the softly spoken officer says. "But I have just made a suggestion to him that he should start going on to an absolutely different role instead of continuing to keep on treading the same road."
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