Amanat Ali has an incredibly soulful voice that has won him fans not only in Pakistan but also across the border. He was the second runner-up in Sa Re Ga Ma Pa singing contest in India, and since then, he has sung songs for many movies and has featured on a number of soundtracks for various TV shows.

It is confirmed that Amanat Ali just got engaged to designer, Sarah Manzoor. Sarah Manzoor is a graduate of Pakistan Institute of Fashion Design and has her own clothing brand, Elle by Sara.

Here are some pictures of the beautiful couple. Heartiest congratulations to them, and may Allah protect them from the evil eye.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this episode. I have always liked Amina Sheikh as an actress because of versatility – she takes on different roles and plays every character brilliantly. This is the second time I watched her on a talk show, the first being Tonight With HSY and I really like how she voices her thoughts on different topics. She is a model, TV and film actress and along with that, she is also a producer. Sarmad Khoosat revealed that he first met Amina when she was producing a show.

Amina is one of those actors that started her career with TV and then went on to do films. Comparing the two different types of work, she said that film is a much more challenging, detail-oriented medium because on a big screen, people can spot even the smallest of flaws so attention to detail is important. She also spoke about the need to define contemporary Pakistani cinema.

I liked how she talked about how motherhood has changed her outlook on life.

Here are some pictures from the episode:

Hareem Farooq is one of those lucky actors that won a good fan following in a relatively short span of time. Although dramas like Mausam and Dusri Biwi weren’t impressive, her role in Diyar-e-Dil as Arjumand won her praise from critics and viewers. She is not only a very talented actress but also a producer. She co-produced Janaan with Reham Khan.

In an interview with Express Tribune, Hareem Farooq talked about her career and upcoming ventures. “I always wanted to start from theatre because it builds a good foundation. Then I thought I would do films and also make my own because there weren’t any good ones coming out then.” Her debut film was a horror movie, Siyaah penned by Osman Khalid Butt, and it is then that she realized that she wants to work in films. “I realized that we will have to make films so our industry grows and more people come into it. Aisay kaam nahi chal sakta (Things cannot work out this way).”

She is working on film Parchi. “It’s a comedy film which I am producing and also acting in. With Parchee, we want to introduce new faces to the industry.”

She spoke fondly of her experience working in Dobara Phir Se. “I have learnt a lot from Mehreen [Jabbar] and the foreign crew we shot with. Considering I just started my own production, it was great to see how professional they are and I want to incorporate that in my work too.” Hareem admitted that she immediately agreed to star in Dobara Phir Se. “I said yes immediately! It has a very fresh feel and is not your typical, boy-meets-girl love story.”

She is best loved for playing Wali Suhaib Khan’s mother in Diyar-e-Dil, but playing an elderly woman was not a piece of cake. “It was a challenge and a lot of people told me not to take up the role. However, I believe if you want to change the industry, you have to work towards it. If I do the same role for 10 years, it wouldn’t matter. As long as you are an actor, you can be anyone so why restrict yourself?”

Hareem Farooq believes in versatility and experimenting. “If it’s a girl who is pretty, people make her cry and she becomes our heroine. During shooting, however, I told the team I would not cry anymore because that’s not how women are and that bothers me. The women I have been around are very strong and that’s why I do all kinds of characters, from leads to antagonists, young and old. I am even playing a bipolar girl.”

“The characters have to be written well and then, I can add the glamour. But it’s hard pulling off glamour with decency in Pakistan. When you want people to fall in love with you, it’s not just about looking a certain way.”

Rohail Hyatt was the first person to bring Coke Studio to Pakistan. Bilal Maqsood and Faisal Kapadia were the producers and mentors for seasons 7 and 8. In an interview with Dawn Images, the two shared a bit about season 9.

The format of season 9 is different because now there are six producers: Noori, Faakhir, Shiraz Uppal, Jaffer Zaidi, Shani Arshad and Shuja Haider. Bilal Maqsood revealed that it was him and

Faisal Kapadia who suggested this change. ”From the very outset, when we came on board in Season 7, this had been our vision. Up till then, it had been one person, Rohail Hyatt’s journey. We now wanted to transform it into a collective dream. We were working on something as special as Coke Studio and we couldn’t be so selfish that we kept it all to ourselves.We took our initial steps in S7 when we brought in external musicians aside from the house band. Season 8 was an extension of this. With Season 9, Coke was initially against taking on external producers because they thought that they alreadyhad the perfect formula and didn’t want any changes. But we insisted.”

Faisal Kapadia added, ”We’ve been working in this industry for so long now and we have collaborated with virtually everybody. We knew precisely who had the talent and experience to step onto this platform. Some were mainstream musicians while others, like Shuja and Shani, are the veritable backbone of the industry and yet, many people don’t know them. They were the first people that came to our minds when short-listing producers.”

Atif Aslam’s Tajdar-e-Haram was a huge hit last year. It was produced by Shiraz Uppal but his name was not included in the credits. Bilal Maqsood responded by saying, ”Atif Aslam never told us that it was produced by Shiraz. People come to us with all sorts of demos; some are just audio notes or a song recorded on their cell phone, and others are proper studio recordings. Atif Aslam’s demo for Tajdar-i-Haram was 70 per cent complete when he brought it to us. We were initially hesitant about including the qawwali because it was slightly sensitive territory, but then we decided to make a splash with it in the very first episode.

You can barely see us in the behind-the-scenes imagery of the song because there was very little work to be done on it. If Atif had taken Shiraz’s name back then, we would have certainly included it. Instead, he chose to announce it much later and by then, we couldn’t do anything.”

Fans are upset that Atif Aslam won’t be part of Season 9. Faisal said, ‘‘Atif couldn’t have refused us because we never really formally asked him to be part of Season 9. As a courtesy, and since we have a great working relationship with him, we told him that if he wanted to do a song with us, we were open to the idea. Even we knew that ideally he shouldn’t feature in this year’s ensemble because he was such a significant part of the show last year.”

When artists put their work out there, they are met with both negative and positive criticism. How do they take the criticism? While Bilal said, ”We wouldn’t be human if it didn’t feel bad,’‘ Faisal understands that everyone feels that they have the right to share their opinion. ”Then I guess I am less human than Bilal! For the longest time, we were just handling our own band, bringing in our songs and if we would be criticised, it would be for our work. Now, though, we are sitting on a stage that belongs to the whole nation and everyone feels that they have the right to say anything about it. I understand that.”

Talking about the selection of songs, Bilal revealed, ‘‘This time, 70 per cent of our songs are new. It is risky but it also brings a new flavour to the show. Sometimes, people don’t know what they like until you tell it to them and we have faith that they’ll enjoy the new music. And then, in Season 10, we’ll revert to the original concept of reinventing old hits.”

This time, Strings had to work with six executive producers. ”The producers wrote the songs and then we mutually decided on the artists who could perform them. Shiraz has brought in quite a few new people. He had some very set ideas about who he wanted to sing the song”

The very talented Shilpa Roa is part of the upcoming season. ”Shilpa isn’t the first Indian to perform for us. Last year, Mekaal Hasan band insisted on bringing in Sharmistha Chatterjee to sing their songs. It was something we complied with although our priority is always to highlight Pakistani singers.”

Bilal added, ”Similarly, this time, Noori wanted Shilpa to sing for them because they wanted a particular sound for their song. Again, we resisted but then eventually agreed. She does add a lot of value to the song.”

They also revealed that for Season 10, they will be returning to the original platform.

Ainy Jaffri is an immensely talented actress and model, best known for her acting in Aseerzadi, Meri Beyen Maya among others. She made her film debut with Main Hoon Shahid Afridi where she played the role of a reporter. After she got married, Ainy Jaffri took a bit of a break, but she will be seen alongside Osman Khalid Butt.

These days, she is in Greece to attend a friend’s wedding. Here are some pictures that she shared with her fans on insta:

In this episode, Sarmad Khoosat welcomed Mohib Mirza to the show. I liked the intro where Sarmad talked about Mohib Mirza’s ”kaam ki ana’‘ – Mohib doesn’t say yes to every project that comes his way. He spoke with disdain about the current state of TV dramas. He is also not happy with the fact that our dramas rarely show positive male characters and most dramas focus too much on negativity and bechari aurat issues. ”Ab mardon kay masaail bhi dikhaain.”

Talking about his film, Teri Meri Love Story, Mohib Mirza said that it is a romantic comedy because these days, in a whirl of problems and issues, the last thing people want is to pay to see a movie that is too depressing or too preachy. ”Mujhe koi peghaam nahe dena, bohat peghaam dediye, ab log thak chuke hain.” Since there’s a multitude of dramas that do little to make people smile, he wants to work in comedy dramas and movies that serve to entertain people.

Mohib Mirza’s shout-out to his mother was the best, especially when he said, ”Thankyou mujhe paal pos kar 6 ft 2 inches ka karne kay liye.”

Mahira Khan has a beautiful six year old son, Azlan, and she loves him to bits.
Today was a special day for her son because it was his Roza Kushai.

Here are a couple of pictures of her son. He looks beautiful, Masha Allah. May Allah protect him from the evil eye.

These days, Mawra Hocane, Urwa Ins-e-Azdan and Farhan Saeed are enjoying their time in Berlin.

Here are some pictures:

Pakistani entertainment industry has progressed with leaps and bounds in the past few years. There was a time when being associated with the world of entertainment was not enough for people to earn their bread and butter. Things have changed a lot and not only can the celebrities earn their bread and butter with this money but also afford a very luxurious lifestyle. Waqar Zaka in his latest video gave detailed information about the highest paid celebrities in Pakistan giving definite figures about how much they earn from different projects they do.

While pointing out who these highest paid celebrities were, he made it clear that not everyone in media was or could earn this much. These people who are earning so much are obviously gifted but people have no idea how much a gifted celebrity can earn in Pakistan.

He started off with giving the list of top 3 male celebrities who were the highest paid in the industry for commercials. Here is the list:

3. Hamza Ali Abbasi (Around $40,000 for commercial)

2. Atif Aslam and Ali Zafar (Around $80,000 for commercial)

1. Fawad Khan (Around $150000 for one commercial)

Then he gave a list of female celebrities who charged the most for a commercial. The list contains these names in this order:

3. Mawra Hocane ($25000 for one commercial)

2. Mehwish Hayat ($40,000 for one commercial)

1. Mahnoor Baloch and Mahira Khan ( Around $100000)

He also talked about talk show hosts who get paid on monthly basis. He also said that they get perks like car and house to live in in some cases. Here is the list of top 3 highest paid talk show hosts:

3. Mubashar Lucman (Monthly $20,000)

2. Waseem Badami (Monthly Around $40,000)

1. Shahid Masood and Kamran Khan (Around $45000)

Waqar Zaka also revealed how much the singers charge for doing concerts. As mentioned by him in his video, the top 3 highest paid singers in Pakistan are:

3. Ali Zafar ($70,000 for one concert)

2. Atif Aslam (Around $90,000)

1. Rahat Fateh Ali Khan (Around $90,000)

He also listed the highest paid Morning Show hosts. The list is as follows:

3. Sahir Lodhi ($20,000 Monthly)

2. Nida Yasir ($25,000 Monthly)

1. Aamir Liaquat ($45,000 Monthyl)

Watch the video here:

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this episode. Ahsan Khan is a very talented actor, and after Udaari, I greatly admire and respect his work. I am glad that Sarmad Khoosat asked Ahsan Khan to explain how he initiated the Dewar-e-Mehrbaani project in Pakistan. He revealed that through an inspiring video, he came to know about the project Dewar-e-Mehrbaani or Wall of Kindness initiated in Iran. He took it upon himself to bring this project to Pakistan. He joined hands with a bunch of friends to repaint the walls of Karachi. This was quite a positive step in the right direction that encouraged people to help the poor and needy.

Here are a few pictures of this project:

Dramas Khoosat asked Ahsan about his big screen projects. He revealed that he is currently working on two film projects, one of which has been completed. The name of the film is Chupan Chupai and it boasts a big cast including Jawed Sheikh, Rehan Sheikh, Sakina Samo and Ahsan Khan himself among other names.

Ahsan Khan also spoke about typical saas bahu sagas with disdain; he believes that people associated with the industry are in the position to direct people’s attention towards important, relevant issues, so it’s high time that we broke free of done-to-death storylines. 

It was very nice to watch this episode, oh and I almost forgot: Sarmad cooked Thai curry today.

Aiza Khan and Danish Taimoor are…pretty much everywhere. Be it Ramadan transmissions, Maria B campaigns or Eid shows, you simpy cannot ignore this star couple.

Aiza and Danish, arguably the most photographed couple in the industry, will be seen in Mazaak Raat’s Eid Show. This is a pre-recorded Eid show.

The two look absolutely beautiful. Here are the pictures:

Recently, the Indian High Commission hosted an Iftaar in Islamabad. This was a grand, star-studded affair where celebrities like Atif Aslam, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Shafqat Amanat Ali, Imran Abbas, Maya Ali, Meera, Sadia Khan, Ali Saleem were present.

Here are some of the pictures from the event:

From veteran actresses like Sania Saeed and Nadia Jamil to budding new actresses like Mehar Bano – I certainly appreciate the variety of guests that make an appearance on Star Iftaar. Mehar Bano made her TV debut with Sarmad Khoosat’s Daagh which aired on ARY. We also saw her in Uff Yeh Muhabbat on Geo, but apart from that, we don’t see her much on TV. The other guest, Sonia Nazir, her name didn’t ring a bell but according to Sarmad, she is the face of numerous campaigns. Sarmad also announced that the two are a part of a drama he has directed, but I honestly have no idea which drama he was talking about.

This was a different episode because there were two guests but I enjoyed it.

Here are some pictures from the episode. I think both the ladies looked really nice and simple:

Mahira Khan is one of those very lucky actors that got to work with two of the finest in the industry – Shoaib Mansoor and Mehreen Jabbar – at the very beginning of her acting career. She made her big screen debut with Shoaib Mansoor’s powerful movie, Bol, and TV debut with Mehreen Jabbar’s Neeyat which aired on ARY.

A few days back, Mahira posted on her instogram that it’s been five years since the release of both Bol and Neeyat.

She has come a long way, hasn’t she?

The Indian High Commission in Islamabad hosted an Iftar dinner for Pakistani celebrities. The Iftar dinner was a grand affair with some of the top celebrities enjoying themselves at Monal restaurant Islamabad. Celebrities like Imran Abbas, Atif Aslam and Meera who have worked in India were invited to the dinner. Maya Ali was also seen at the function. There has been news that Maya Ali is thinking about working in India. Sadia Khan was also seen on the event. Imran Abbas and Sadia Khan are busy shooting for the sequel of Khuda aur Mohabbat nowadays. Shafqat Amanat Ali and Rahet Fateh Ali Khan were also part of this event.

Here are some pictures from the event:

Fawad Khan has reached new heights of fame with his work not only in Pakistan but also in India. He is one of those very few Pakistani actors who got so much fame and recognition across the border. Fawad Khan is not only known for his talent but also for being a family man. He has said it many times that he loves his wife a lot and she has a big role to play in his success.

Fawad Khan and his wife Sadaf  Khan are parents already, they have a son named Ayaan Khan. Fawad Khan and Sadaf Khan got married in 2005. Their love story is known by everyone who knows them or has seen or read Fawad’s interviews. The latest news circulating the web is that Fawad Khan and Sadaf Khan are expecting another child. Fawad Khan does not comment much on his personal life on social media but the sources close to Fawad confirmed the news. Fawad Khan is in Lahore nowadays so that he can spend some time with his wife.

We are very happy for Fawad and Sadaf.

The public has not recovered from the killing of famous Qawal Amjad Sabri and now there is another shocking and tragic news from Karachi. According to reports famous actor and singer Nadeem Jafri was shot multiple times when suspected robbers opened fire at him in Karachi’s Gulshan-e-Iqbal area today in early hours of the morning.

Fakhr-e-Alam who is very close to Nadeem Jafri informed people of this sad incident via twitter. It is a huge consolation that Nadeem Jafri survived the attack.

Artists in Pakistan have been feeling very insecure after the killing of Amjad Sabri and they asked for more security from the government few days ago. Fakhr-e-Alam also said in his tweet that Nadeem Jafri’s family was shaken up after this incident.

We wish Nadeem Jafri a speedy recovery.

The Jaswal brothers are super talented, that’s for sure. Uzair and Umair Jaswal are awesome singers, the latter best known for Sammi Meri Waar and his main role in Sarmad Khoosat’s Mor Mahal.
Yasir Jaswal is multi-talented – he is a singer, film and music director, writer an photographer. He is best known for writing and directing film Jalaibee starring Danish Taimoor, Ali Safina, Adnan Jaffar, Sajid Hassan among others.

In a recent interview with BBC Urdu, Yasir Jaswal talked about his upcoming venture. “It’s an action-thriller this time and the story has been finalized, but we’re still working on the script.”

“It is based in Pakistan but some sequences will be shot internationally, because it’s difficult to shoot action sequences here. We tried doing that with Jalaibee, to have teams come from abroad and shoot here but that didn’t happen.”

“Because of Pakistan’s conditions, people are scared to come here. However, it’s not like that, it’s safe, and good work is being done here. It’s the idea people abroad have of Pakistan, and we can only change that through films.”

Yasir Jaswal doesn’t want Pakistani films to go the Bollywood route. “You either make it for the audience or you do it because you want to deviate from the norm, towards a new cinema. Most films from Bollywood are for money-making and it’s important that we bring something ‘Pakistani’ to our ideas and films. But that can only be done by staying unique, “not by following Karan Johar or copying their films. We’re copying an existing industry; ours will exist if we bring our own ideas to the table.”

“Our audience is very smart — even though we believe otherwise — we think that we can show them anything, but a lot of films have flopped because of that. By thinking of putting an item song or showing girls dancing in a film, it will be hit, but many a times they are a flop, that’s because that doesn’t resonate with the audience.”

This was quite an engaging episode and I thoroughly enjoyed watching it.

Adnan Malik agreed with Sarmad about the dearth of well-written and well fleshed-out characters, and revealed that people had been telling him to make an acting debut for quite some time, but he was waiting for the right character. When he was offered the role of Khalil in Sadqe Tumhare, he was sold! He talked highly of Khalil ur Rehman’s dialogue and the sincerity with which he translated his own story on paper. Adnan confessed that Khelu’s character had such an impact on him that it stayed with him long after he was through with the shooting. Adnan Malik is also thinking of writing a film and wants to complete his first draft.

Adnan’s shout-out to his grandmother and Aya was really sweet.

Today, Sarmad prepared Burgers coupled with a coconut drink.

In the event of the trailer launch of Actor in Law, there was a question and answer session in which Fahad Mustafa, Nabeel Qureshi, Fizza Ali Meerza and Mehwish Hayat talked about the film.

There is a scene in the trailer where Fahad Mustafa’s character says something like, ‘‘Quaid-e-Azam bhi actor banna chahte thay.” The journalists present at the event found this to be a bit offensive. Fahad Mustafa responded by saying that it’s a film, and the line was part of its content. He said in films such things came up and he would like all to see it first. He assured the media that there’s nothing offensive about the film, so people should watch the film and support Pakistani cinema.

Nabeel Qureshi explained that the media had seen the trailer in a ‘scattered’ way so they didn’t know of its [line’s] background. He said he hadn’t included the line out of nowhere. He said it was based on facts and actually the idea for the film generated from it. He reiterated that the Quaid-i-Azam wanted to be an actor because when he went to London to study law, he had tried to do Shakespeare. He said the Quaid wrote this to his father in a letter, to which his father said he couldn’t betray his family. He said that made the Quaid into a great lawyer and he helped us gain independence.

Fahad Mustafa emphasized that this [project] was all entertainment.

Fizza Ali Meerza said that the film is a product of a lot of hard work and is made with the ‘right intention’. She said they had tried to entertain the audiences, adding that only after watching the film (which is set to be released on Eidul Azha) one could tell how successful the team was in entertaining cine-goers.

Nabeel Qureshi said earlier in the day when he logged onto his Facebook page he realised that it was on June 27, 2014 that the trailer of Namaloom Afraad was launched. He called it nostalgic. He said the last time he was very ‘confident’ but this time round he was ‘conscious’, because previously no one knew him.

Actress Mehwish Hayat, who plays the female lead in the story, said her experience of working in Actor-in-Law was very good. She said it was a privilege for her to be a part of the venture. She said hers was a challenging character for which she had to rehearse many times. She said her role had quite a few ‘shades’ and the movie was a ‘social comedy’.

Fahad Mustafa  termed the film a ‘brave attempt’ saying that it wasn’t the conventional comedy. He said it touched upon social issues that we all wanted to speak about but couldn’t. He said the characterisation was good and probably the audience would leave the theatre after watching the story with a message.

Source: Dawn Images

Actor In Law, produced by Fizza Ali Meerza and directed by Nabeel Qureshi is all set to be released across cinemas in September.

Here are the pictures from the trailer launch:

Hamza Ali Abbasi’s controversial questions and statements in his Ramzan special show have received many reactions from the public and celebrities. Most celebrities till now have supported Hamza Ali Abbasi because they believe everyone has the right to freedom of expression and Hamza Ali was only exercising that right. Waqar Zaka is the first celebrity who has come out and expressed openly how he feels about Hamza Ali Abbasi’s actions. In a long video Waqar Zaka discussed the issue of Ahmedis and the duty of the state towards non Muslims. Later on he went on to share why this whole thing was wrong.

Waqar Zaka said that Hamza Ali Abbasi could have discussed this issue behind the scenes and then asked a question. But what he did was not ask a question but share an opinion which was totally contrary to what most people believe in, which proves he was doing it all to get attention and publicity. Waqar Zaka apologized to Hamza Ali Abbasi before hand and said that he should admit that he was wrong.

Waqar Zaka supported PEMRA’s ban on Hamza Ali Abbasi and also criticized his stance after Jawani Phir Nahi Aani. He also requested Hamza Ali Abbasi to stop insulting his religion and understand it first and then talk about it.

Watch the video here:

Qandeel Baloch has done many things to gain cheap popularity but this time what she has done is bigger than anything else she has ever done before. Her scandal with Mufti Qavi did not only make her very popular but also effected Mufti’s reputation and career in the worst way. In the latest Press Conference today Qandeel Baloch said that she was getting many life threats ever since she revealed the real face of Mufti Qavi. She said that she needed security because her life is in danger.

Qandeel Baloch was very emotional all through the Press Conference and almost cried when she revealed,

“My sources have told me to stay underground. I have been confided within the four walls of my house, I have lost my peace of mind, I feel like a prisoner.”

She said that she was being punished like this because she brought the truth forward. She added,

“I have sent a written notice to the interior minister in which I have requested him to provide me security and protection. My life is in danger, my family’s life is in danger.”

Qandeel Baloch also said that she registered a complaint with FIA because her passport and identity card was being shown freely on social media. She said,

“No one has the right to show my legal documents on social media like this. Who are these people who are after me? I want to find out.”

Actor In Law is an upcoming Urdu film but with an English name. The shooting of Actor In Law commenced in start of this 2016 and completed as per schedule. The film will be released on upcoming Eidul Azhad,on 13th or 14th September 2016.

Audience have high hopes from this film as the same team of Nabeel Qureshi (director), Fizza Ali Meerza (producer) and Fahad Mustafa (lead artist) provided the super hit entertainer Namaloom Afraad in 2014 on Eidul Azha.

Actor In Law has Fahad Mustafa in the lead role like Namaloom Afraad paired with Mehwish Hayat. Mehwish Hayat also played a cameo appearance in Namaloom Afraad in the item song of Billi. Another highlight of Actor In Law is the presence of acclaimed Indian artist Om Puri.

Film: Actor In Law
Starring:Fahad Mustafa,Mehwish Hayat,Alyy Khan,Om Puri,Saboor Ali,Irfan Motiwala,Rehan Sheikh,Lubna Aslam,Saleem Mairaj,Saife Hassan,Rashid Khawaja
Written by:Fizza Ali Meerza
Directed by:Nabeel Qureshi
Produced by:Fizza Ali Meerza, Mehdi Ali
Music by:Shani Arshad
Cinematography:Rana Kamran
Production company: Filmwala Pictures
Distributed by: Urdu 1
Relese Date: Eidul Azha on 13th or 14th September 2016

The poster of Actor In Law was released last week and now today its teaser is also released.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlQB_40JGFk

Rashid Nazir Ali