Bachaana (بچانا) is an upcoming Urdu film shot in Mauritius and Pakistan and is under production for past two years. The film stars Sanam Saeed in the lead role with Mohib Mirza. Sanam Saeed is playing the role of an Indian girl named Aaliya, while Mohib Mirza is appearing as a Pakistani taxi driver.
The trailer of the film is released today i.e. 5th January 2016 at 7 PM in a ceremony at a five star hotel of Karachi. Its first official poster is released last week. The film is releasing on 26th February 2016.
Cast: Sanam Saeed, Mohib Mirza, Adeel Hashmi
Written By: Saad Azhar
Director: Nasir Khan
Produced By: Rizwan Saeed for Big Films
Distributor: Hum Films and Big Films
Bachaana is one of the five films featuring Sanam Saeed but are due to release sometime in 2016. The other four films are Mahe Meer,Azaad, Rehm and Doobara Phirr Se. Seeing the progress so far, Bachaana might be the first released film for Sanam Saeed.
Bollywood films have a universal appeal in Pakistani cine-goers. These films are extremely popular in all the segments and classes of the Pakistani society. For this very reason, Bollywood films regularly do very well in all types of the cinemas, whether it is a multiplex in a posh area or a single screen circuit cinema in the old city areas.
Dilwale, a Bollywood film released on the 18th December 2015 is also proving very successful. Till date, it has earned in 19.25 crore within two weeks, and with the third week in progress it is expected to cross the figure of 20 crores on upcoming weekend, a landmark only four other Bollywood films has achieved.
Dilwale is also the most successful film of Shahrukh Khan in Pakistan surpassing the record of Happy New Year (2014). Dilwale’s business is slightly impacted by the release of the Urdu film Ho Mann Jahan on the 1st January 2016 as it is resulted in less number of shows. Still the film is registering favorable occupancy and is expected to continue its run for at least two more weeks. However it might not reach the all time Bollywood record in Pakistan of Dhoom3, which earned 25 crore in 2013.
Ho Mann Jahan is the first Pakistani film of 2016 released on 1st January 2016. The film is facing a stiff competition from the two giant Bollywood films Dilwale and Bajirao Mastani. Though released on two weeks ago both Bollywood films are still earning decently especially Dilwale is proving a grand success.
Ho Mann Jahan thus has to share screen space with these two Bollywood films. The film was allotted 160 shows on the very first day i.e. 1st July 2016. However after seeing an increase in demand, more shows were allotted on the Saturday 2nd January 2016 making it to 195 shows.
The manager of the Super Cinema in Gulberg, Lahore confirmed increase in the shows on Saturday and Sunday in his tweet.
The film earned 1.40 crore on the very first day (from 160 shows), and due to increased number of shows (195 shows) it earned 1.55 crore on the Saturday 2nd January 2016. The film earned 1.20 crore on the Sunday 3rd January 2016. So the overall collections of the three day weekend is around 4.15 crore which is a very good earning on Pakistani box office.
The weekdays from Monday – Friday and upcoming weekend will decide the trend of the final earning of the film. The stated budget of the film is 10 crore and it must perform well on the upcoming weekend to recover its expenses and enter into the double digit earning.
The film is also released in countries like UAE, UK and USA but collections from these countries are not available.
HMJ being an urban story with subtle treatment was expected to do well only in the multiplexes of the big cities Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad/Rawalpindi. The film lacks the loudness and glamour which is attributed towards the mass appeal of a film and is therefore not expected to do well at small urban centers like Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Sargodha, Gujrat, Multan and the circuit cinemas (single screen cinemas) of Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad/Rawalpindi. However its weekend performance has exceeded the more commercial films like Wrong No. released last year on Eidul Fitr.
Source: The box office collections mentioned above are taken from the websites www.galaxylollywood.com and www.boxofficedetail.com and tribune.com.pk
Hamza Ali Abbasi and Maya Ali will be playing the lead roles in HUM TV’s upcoming drama serial Dil-e-Janam which was previously titled Tera Ghum Aur Hum. The play has been written by Samira Fazal and directed by Haseeb Hassan who was behind HUM’s recent hit serial Diyar-e-Dil. This drama is also much anticipated by the people because it marks the comeback of Hamza Ali Abbasi after he won a lot of admiration from people for his performance in super hit drama serial Pyare Afzal.
Hamza Ali Abbasi and Maya Ali in separate interviews talked about the overall experience of working together. They told a little bit about the main plot and their characters while talking to Dawn News. Maya Ali hopes that her on-screen couple with Hamza Ali Abbasi will be as big a hit as her recent on-screen chemistry with Osman Khalid Butt. She said,
“I know Osman will kill me for saying this, but Hamza is very comfortable to work with, so you automatically give a good performance. I was too nervous to look at him straight in the eye, but he always insisted that I do. I feel that people will like our performance together.”
Talking about whether Salahuddin (Hamza’s character in Dil-e-Janam) and Haya (Maya’s character in Dil-e-Janam) will make the same place in people’s hearts Wali and Farah did, she said,
“Just like hashtags such as #Osmaya (Osman and Maya combined) and #Wafa (their characters Wali and Farah combined) are established, I now hear of #Sanu (Salauddhin and Manu) and #Haya (Hamza and Maya). That’s a good sign, right?”
Talking about his character in the drama Hamza Ali Abbasi said something that will interest his fans a lot. He said,
“The character I play is very close to who I actually am, so that’s nice….I would describe it as a sweet and nice love story, like most of our dramas. It is something I personally experienced too, which makes it special for me.”
Although Hamza Ali Abbasi wants to do more films in the future but he thinks doing work on television is very important. He said,
“Our first strength has always been TV. I am what I am because of TV. If we drift away from TV entirely TV will sink. So actors who are making films, that’s great, but they need to do at least one TV serial a year. Even Humuyun Saeed is appearing with Mehwish Hayat in a TV serial with that intention.”
Raasta (راستہ) is an upcoming Urdu film produced in Karachi. It is produced by Aijaz Aslam, who is also playing an important role of a Police Officer in the film. The lead pair of the film is Saahir Lodhi (the self claimed Shahrukh Khan competitor) and model Saima Azhar. Here is the first teaser of the film Raasta,which might pave the Raasta (way) of big screen for Saahir Lodhi.
Mahira Khan is the most sought after celebrity nowadays. Any drama, film, talk show or even commercial starring Mahira Khan ensures a certain fan following because of her presence in it. It is also true that Mahira Khan chooses the projects she works in very carefully. People know a lot of things about this diva like she is a simple and down-to-earth person who is loved among her friends circle because of her grounded personality more than her persona. All those people who have ever worked with Mahira Khan have always praised her for this personality trait. Even when hosts interview her they ask her why she does not have starry tantrums like many other celebrities because it is a well-known fact. There are however some lesser known facts about Mahira’s personality which she has revealed in her recent interview with BBC Urdu which many people might be unaware of.
Here are 5 things which you might not know about Mahira Khan.
1. Mahira Khan is dead against endorsing fairness creams.
Mahira Khan is very fair herself and most Pakistanis do think that beauty is linked with a fair complexion. Many of our actors and actresses who are very famous have also endorsed beauty products. While Mahira Khan does not judge those celebrities who have endorsed these fairness creams, she herself is dead against endorsing such products. Mahira Khan believes that media is a powerful medium. She thinks that anything that is endorsed by the media is considered as more acceptable so she would not like to endorse anything which gives the wrong message to people.
2. Mahira Khan refused to call her mother-in-law in Hamsafar a “nagin” (snake/vamp).
Mahira Khan in her recent interview said that it is wrong of dramas to endorse stereotypes too. She said, “I remember there was a dialogue in Humsafar where I have to tell my mother-in-law ‘aap nagin hain’, so I told my director ‘Sarmad yeh toh main nahi keh sakti’. Because we really won’t say these things in real life. Let’s not glorify things which shouldn’t be.”
3. Mahira Khan prefers projects in which she can take her son to the sets with her.
Mahira Khan like any other mother is very close to her son. She tries her best that she works with people who allow her to let her son accompany her to the sets. Mahira said that while working with Shah Rukh was like a dream come true but she wasn’t too excited about it because she had to be away from her son for very long.
4. Mahira Khan loves reading Urdu poems.
Anyone who knows even a little about Mahira Khan will know that Mahira’s Urdu is not good but that does not mean she does not understand Urdu poetry or does not read it. She loves reading Urdu poetry, she also shares verses from different poems on her instagram and twitter pages. Mahira Khan also wishes her Urdu was better so that she could read more.
5. Mahira Khan is afraid of falling in love again.
Mahira Khan does not fall in love easily but when she does then she stays in love for very long. It is not easy for her to get over a relationship which is dear to her easily so she is scared to fall in love again.
Neelam Muneer was recently seen in the serial Rang Laga in which people enjoyed watching her do something different from her standard work on television. It looks like Neelam Muneer has big plans for this year. Although Neelam’s new year resolutions do not include expanding her horizon at work but if we look at her other instagram posts they clearly indicate what big plans Neelam Muneer has.
Neelam Muneer will host her own talk show on Play TV which is titled Inside Out. Neelam Muneer posted several pictures with her guests and is very excited about this new project. Neelam Muneer will also be seen in a drama with Samina Peerzada very soon. She will play the role of Samina Peerzada’s daughter. Neelam posted a picture of herself with Samina Peerzada on the sets of the drama.
There is also news that she will be working in a film soon. Although Neelam hasn’t revealed many details about the film but we are waiting to see how she does on the big screen. Here are some pictures from the sets of Neelam Muneer’s upcoming talk show.
In case anyone was wondering, YMDH aired its 41st episode! How they’ve managed to spin this web of nothingness week after week is beyond me. We cringe over dusri biwi scenarios repeatedly so it came as no surprise that YMDH would live up to the rather predictable cliche. But, they’ve actually managed to take it up a few notches- the two biwis aren’t fighting over winning their husband’s affection. They are engaging in a battle over his son! I’m almost willing to bet the writer was drugged while penning this masterpiece- how else can you explain this catastrophe from someone who wrote the very thought-provoking Ek Nazar Meri Taraf?
Jaani continues his thirst for revenge using Meena as his pawn- he marries her but humiliates and controls her hoping to traumatize his father and Phupi. He marries Mehtaab and Meena is relieved that at the very least, he succeeds in his mohabbat! Mehtaab insists that they can’t lead a normal life and she pushes Jaani towards a normal zindagi with his jawaan biwi Meena. But soon afterwards, she is consumed by jealousy and wins him back! Jaani enjoys playing mind games and using Meena to his advantage. Having seemingly won the love of her husband, Mehtaab realizes she wants to experience motherhood and when the doctor breaks the unfathomable news that age is more than a number, she again convinces Jaani to make his way back to Meena.
Meena has made her position clear- she’s accepted her fate as bearing the punishment of her mother’s sins but she wants no part of the marriage. After his father suffers a stroke, Jaani turns over a new leaf- or in this case, a new tree! The change is so paramount, it’s unfair to minimize the impact. So Jaani forgives his father, expresses his unrequited love to him, promises to take care of his Phupi and Meena and give him an heir… He expresses his sincerity to Meena who gives in and voila- Meena is soon pregnant! While everyone is rejoicing, Mehtaab has faded in the background until Nafeesuddin finally bids adieu leaving Jaani spiralling into solitude. Zeba makes her sporadic appearance and reminds Jaani that Meena is pregnant and he ought to take care of her. Jaani snaps out of his misery and starts focusing his energy on being a devoted husband until Mehtaab collapses due to a weak heart. And that brings forth yet another turning point- the previously meek Mehtaab undergoes a sudden transformation. She now wants Jaani to give her his unborn baby and makes him promise that the baby will be raised by her! And Jaani complies without question. He goes up to Meena, takes her baby, changes the mother’s name to Mehtaab and announces that Mehtaab will be playing the role of the mother leaving Meena feeling like a surrogate and nanny! Mehtaab is empowered by her control over Jaani and the newborn Shayaan but realizes she’s far too old to run around and attend to motherly chores and orders Meena to provide the necessary services. There’s even an awkward scene of Mehtaab and Jaani sleeping on the bed and Meena sleeping in the same room on the mattress!
Meena’s sister Zeba is expecting her third child and Meena probably jinxed her by repeatedly reminding her to be careful of the stairs and lo and behold- Zeba slips off the stairs resulting in an early labour and her expected exit. But not before she narrates to her husband how Meena loved him from the moment they met so now that she’s gone and Jaani will eventually divorce Meena, her husband should make Meena his shareek e hayaat... Mind= Blown!
With the way this serial/ soap is shaping up, it wouldn’t surprise me if Jaani has a change of heart after leaving Meena and then we have a halaala scenario! For now, it remains to be seen if Jaani will actually be a man and do what’s right for once! I used to hate Nafeesuddin but Jaani is far worse than his monstrous father which leaves me flabbergasted!
Some people don’t take new year resolutions very seriously but others sit down to think hard about the past year and then they come up with resolutions that will allow them to achieve their aims and objectives in the new year. Ayesha Omar is also one of those people who think a lot before setting down a resolution for the new year. Ayesha Omar’s new year resolution is also effected obviously by the recent accident she had. That is why she talks about positive thoughts and not taking things for granted. Ayesha Omar posted her new year resolutions on her instagram page.
She made the following resolutions this new year:
Ayesha Omar is still recovering from her injuries but she is not going to let these injuries stand in the way of her social life. She made sure she celebrated the new year and make an appearance at a launch looking stylish like always even though she was wearing a sling. Ayesha Omar wore a fancy cape to hide her sling.
After watching the premier of Ho Mann Jahaan Ayesha Omar praised the film a lot. She looked excited and energetic at the premier.
Ayeza Khan is enjoying being back in action in showbiz. Although she made it very clear in few of her interviews that family will always come first but her modeling shoots and the excitement with which she posts about all her projects show that she loves her work too. Ayeza Khan did a photo shoot for Afzal Jewelers. She also did a shoot for them last year. Then she was seen promoting a lawn brand and now her latest photo shoot is for a salon.
Ayeza Khan has only posted two pictures of the photo shoot until now. She also posted a picture of when she was leaving for the shoot and when she was ready for it. She enjoys letting her fans know what she is doing. In one of her interviews Ayeza Khan said that she reads all the comments on facebook even if she does not reply to them.
Here are some pictures from her recent photo shoot.
Zaid Ali is a household name by now. His videos and funny take on different aspects of a person’s life have gone viral over and over again. Zaid Ali’s videos are short and they don’t involve a lot of technicalities but they are still considered the best because of the topics he chooses to make these videos on. Most often these videos show relationships of different family members with each other. In these videos Zaid Ali’s mother and other family members also participate when there is need.
Lately, sales in Pakistan have been the topic of discussion because of women’s fixation with them. They will do anything to get to these sales and when they are there they will do all it takes to grab what they want.
Here is Zaid Ali’s latest video which has went viral. Both women and husbands have enjoyed watching his take on sales and women!
Imran Khan like many other celebrities of Pakistan also spent his new year eve with people he loves the most. While some people think that spending time with friends is better than spending time with family, PTI leader is definitely not one of those people. He decided to spend an evening eating out with family which also included his sons who are visiting nowadays because of the winter break. It was a pleasure for Howdy restaurant in Islamabad to have the PTI leader at their restaurant with his family. They took autographs and also pictures of Imran Khan with his family to share the joy with everyone else. The people who happened to be there at the restaurant also took pictures with Imran Khan.
Ohkay so, as expected, this episode of Tere Mere Beech was interesting as well & it moved the things forward too. It is good to see that one way or the other, the true colors of all the characters are being brought out, it keeps things interesting & makes me look forward to it.
Fahad obviously has a big plan in his mind just because Hareem was naive enough to tell him that she has a sound background. Fahad believes in short cuts but to my surprise, his friend seems to be a decent person who keeps on reminding Fahad about how wrong his thinking is. Tariq obviously feels for Hareem because he knows she is a very nice person & Fahad is just fooling her which she surely doesn’t deserve. Hareem is very immature, that is why she shares each & every little detail with Fahad, in stead of analyzing the situation. She doesn’t understand that the moment she tells Fahad everything, he comes up with another plan to conceal the truth. Fahad really doesn’t know much about Shabbir’s brother Qadeer, that is why he thinks he can file a lawsuit using women rights as a base & win Hareem’s property back.
Fahad obviously is the sort of a person who is bringing out the worst in Hareem & she is unable to see that. His advice to her where he told her to not budge & not pay heed to anyone else went to show that he doesn’t want Hareem to focus on anything else as he knows that her family is wise enough to warn her against him. Fahad really thinks he has hit a jackpot but little does he know that nothing can go against Qadeer in that area as he has a lot of contacts & resources.
I really liked the way Zubaida took Hareem out for shopping, it was good to see someone paying attention to Hareem because she needs it the most. Her life has changed completely & going by how hard Nighat is on her, she is unable to cope up with everything, so to see someone trying to make Hareem happy was good. The time she spent with her sisters was good too, Hareem is just like a little child who loves attention & wants to be happy but then again, Nighat came & spoiled everything for her. Why does she feel the need to have Nadia & Sadia spy on Hareem? Nighat loves to play the victim whereas she doesn’t realize that she hurts Hareem the most too. She spoiled her mood & later when Hareem misbehaved, Nighat started seeking sympathy from her beloved & perfect daughters who then again started holding Hareem responsible for the tension that they face every now & then.
Just because Fahad pushed Hareem a little, she started questioning about her property once again but I think Zubaida shouldn’t hold back & should tell Hareem that Qadeer won’t allow her to live if she tries to go into his territory because there’s no other way that Hareem would understand & stop probing about the wealth that doesn’t belong to her anymore. Zubaida is unnecessarily holding back such important information from Hareem & it makes no sense actually.
Looks like Areeba has an important role to play too. She knows Fahad through a connection that even he doesn’t remember about, which suggested that Hareem will learn about his previous engagement too but then again, Fahad knows the art of sweet-talking & I am sure he will convince Hareem very easily. Overall, this episode was interesting too & I am looking forward to the next one as well. Please share your thoughts too.
Screenplay by: Ahmed Afzal, Rashna Abidi, Imtisal Abbasi
Dialogues by: Yasir Hussain and Asim Raza.
Directed by: Asima Raza
Produced by: Asim Raza and Sheheyar Munawar
Ho Mann Jahan is a story of three friends Arhaan (Sheheryaar), Nadir (Adeel) and Manizey (Mahira). They study at IBA, one of the best business schools of Pakistan but their hearts and passion lie with music. Arhaan is from middle class. His mother has died and he is weak in studies and because of that, he hasn’t got good relations with his retired government servant father. Nadir is from a high class family. He is an obedient son and good in studies too. His mother (Bushra Ansari) is quite protective of him. His father (Arshad Mehmood) is a businessman. Manizey lives with her Artist mother (Nimra Bucha) while her father who was a singer once and now a religious man doesn’t live with them. The story is about what happens to the 3 friends after they leave the college.
I have never liked spoilers myself and wouldn’t want to spoil it for you, so you will have to go to the cinema yourself and watch it yourselves. I would say that by the end of 3 hours, not only I was pleasantly happy with the film but both of my friends who accompanied me liked it and could relate to the characters of the story especially the parents! :D
Here are my thoughts and opinions about the film.
The main theme of the story is ‘pursuing dreams’ and music is just used as a backdrop. I personally don’t have any problem with that but some people might be disappointed if they were expecting to see the trials and tribulations of making it big in music.
It is basically an elite class youth oriented movie. The strong points of the story for me were that all the characters were relatable and there was no distinct evil character. They had their positives and negativities and the just like in real life the conflicts arise because of the different way of thinking of different people. I also liked the small comics moments in the film for example Arhaan’s congratulating the other’s on engagement, Arhaan gesturing at boys to keep off during ‘barish’ and Manizey winking at Arhaan. The funniest thing is that this is usually what happens in reality. The other thing that made an impact for me was that the movie just like 3 Idiots, it gives some messages (pursue your dreams, be tolerant of other’s view and don’t control your children lives too much) meanwhile entertaining us as well. The best part about the movie is the music and beautiful cinematography. Each and every frame was exquisite and colourful.
I especially liked the scene between Manizey and her father at the end of the movie. At first, I was thinking; Please don’t include religion in this. But I liked two things in that scene. First Manizey said that she was angry because she felt that her father judged her but she herself judged him as well. I like it because nowadays people judge others just because they are a little Islamic and would generalise them as extremists. The second thing was they showed that people can have different opinions yet they could live peacefully. We should be tolerant and this is what Pakistanis lack.
Here are my thoughts about the main characters:
Arhaan: My most favourite character in the movie was Arhaan. I was quite pleasantly surprised by Sheheryaar’s acting. Different facets of Arhaan’s personality were played well and his character was quite interesting. I really liked his acting in some of the intense sense. And in my opinion Sheheryaar is the star of the movie. Arhaan was the most flawed character of the movie but this trait made him the most endearing.
Nadir: Adeel Hussain was also great as Nadir. Although he was able to show Nadir’s emotions effectively but during one of the scenes when he comes back home heartbroken, he looked more drunk then heartbroken. But I did like the epic fall on table!
Manizey: Mahira Khan as Manizey looked stunning. Mahira usually plays role like Khirad and Shanno so it was nice to see her in the role of a strong woman. She played the role brilliantly. Coming to the character Manizey, she is the most level headed person among her friends. And because of that, I feel her role wasn’t as great as the boys. She was a secondary character to the bigger stories of both the boys. Whereas I could clearly see Nadir’s struggles and pain, never once did Manizey show her emotions about her father. I think it would have been better if they showed a scene where Manizey feels really emotional for her father. Maybe they could have shown it when she meets Arhaan’s father and seeing the love he had for his son she feels sad about her father too. Her character felt a little half baked and thus wasn’t as engaging as the boys’.
Sabeena: Sonya Jahan as Sabeena looked graceful and glamorous. Her acting was great and in the short span that her character was given, she was able to shine in her role. I liked Sabeena’s character a lot too. She is a single working woman. She has her own restaurant and her objective look at life is great. She can be a role model for all women.
All the different parents did an amazing job. But somehow I felt Bushra Ansari could have emoted much better.
Writing: The story of the movie is quite simple. In fact you can call it the weakest point of the movie as the story is very predictable. What makes it amazing is the fact that inside all the entertainment, the movie shoes two three clear messages.
Direction and Cinematography: I really liked the direction and cinematography of the film.. I especially liked the camera angles during the restaurant scenes. And Karachi never looked this stunning. All the establishing shots of Karachi, boats, northern areas, crop fields, and seaside were beautiful too. It was a 3 hour movie but I didn’t lose concentration at all. So thumbs up for the director. Every frame was presented beautifully and I especially liked the train station, proposal scenes. I absolutely loved the shots of the boat in the sea and the whole direction of ‘Barish’ song.
Editing and Pace: As far as the pace of the story was concerned, the initial introduction of the characters took a little time. But when the actual movie started, I started enjoying each and every scene. The editing was a little choppy at start and some scenes could have been shortened but it got better after the introduction of characters. I didn’t understand why Arhaan asking Sabeena for forgiveness and missed the point. That point should have been elaborated.
Wardrobe and Locations: The wardrobe was amazing and the whole time I was trying to remember Arhaan and Nadir’s clothes (Pagri for sure is in my shopping list!). And I also noticed that they included the whole spectrum of colours in the youngsters’ clothing giving the movie a very youthful and vibrant look.
All of the locations were great. I liked that they included the train station dhaba and showed the raw side of the country. Apart of that, Manizey’s house interior design was great and the restaurant was exquisite.
Music: The music has been out for some time and I like each and every song of the film. One thing that I noticed was that the transition when the music starts was abrupt during the first quarter and it didn’t gel with the story. Even the background music felt a little off at the start. But after the initial introduction, when the story itself started, the transition and the background music was spot on. I especially liked ‘Khush Piya Wasi’; it was used at such a precise time! I knew almost all the songs by heart and was enjoying so much that I couldn’t stop myself from singing along as well.
Cameos: All the different cameos were great. Fawad Khan is a real star and looked his usual charismatic self (maybe more!). He just lit up the screen as soon as he came. On the other hand, each time Hamza came on screen, I just couldn’t help laughing. Syra Yousaf’s cameo was a good surprise which I enjoyed a lot. Zeb is my favourite singer these days and it was great to see her in the movie.
All in all, Ho Mann Jahan is a really great and entertaining movie. Yes, it wasn’t perfect and there is always room for improvement especially in the story department but the great thing for me which made it such a compelling and heartfelt movie was the messages that it had hidden in the shining glossy wrapping. The movie still had a bit of telefilm feel which our directors should pay attention to. But I also think that we have to find our own exclusive identity apart from Bollywood or Hollywood and the lack of filminess could be our identity where the focus is on acting and social empowerment with the right amount of masala to entertain our masses. And Ho Mann Jahan is a total Pakistani movie which ticks all these boxes.
People say that our films aren’t good. If you don’t give them a chance how could you know that the film wasn’t good? We have to support our cinema and for that everyone should go and watch the movies so that our film industry can improve. We should always give constructive criticism so that the industry is moving in the right direction.
Now that 2015 is over & if we take a look back, where we got a handful of super hit dramas, we got a lot of such impactful characters in those dramas as well that proved out to be the conversation starters. These were the characters that were loved by the audience for so many reasons but the credit should be given to the writers for coming up with such amazing characters that the viewers could relate to, to the directors for bringing out the best in those actors who were performing these characters & then to the actors, who did justice to these brilliant characters that were assigned to them. In 2015, we were lucky enough to have gotten a chance of coming across such beautiful characters that were different, positive & will remain with us for a very long time.
So, in order to relive the memories that we created with these beautiful characters, here is the alphabetically ordered list of the most memorable positive characters of 2015:
Afia Begum (Mera Naam Yousuf Hai):
“Us admi ko mei 25 saal de chuki hu judge sahiba ab dene ke liye mere pass aik pal bhi nahi hai!”. This is how Afia’s relationship with her husband ended! It was refreshing to watch a woman leave a husband who never loved or appreciated her unlike many other women who decided to take their two-timing husbands back. Afia Begum always believed in speaking her mind, she was an intelligent woman who was forced into marrying someone who in no way was her match but she did not change her personality to suit her husband’s needs. She raised two daughters who were just as strong and intelligent as she was and a son who in the end proved that he could distinguish between right and wrong after all.
Agha Jaan (Diyar-e-Dil):
I think he has to be the most beloved & respected grandfather of Pakistani Dramas ever. Agha Jaan’s character was so brilliantly written & was so impactful that any episode of Diyar-e-Dil without his little or no presence seemed incomplete. Agha Jaan’s character portrayed how it was ohkay for the elders to admit their mistakes & do everything in their might to rectify the situations. He understood what his family members went through & he could sense if something was bothering his grandchildern. Just when his family members needed guidance, he was always there to help them thoroughly. Just when his family members weren’t pleased with him, he did everything to subside such feelings. He was a father figure & a best friend to all his grandchildern. Where he reminded a lot of viewers of their grandfathers, a lot of viewers also wished they had a grandfather like Agha Jaan as well. In my opinion, this was the best performance given by Sir Abid Ali & I thank him for that once again.
Arjumand Suhaib Khan (Diyar-e-Dil):
A rightly opinionated strong woman who always stood by the right. In the beginning, Arjumand’s life took a turn that she never could’ve imagined but the way she came to terms with her fate & accepted everything gracefully went to show her caliber. She was raised with high values & morals, that is why she never allowed any hardships to make her lose her cool. In the initial years of her marriage, she gave her husband a hard time but in the end she herself got tired because the things she said & did meant nothing & it was her way of venting out her sorrows. She accepted the positive influence her husband had on her & that is the reason she ended up forgiving everyone who wronged her & caused her distress. In my opinion, this performance was the only best work we have seen from Hareem Farooq’s side so far, she really did justice to Arjumand’s character & her personality & body language was just perfect for portraying the character.
Farah Behroz Khan (Diyar-e-Dil):
A genuinly positive girl who lost her way & when guided, returned to the right path with all her heart. Farah’s character was all about a teenager who is forced to face harsh realities of life & is so confused that she doesn’t know what she is supposed to do. She finds solace & companionship in the wrong people but yearns for it so much that the positivity in her heart leads her way & she meets her people, who eventually are her well wishers. Even though initially, Faarah looked like she had no stand of her own but as she learned more about life, she started taking stands even against those people who she spent her whole life with & she was the most comfortable with; be it her mother, her paternal uncle & his wife & in the end her best friend & cousin as well. Faarah showed that it is ohkay to learn from your mistakes & through your demeanor it is very easy to assure your loved ones that you have changed & are seeking to start afresh. Faarah, who in the beginning looked so confused emerged as a very strong individual who chose the course of her life on her terms. Needless to say, Maya Ali bagged all the praises for a perfect portrayal of this character & her acting was on-fleek.
Fareeda (Digest Writer):
A very strong & focused woman who worked against all the odds to prove her mettle & just because of her determination, she turned everything in her favor. Fareeda took baby steps towards her success & she never knew that the hobby that she was so passionate about would then become her career. She faced not a few but a lot of hurdles in both her personal & professional life where her parents at first were reluctant, where her nosy aunt wouldn’t stop judging her, where a famous TV star didn’t give her the credit she deserved & a senior writer belittled her work, despite all the obstacles, Fareeda still materialized her dream of becoming a renowned writer. She was a strong woman who did everything single-handedly & on her own terms, without worrying about the consequences & in the end, she emerged as a star. Fareeda’s character was beautiful because even though she did what she loved the most, she helped others through it, she was a giver & never a taker & that is why in the end, she sacrificed her happiness for the sake of her children too. I must say, Saba Qamar impressed me with her acting like never before & she not only did justice through her acting but through her personality too.
Gogi (Farwa Ki ABC):
Although Gogi’s character isn’t like the rest of the characters in the list but he was most certainly one of the most memorable characters of 2015. Hassan Ahmed nailed this character and made the viewers laugh every time he came on screen. Gogi was a rich spoiled brat who was quite capable of being very shallow and selfish but the way Hassan Ahmed translated this character on screen was beyond superb. He made the good qualities of his character shine out. There were so many episodes in which Gogi completely stole the show because of the actor playing the role more than anything else.
Jugnoo (Jugnoo):
Another strong, independent, self-sufficient girl who believed in living life her way. Even though life was always hard on Jugnoo & she was forced by the circumstances to be dependent on her aunt, she still chose to strengthen herself & fight back everything that came her way. It was good to see jugnoo fighting her battles alone & in fact she was the one who ended up rescuing her husband from the house arrest that his father chose for him. Even though the play was more on the comic side, it was refreshing to see a girl who was doing everything single-handedly without anyone’s support. Yumna Zaidi for sure did wonders as Jugnoo because the spontaneity & gesticulation that was required to play that role is something that comes naturally to Yumna Zaidi.
Madiha (Mera Naam Yousuf Hai):
Madiha continued to be a very positive and strong character throughout the drama. The character was translated on screen flawlessly by Mansha Pasha. The writer and the director both deserve due credit for exploiting the potential in Madiha’s character to the maximum by letting her be much more than just a victim. I must applaud the writer for showing that love can be selfless too and the director did the viewers a huge favor by keeping the rona dhona to the minimum. Madiha could have been the “other woman” in this love triangle but she was anything but that. The character was so powerful that there were times when viewers thought that Madiha deserved to be with Yousuf more than Zulekha.
Maqsood (Sadqay Tumhare):
Maqsood’s character, just like many other characters in Sadqay Tumhare was written brilliantly. There were times when Maqsood wasn’t just a mentor to Khalil but he also explained things in a way that made it easier for the viewers to see the big picture. Maqsood was a friend and a mentor to Khalil; someone he could confide in and turn to when he was clueless. He was a very practical and sensitive person who valued his relationship with his family more than anything else. Shamil Khan did complete justice to his character; everything about him from his get-up to his acting was spot on through out the play.
Shehryaar Hassan (Mol):
A rationally practical man who didn’t believe in the typical social norms & believed in giving space to his wife. Even though the writer tried to use Shehryaar’s practicality against him by trying to show him as an emotionally absent person, it was still refreshing to see a husband of such nature who didn’t believe in binding his wife just because she was lawfully married to him. He believed in giving everyone the space they needed & stood by his wife through thick & thin. It was good to see a husband defending his wife & fighting for her irrespective of what she put him through because he was a man of his word & that was his unique way of proving how much he loved her. Faisal Qureshi gave a stellar performance & he actually made us feel the struggles of Shehryaar Hassan.
Suhaib Bakhtiyaar Khan (Diyar-e-Dil):
A very obedient son, a very compassionate brother, a faithful husband & a role model of a father; that’s how I see Suhaib’s character. He proved to be the binding force of the family when everyone & everything was falling apart. He took care of his father, his word & continued to fulfill the promise that he made to him till his last breath. Despite being hurt by his brother time & again, he continued to do everything to bring him back because he wanted see his whole family happy & together. The values that he instilled in his childern & the patience with which he won the heart of his wife showed the kind of the person Suhaib was. He was farsighted enough to know that his child & his brother’s child were going to have a very good life together. Very rarely we get to see such positive characters in our dramas these days who live their life in order to make others happy & just because of that, they find their happiness in that journey too. Ali Rehman Khan was phenomenal as Suhaib Bakhtiyaar Khan & his powerful acting was the reason that he was remembered till the end even when his character ended in the initial episodes.
Waji Ahmed (Mera Naam Yousuf Hai):
One of the reasons I absolutely loved MNYH was that the side characters were very powerful. Waji Ahmed’s character was that of a loving father who stood by his son’s side through thick and thin and it was his conversation with Zulekha in the end which changed everything. Waji Ahmed sacrificed the love of his life to please others therefore he knew exactly how it felt to make this kind of a sacrifice and he told Zulekha that sometimes it was good to be selfish in love. Behroze Sabzwari adds something special to every character he plays and he played Waji Ahmed’s character with an unmatched brilliance too.
Wali Suhaib Khan (Diyar-e-Dil):
He has to be the most beloved hero of Pakistani Dramas of 2015. He was a perfect son, an even better grandson whose only motive in life was to make his grandfather happy & a very understanding husband who believed in giving his wife a benefit of doubt every single time. At a very tender age, the circumstances forced him to take responsibility & Wali not only accepted every challenge but succeeded in everything that made his way too. Wali’s character showed that where you can have a heart of gold you can also be an angry young man, which again is a rarity in our dramas. Wali showed zero tolerance if someone disrespected his grand father or even his wife Faarah, but on the other hand he was gentle in dealing with everyone around him, even if it was someone he detested the most & because of that he ended up convincing people in his favor who had doubts about him, which I believe is a hero’s quality. Osman Khalid Butt was the perfect choice for Wali’s character & he contributed a great deal in making Diyar-e-Dil a super hit serial of 2015.
So, this is it from our side, tell us about more such characters that were memorable & positive in your opinion. Also, positive characters can not shine if the negative characters aren’t strong enough, therefore, we will be coming up with the list of Most Memorable Negative Characters of 2015 soon enough, so please keep an eye on it as well. Please share your thoughts about this article & feel free to add your say too. :)
The mystery of what is going between Mohid and Hareem keeps deepening, at least for all those around them. Just when Hareem seems to be softening toward Mohid’s affection, he finds a way to create a confusion and misunderstanding. He appeared to be head-over-heals in love with her, yet he turns out to be just another guy the way he mistrusts her and suspects her of still being in love with her ex-husband, who is suddenly unable to live without Hareem.
Incredibly, even though Ayan’s sister knows and condemns his regarding his evil designs to create a rift between Hareem and Mohid, she can’t seem to find her way to communicating that with Mohid himself. His expectations of his wife cutting off all ties from her ex-husband, who also happens to be her cousin, are somewhat unreasonable. However, considering the situation, she could have shared the situation with her husband on her own. Parents are instrumental in trying to create peace between the couple, which seems to be the only important feature in everyone’s life.
Regardless of how much effort the elders are making in helping the two live a happily married life, Mohid’s illogical approach toward their relationship is over the top, considering he appeared to be a sensible person. Instead of listening to his Aunt’s “emergency” situation, he stormed to Hareem’s father’s house and created a scene.
On the other hand, Hareem, being a typical compliant girl, doesn’t think about confiding about her situation in Mohid’s Aunt, even when she offers her support wholeheartedly. If Hareem were sensible, she’d pay attention to how her stepmother’s behaviour and would know that she’s impartial and looks at the situation in a balanced way.
Incredibly, everyone wants their relationship to work out, yet the two of them can’t begin to trust each other, so much for love.
Luckily, Mohid’s parents set a good example and confront him regarding his irrational behaviour and guide him toward the correct path. Incredibly, Ayan’s mother is the exact opposite of Hareem’s current mother-in-law, always defending her son, instead of looking at facts. But Ayan’s scheming is over yet, his twisted thinking has now led him to believe that Hareem was unfaithful to him at some level, always the guilty conscience. His next steps will be nothing less than devastating for Hareem and Mohid’s life.
In his show “Khara Such” Mubashar Lucman decided to talk about something many of us discuss all the time. He talked about those hosts who are currently hosting different Morning Shows in Pakistan. He applauded Juggan Kazim, Shaista Lodhi and others for hosting the shows in a very impressive way but then he decided to talk about those hosts who he disliked the most. He started this khara such with saying that there are some Morning Shows he really dislikes. He was very blunt while sharing his opinion. He said,
“In my opinion Javeria Saud should not host the program she is hosting on Express Entertainment. She keeps on laughing all through the show, it would be nice of her if she can do some talking too.”
He begged Sahir Lodhi to spare everyone and he especially requested him to stop singing in his shows. He said that his singing was unbearable. Talking about Nadia Khan he said,
“Nadia Khan is a terrible flop. Nadia Khan has lost her magic, she gave morning shows their real meaning but her touch is totally missing from her show now. There are several reasons for it and one reason is that whether it is Nadia Khan or Reham Khan, they are one of those unfortunate people with whom no producer wants to work. The reason for that is that they are always fighting with their production teams.”
He said that Nadia Khan is not a team player. He also said,
“The worst anchor, content wise, is Nida Yasir. Someone will have to work very hard to do a program worse than her.”
This episode like the previous one did not show any prospects of Adeel and Rana’s marriage working out for obvious reasons but it did show that Rana had no intentions of letting Adeel have his own way. She did everything she wanted to do without taking into consideration what Adeel expected from her. When Gul-e-Rana went to college after Adeel clearly told her that she could not continue her studies and when she decided to share her fears with Asher the message she was sending to Adeel was loud and clear. He might have forced her to sign those nikkah papers but now she was going to do everything she could to make sure that Adeel did not dictate his terms and conditions to her any more. It was a pleasant surprise to see that Rana did not fall for Adeel’s lies but only went ahead with this relationship because no one believed her and she had no choice. Having said that I must add that the script lacks depth and this drama is not going to be anything more than a power struggle between Rana and Adeel. If the woman comes out strong in this struggle, I don’t mind that at all but if the viewers will have to watch another ‘strong’ girl’s character turning into a weak person with no common sense then it will be an opportunity wasted.
Adeel and Asher are poles apart in more ways than one. Apart from the fact that both of them belong to two different classes of society they have nothing in common when in comes to their personalities too. Asher hates confrontation, we have always seen him avoiding confrontation and he has never been able to take a stand for anyone so far but Adeel on the other hand will do anything to have his own way. He can lie and use force if that is what is needed to get what he wants. Even when Rana shared how she felt about her marriage with Asher, he wasn’t comfortable with the situation and in the preview of the next episode we see him having direct confrontation with Adeel.
The extras in this show proved to be just as boring as every other episode. Adeel’s phupos are best friends now that they have a common ‘enemy’. Maria still thinks she will eventually get married to Adeel and nothing that Rana says will change that because she has so much ‘faith’ in Adeel. I have no idea why the viewers are being burdened with Asher’s sister’s track because until now it has absolutely no relevance to the story.
Sajjal Ali looked absolutely stunning in every single scene today and her confrontations with Adeel were spot on. The first scene however could easily have been missed and it would’ve been so much better if we didn’t see a woman being violated yet again. I must say that for the first time I liked the way Sajjal Ali translated her character on screen but if we see Rana going to back to being a completely helpless person then I will be sorely disappointed. In the breakfast scene it was quite evident that Rana was broken up inside but she did not want to give Adeel the satisfaction of knowing that he had succeeded in achieving his objective. If Rana turns into a helpless creature in the next episode then this drama will be following a pattern in which we see one episode in which Rana does whatever she can to make sure that Adeel knows that he is not in control and in the next episode Adeel shows who is in charge!
In this episode unlike the last one we saw Rana showing her strengths and there was no unnecessary physical contact between the leads. The plot of the story however isn’t very promising and the side characters are annoying. Rana’s character has potential but since she has absolutely no support she might not be able to stay strong for long. Munira’s character was totally missing from tonight’s episode, which seemed very odd.
Did you watch tonight’s episode? Do share your thoughts about.
Dil-e-Janam is an upcoming drama on Hum Tv. Hamza Ali Abbasi is appearing on television after Pyare Afzal. Haseeb Hassan who directed the recently concluded Diyar-e-Dil is the director of this drama.
Cast:Maya Ali, Hamza Ali Abbasi, Gohar Rasheed, Ayesha Khan,Atiqa Odho,Javed Sheikh
Writer: Samira Fazal
Director: Haseeb Hassan
Producer: MD Production
In this age, acquiring the citizenship of another country is a routine thing. Every year thousands of Pakistan, go abroad either legally or illegally in western countries in the hope of acquiring their citizenship one day.
The most popular such countries among Pakistanis are UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The possible reasons behind this could be English as the official language as well as all these countries once have been a part of the British Empire. Apart from these some other western countries like Germany, Norway, Austria, Spain, France, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, Netherlands are also the secondary choice for acquiring citizenship. All these countries have a majority of non-Muslim population.
On the other side millions of Pakistani reside in the Muslim majority countries likes Saudia Arabia, Oman, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Libya (till the rule of Qaddafi), Malaysia on residence or work visa but without citizenship. All these Muslim majority countries do not offer citizenship, the only exception is Bahrain which offers limited citizenship to foreign security officers working in its army.
Comparing Pakistan with the rest of the world the two countries with which we share many similarities (there are many differences as well) are India and Afghanistan. With India we have similarities in language, cuisine, dresses, entertainment. With Afghanistan we also have many similarities as the Pakhtoon population lives on the both sides of Pak-Afghan border mainly in the provinces of KPK and Balochistan. Cross border marriages between Pakistan-Afghanistan and Pakistan-India do occur where most of the times Pakistani ladies married in the other country acquire the citizenship of the other country. We seldom hear about any such case with regards to Afghanistan, but with India many such cases are published in the news papers.
But when it comes to famous persons, there are very few such instances who accepted Indian citizenship after surrendering their Pakistani citizenship. Here are some famous persons, left to India from Pakistan and became Indian citizen. Indian citizenship status of few of the names in this list is not clear, yet their name is added as they are permanently residing in India for quite long.
Nasir Khan
Nasir Khan was born in the city of Peshawar, KPK which became part of Pakistan in 1947. Nasir Khan’s elder brother Dilip Kumar is an established name of the Bollywood. Like his elder brother Nasir Khan was also an actor. At the time of partition in 1947 he was in Lahore which became part of Pakistan. Though before 1947 Lahore was an established hub of Urdu/Punjabi film making in the Western India, all the film making facilities like studios, recording instruments were destroying during the riots of 1947. Thus the future of film making in Pakistan was quite uncertain. After 1947, Dilip Kumar preferred to stay in Mumbai, India instead of coming back to Pakistan his birth place. Unlike Dilip Kumar, Nasir Khan stayed in Pakistan and worked in few films produced in Lahore.
He was the hero of Teri Yaad the first ever film produced in Pakistan in 1949. He was also in the lead role in the film Shahida in 1949. Both the films failed at the box office, however Shahida celebrated Silver Jubilee across the border in India in the cities of Lucknow and Delhi. After working in Shahida in 1950-51, Nasir Khan left Pakistan for Mumbai, India and never worked in any other Pakistani film.
In India, he worked in few films but failed to achieve the fame his brother Dilip Kumar was enjoying. Nasir Khan married fellow artist Begum Para in India. Nasir Khan passed away in 1974.
Nasir Khan
Saahir Ludhianwi
Born in Ludhiana, Punjab, Sahir Ludhianwi is a famous poet of Urdu language who also wrote lyrics of many super hit Bollywood films. In 1947 Ludhiana became part of East Punjab, India but Sahir Ludhianwi preferred living in Pakistan over India and came to Pakistan in 1948. Sahir Ludhianwi was known for supporting leftist and communist ideas. Back then in Pakistan, communists and leftists were facing a hard time and were often jailed and prosecuted. Sahir Ludhianwi also faced prosecution when the Government of Pakistan issued his arrest warrant over some of his alleged controversial remarks regarding the communism. Seeing this hostile environment, Saahir Ludhianwi migrated to India in 1949. In India he got fame for writing lyrics of many Bollywood films. Saahir Ludhianwi never married and passed away in 1980.
Jogendra Nath Mandal
Jogendra Nath Mandal is a famous political figure who actively supported the Pakistan indpendence movement and later served on key positions in Pakistan. Jogendra Nath Mandal was from Bangal Lower Caste Hindu Community commonly referred as Dalit (دلت). Being a leader of Dalits, Jogendranath had made common cause with the Muslim League in their demand for Pakistan, hoping that the Dalits would be benefited from Pakistan.
He was the first law minister of Pakistan after independance in 1947. He also served as the chairman of first Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. After the death of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah in 1948, Jogendra Nath Mandal gradually lost faith in the policies of the Pakistani government towards Dalits and Hindus. Despite this on the request of then prime minister Liaqut Ali Khan, Jogendra Nath Mandal supported the Objective Resolution in 1949 despite facing criticism from his own community. Following the Barisal Riots of East Bangal in 1950 and prevailing anti-hindu sentiments across the country he resigned from the cabinet. He wrote a detailed resignation to Prime Minister Liaqut Ali Khan in which he expressed his discontent with the policies of the Federal Government and the East Bangal government towards his community.
He eventually left Pakistan and migrated to Calcutta, West Bangal, India. In India he led a relatively low profile life and passed away in 1968. Though the first law minister of Pakistan and a prominent non-muslim name who supported the Pakistan movement, sadly he is not much remembered in Pakistan.
Jogendra Nath Manda
Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan
Born in Kasur, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan is one of the greatest name of sub-continent classical music. In 1947 Kasur became part of Pakistan and Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan also came to his birth place Pakistan. In the mid 1950’s he migrated to India and acquired the Indian citizenship in 1957. Though the exact reason for his departure is not documented, noted filmi journalist Ali Sufian Afaaqi once wrote that Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali has not recieved the respect in Pakistan that an artist of his stature deserved. Especially the behavior of Zulfiqar Ali (ZA) Bukhari, the then head of the Radio Pakistan was not very encouraging towards him.
Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, lived in India where he was widely respected and was awarded Padma Bushan (Indian civillian award) in 1962 for his contributions towards music. Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan passed away in 1968.
Qurratulain Hyder
Qurratulain Hyder is considered as the greatest novel writer of the Urdu literature. Born in Aligarh which became part of India after 1947, Qurratulain Hyder migrated to Pakistan after 1947 with her mother. Here in Pakistan she served at a government post in the writers guild and her famous novel Aag Ka Darya was also published in 1950’s when she was in Pakistan. In 1958, General Ayub Khan imposed the first martial law in Pakistan. Qurratulain Hyder continued serving at the government post, but in 1962-63 she migrated back to India her birthplace. Qurratulain Hyder has never documented the reason of leaving Pakistan, and remained tight lipped about it till her death in 2007.
Qurratulain Hyder
Begum Para
Born in Jhelum, Begum Para has worked in many films in Bollywood. In 1947, Jhelum became part of the Pakistan however Begum Para stayed in Mumbai India. In Mumbai she married Nasir Khan the younger brother of Dilip Kumar who also migrated to India from Pakistan. Begum Para and Nasir Khan’s son Ayub Khan has also worked in few Indian films.
Nasir Khan passed away in 1975, and surprisingly after his death Begum Para migrated to her birthplace Pakistan. She lived in Pakistan for two years but returned to India in 1977 where she eventually passed away in 2008. As per film critic Aijaz Gull, In Pakistan Begum Para was looking for funding from ZA Bhutto’s government for her film Zidd, but when in 1977 ZA Bhutto was removed by General Ziaul Haq she returned to India.
Begum Para
All the persons mentioned above were born before the partition of 1947 and are considered the sub-continent personalities rather than India or Pakistan personalities and thus their migration to Pakistan or India has never created any hostile reaction in the general public. After 1977 there are very few instances where a famous Pakistani acquired Indian citizenship which was not much welcomed by Pakistani media and press. After 1977, few Pakistanis lived in India on residence visa like the poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Fahmida Riaz in late 1970’s and 1980’s, however they never acquired the Indian citizenship.
Faysal Qureshi
Faysal Qureshi is a golf player from Pakistan who married Nonita Lall a golf player from India. They married in 1990s. After the marriage the couple settled in Sri Lanka for few years due to visa issues. Afterwards, they settled in New Delhi, India. Nonita Lall is now a professional golf coach. The couple has a son.
Faysal Qureshi is residing in New Delhi, India for more than 15 years. It is not clear that whether he has acquired the Indian citizenship or not, but since he is residing in India for quite long so his name is added in this list.
Nonita Lal and Faysal Qureshi
Adnan Sami Khan
January 2016, Adnan Sami Khan acquired the Indian citizenship. Born In England in 1973, Adnan Sami Khan is the son of Arshad Sami Khan and Naureen Sami Khan. Arshad Sami Khan has served as a fighter pilot in Pakistan Air Force and also particiapted in the 1965 war against India. After resiging from the air force, Arshad Sami Khan has served at the key positions in Pakistani bureacracy. He served as ADC to three Pakistani presidents as well as Ambassador in many countries.
Adnan Sami Khan is brought up in Europe where Arshad Sami Khan was serving as ambassador of Pakistan. Arshad Sami Khan passed away in 2009. Adnan Sami Khan has an interest in music and he returned to Pakistan in late 1980’s. In 1989 he started a music program Bahta Darya on the state run Pakistan Television (PTV) from Islamabad centre. It is common in Pakistan that persons of influential families waste tax payers money, in the name of showcasing their talent. Behta Darya was not much successful. Adnan released his first music album Raag Time in 1991 which recieved moderate success. He also secured a commercial contract with the Coca Cola. In 1992 during a television show he announced he is leaving Pakistan. However he was again in the news when famous film director Syed Noor signed him for his film Sargam. Adnan Sami Khan composed the music as well acted in this film with Zeba Bakhtyar in the opposite lead. Both Adnan and Zeba got married during the shooting of Sargam. Sargam was released in 1995, though praised by critics it was not commercially much successful. The success of the music of Sargam bring Adnan Sami Khan in the limelight. After Sargam, Adnan Sami Khan and Zeba Bakhyar signed another film Mausam to be produced by SB Hussain (Late). By then both Zeba and Adnan had a son Azaan Sami Khan.
Around 1997-98 Adnan Sami Khan composed the music of Mausam in London with Indian signer Asha Bhosle. In the meanwhile his marriage with Zeba Bakhtyar ended. Their breakup made headlines when Zeba filed a kidnap case against Adnan Sami Khan, who kidnapped his own son Azaan and fled to Canada. After the intervention of then Home Minister Ch. Shujaat Hussain, the case was resolved Azaan Sami Khan along with Adnan Sami Khan was brought back to Pakistan, where Azaan was handed over to his mother Zeba Bakhtyar.
Adnan released the music of film Mausam in 1998, though he did not own the rights of the music but the album was not much successful. The album has songs like Kabhi To Nazar Milao, Mujh Ko Bhi To Lift Kara De. In 2000 he moved to India and re-released the album of Mausam, with the name Kabhi To Nazar Milao and it proved a massive hit in the Indian market. We Pakistani have a strange habit, many times we do not acknowledge our own artists, but when the same artist gets acknowledgement in India or west we suddenly remember how valuable the artist is for Pakistan. It happened in the case of Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and similar to this Adnan Sami Khan also became very popular. The same album of Mausam which proved unsuccessful in 1998, became a superhit one in Pakistan once it is endorsed by the Indian audience as Kabhi To Nazar Milao.
Adnan Sami Khan prolonged his stay in India and composed music for few Bollywood films as well. He made the headlines again when he filed for Indian citizenship. His first request was rejected, and he filed the second request in 2015. The second request was accepted by the Indian government and on 1st January 2016 he was granted the Indian citizenship after surrendering his Pakistani passport.
Adnan Sami Khan on left
So it concludes the compilation of former Pakistani citizen who acquired the Indian citizenship.
Different Pakistani celebrities celebrated the news year eve in different ways. Sarah Khan enjoyed a night out with her sister and friends. Syra Shehroz too spent the night with her sisters and their spouses also enjoyed with them. Waseem Akram and his wife were at the Olympics Party for new year along with many other celebrities. Designer Asim Jofa hosted a party for friends and many celebrities like Sohai Ali, Sarwat Gillani, Fahad Mirza and many others were seen on the occasion. Other designers hosted different parties too and invited the celebrities who are close to them. Atif Aslam posted a picture of himself with his wife and son in which they appear to be looking towards the future.
Here are some beautiful pictures of Pakistani celebrities on New Year 2016:
We reported yesterday that Sanam Jung’s wedding functions had started and posted a picture of her dholki. Now we have more news and pictures for our visitors. Sanam Jung’s Mehndi was held last night in what looks like her own home. The couple looked happy and smiling on the occasion. Traditionally brides wear yellow on their mehndi but Sanam Jung decided to wear a silver and golden outfit. The functions are taking place in Karachi.
Hmmm, that awkward moment when 40 seconds of of Lota Virus advertisement seems better than the whole 40 minute episode of Tumhare Siwa. This episode practically had nothing to be shown but they just stretched for no reason. I am not sure even after receiving viewers response why is HUM TV bent on making us watch this Friday Night Special. They should’ve done some editing & should have made this the last episode because I believe 19 weeks of this mind-numbing torture is more than enough!!!
Most of the episode showcased the flashbacks of how ‘happy’ these 4 miserable beings were together, which obviously made no sense whatsoever because the initial episodes were enough to let us know that they were close-knit. Like we know that by now because Aazar & Rania never gave much importance to Tania & Baber, who were related to them but they chose to go out of the way for Arsal & Samra, so I guess that was a done deal by now but seems like the writer & the director felt they hadn’t tortured us enough so they decided to add a few more bits & bobs to show us what these petty creatures were like, in the past!!!
All of a sudden Samra has started having thoughts about what sort of influence this whole scenario would be casting on her Naani, all of a sudden she feels her ‘kaccha zehan’ is in danger, which made me ask that where was Samra’s ‘pakka zehan’ when she was doing ‘pakki things’ with Aazar Bhai & the rest of her partners in crime? This drama defies basic sense & logic & it is sickening to see them justifying things that have happened between the newly weds Bhai & Bhabi aka Aazar & Samra!!!
Aazar must be living in a fool’s paradise to believe that his & Rania’s relationship is strong because all the things he has done when she was not around spell something totally opposite to me at least. His relation is so strong that he didn’t feel the need to call her once or tell her to pack her bags as he was coming to pick her up & still he believes his relation is strong. May I also ask, where was Rania’s baby brother in the initial episodes when she was planning husband swapping scenario that now she feels she can’t breathe without having a look at him? How was she surviving before then?
All the things Aazar said to Rania about how duty bound he is to take care of Samra & how he has some responibility towards her were a total lie. He lied so much that me made my ears hurt. Aazar swore that he can’t lie to Rania but each & every word that was uttered from his unwashed mouth was everything but the truth. Aazar is basically a sore loser & a spineless cheater who can not admit that he has actually fallen for his Biwi # 2, so in stead he tried using the bechari card to reinforce his thought process & his eager wish on Rania that Samra is the most miserable being who has ever walked on the face of the Earth & that is why she can’t do anything without his support. Aazar even tried to create a drama in front of Rania saying that he was ready to divorce Samra but then again he tried to make her guilty by talking about Samra’s lachargi, I must say, Aazar may be spineless & a biggest liar, but he sure has some brains & tacts up his sleeve because he knew exactly what he should say that will melt Rania’s heart. I actually felt bad for Rania that she fell for all the things her liar husband said because she still loves him enough to believe that he can’t cheat on her or lie to her, whereas he was doing just exactly what she didn’t think of.
The only good thing about this episode was that Tania & Baber were nowhere to be seen, at least the percentage of torture was lessened by .05%. I think this is more than enough & Hum Tv should really end this torture ASAP. They have been showing the promos of some upcoming dramas, so I guess they need to edit the remaining parts of this drama & finish it off quickly. Also, my piece of advice to the writer would be that he shouldn’t put too much pressure on his small brain to come up with such hideous scripts because we are better off without his work & Pakistani drama industry surely can survive without his sincere contribution. Please share your thoughts & please tell me that this piece of crap of ending next week?
The Indian government has finally accepted the request of Adnan Sami Khan for Indian citizenship. Adnan will surrender his Pakistani passport to receive the Indian citizenship.
It was the second request of Adnan Sami Khan, his first request was rejected by the Indian government after which Adnan filed a new request in 2015.
Adnan has thanked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well.
Sanam Jung went on a holiday from her Morning Show last week and she announced that she was going to be back after she gets married. Sanam Jung also said that her mother wanted her to stop wearing make-up before her wedding and wanted her to have a no make-up look on her mayon and mehndi. Sanam Jung jokingly said that if she does that, it will scare her future mother-in-law away and she will refuse to marry her son with her. Sanam Jung is one of the most liked hosts and actresses of recent times. People who are young especially like her innocent looks and style. Sanam Jung also lost a lot of weight before getting married.
One of Sanam Jung’s pictures in a mayon get up is being circulated on the web which shows that just like she said, she did not go for a no make-up look but looks beautiful as usual. It also shows that the wedding functions have started and very soon we will be seeing her in a bridal get up.
After conquering the world of morning shows, game shows, religious shows, ramzan transmission and designer lawn now famous media personality Aamir Liaqut Hussain is venturing into a new avenue.
As per Urdu Daily Jang (12 December 2015), Aamir Liaqut Hussain has accepted an offer from film director and producer Syed Noor for one of his upcoming film. He accepted the offer in his own morning show, which Syed Noor was attending as a guest. As per Urdu Daily Jang, Syed Noor has crafted a special role for a preacher and spiritual person and Aamir Liaqut Hussain is a perfect fit for this role. Aamir Liaqut Hussain accepted the offer for this proposed role, though the name and the other cast of the film is yet to be made public.
About Syed Noor
Syed Noor has been a prominent film director, producer and writer. He started his career in late 1976 by writing the film Society Girl which was a hit. Syed Noor continued writing the films throughout 1980s and in 1993 directed his first film Qasam which was a semi hit. After Qasam, Jeeva in 1994 directed by Syed Noor proved super hit especially its music is still popular. The success of Jeeva in 1994 resulted in a short lived revival of the Urdu cinema which lasted till 2000. Jeeva was followed by Chor Machaye Shor (1995), Sargam (1995), Hawaien (1996), Ghoongat (1996), Deewane Tere Pyar Ke (1997), Sangam (1997) are his famous Urdu movies.
In 1996 Syed Noor introduced the superhit heroine of Punjabi Cinema, Saima in Urdu films with a side role in his film Ghoonghat from 1998 onwards Saima was the heroine of all of his films. After the success in Urdu films, Syed Noor experimented by directing a Punjabi film Choorian in 1998. Choorian proved the most successful Punjabi film in the history of Punjabi cinema which earned nearly 20 crore in 1998. After Choorian, Syed Noor only casted Saima as a heroine in all his upcoming Punjabi and Urdu films. Since 1998, no Urdu film of Syed Noor has proved successful however few of his Punjabi films did splendid business like Budha Gujjar (2002) and Majajan (2006). In 2005, Syed Noor and Saima declared their marriage.
Syed Noor has launched the career of many artists like Resham (Jeeva in 1995), Babar Ali (Jeeva in 1995), Moammar Rana (Deewane Tere Pyar Ke in 1997).He relaunched the career of Shaan with the powerful roles of Ghoonghat (1996) and Sangam (1997). He also revived the career of Saima in Urdu films in 1996, which otherwise was nearly out of Punjabi films due to the death of Sultan Rahi the towering figure of the Punjabi cinema.
Adnan Sami Khan is in the limelight once again in the Pakistani media but not for good reasons. His citizenship of Pakistan was cancelled because of his statement in a letter to Indian official in which he said that he did not want a green passport. In a letter to the Indian officials he wrote,
“I don’t need the green passport anymore. I have found my home in India.”
Adnan Sami Khan was granted Indian citizenship which will be effective from today. Adnan Sami thinks that Indian people are very tolerant and he felt like he was a citizen of India even when he was not granted Indian citizenship.
Zeba Bakhtiar was married to Adnan Sami Khan once and they had a son together. Zeba was invited as a guest to one of Express News’ talk shows “Khabardar” in which the host asked her the reason why this marriage with Adnan Sami failed. To this she replied,
“First of all, undoubtedly Adnan Sami is an immensely talented musician. But people have difference of priorities and ideologies. We were really good friends but we had different ways of looking at life. All relationships are based on ideologies”
The host asked her why she never thought about these differences when she decided to marry him to which she replied,
“You don’t realize what are a person’s priorities in life or what their ideology is until you live with them.”
People were not told what Adnan Sami’s ideologies were.
Rahat Fateh Ali Khan arrived at the Hyderabad Airport yesterday because he had to perform on a new year eve function. The singer was not allowed access to the city and was deported because of “technical reasons”. India has special laws for nationals of Pakistan and Rahat Fateh Ali did not confirm with some of these laws. Pakistani nationals cannot enter India through Hyderabad, they can only do so through Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.
Talking to the media one of the officials said,
“If a Pakistani national enters through any other airport, except the four metros, his/her travel to India cannot be recorded. Hence it is mandatory that they stick to the four ports. This system has been put in place to monitor the movement of Pakistani nationals in and out of the country.”
The customs officials however said that the reason for his deportation were flaws in his travel documents.
Every new year brings with it new hopes and aspirations. Different people start their new year in different ways. Some people who are realistic want to have realistic goals, the dreamers want to dream big and want to work to make these dreams come true. Then there are others who are critics and they criticize the things that were wrong in the last year and are still wrong while we enter a new year. Everyone has a different way of expressing their thoughts on new year. Some people just stick to a happy new year note instead of sharing their actual feelings and resolutions on social media.
Just like everyone else Pakistani celebrities too turned to social media for wishing their fans a happy new year. Some of them posted their pictures with their friends and there were others who preferred spending their time with their family. Although usually people in the showbiz circle are very social and they love to party but this year we have seen that some of our celebrities decided to spend a quiet night at home with family.
Here are some thoughts and wishes extended by Pakistani celebrities on new year eve.
This is going to be Ayeza and Danish’s first New Year as parents. It is wonderful to watch these parents spending their new year eve together with their daughter. Most celebrities go to parties on the new year eve to enjoy themselves but Ayeza and Danish look very happy spending quality time with their daughter Hoorain. Ayeza Khan wished her fans a happy new year and acknowledged the position her husband and daughter have in her life in her facebook post.
She also posted pictures of how they were celebrating the new year ever. Ayeza and Danish took Hoorain to a play area where she enjoyed the rides and time with her parents.
Ayeza Khan also posted her new year resolution on her facebook page which is unlike any other. Here is what she had to say:
Adnan has conveniently been relegated to the background and this drama is now all about Ayesha’s relationship with Shahwez. Watching a rape victim confide in her rapist and then asking him for suggestions or what looked more like support and help had to be the worst thing we have witnessed in any drama so far. Ayesha cannot confide in her mother who is a very strong woman because somehow she feels that Shahwez is the only one who will have a solution to her problem. Wasn’t it bad enough that this person violated her in the worst way possible, now the viewers have to watch her relying on him as well. Who is the real victim here? Shahwez, Ayesha, Adnan or Sangat? Sangat has practically been disowned by everyone. Ayesha is not thinking about getting her daughter treated but she is still thinking of ways to get rid of this child. It is just plain sad how the status of a mother in this drama has been turned into a monster who is capable of thinking about everyone else except their own child. Why couldn’t Ayesha dedicate her life to Sangat? If “that room” reminds Shahwez of what he did to Ayesha howcome Sangat does not remind him of how he violated her since she was a direct outcome of that act??? Is the writer trying to show that Shahwez is a better human being than Adnan and Ayesha because he is willing to accept a child no one else is willing to take responsibility for?
One more question…..Was Sangat’s illness used only to take the story forward? And now that it serves no purpose, there is absolutely no mention of her illness. When Ayesha was at her in laws’ house, every other day Sangat used to end up in the hospital and now all of a sudden she is steady and there is hardly ever any mention of her illness. The conversation between Shahwez and Ayesha after she convinced him not to kill himself was just plain shocking. It was like a conversation between two prisoners who were locked in a cell together and no one could understand their situation better than the two of them!!! Soul mates? Is that the other word for such people?? While Ayesha told her mother off by making her realize that all the degrees she had, had failed to ‘enlighten’ her in any way, it seems like she has stopped judging Shahwez altogether. The dirty looks and the mean lines spoken by Ayesha every now and then mean absolutely nothing when her actions convey something completely different.
This will be my last review of Sangat because I have had enough of watching a rape victim being ridiculed to the extreme. I would like to tell the writer of this drama that a woman does not always need a man in her life to survive. Also next time you sit down to pen a script please remember that a rape victim cannot have a normal relationship with her rapist even if she is unfortunate enough to be the mother of his child. Ayesha had much better options to save Sangat and to put herself out of her misery than relying on her rapist. Slowly, the writer is trying his best to convince the viewers that even though Shahwez is a rapist he is the only person right now who can protect both Sangat and Ayesha since he “loves” them both! Sorry, I am not buying this twisted logic at all! Sangat has to be the most reckless and thoughtless piece of writing and the worst drama ever made.
Childhood is the most precious time of everyone’s life. Children are carefree and innocent. Some of our celebrities were born in families the members of which were already attached to the world of showbiz but others had to start their career all on their own. It is always interesting to see the childhood pictures of these celebrities. Some of them have completely changed now and it is difficult to tell that it really is their childhood picture but others still look exactly the same. Imran Abbas, Sanam Saeed, Annie, Sanam Baloch and Atiqa Udho are some of those celebrities who still have the same looks as they did when they were children. We are thankful to all these celebrities for sharing these childhood pictures with us.
Here are some unseen childhood pictures of Pakistani celebrities.
Asim Raza’s film Ho Mann Jahaan will hit the cinema houses not only in Pakistan but also internationally tomorrow. People are very excited for the film and so are the team members who worked very hard on the film. The team of Ho Mann Jahaan has been promoting the film for over a month now and even now they are busy hosting and being part of premiers in different cities. Asim Raza said in one of his interviews that some people were criticizing him for using beautiful faces to attract the attention of the people. He said that everyone wanted to see beautiful faces, everyone likes them so why not?
After Lahore the film was premiered in Karachi. The premier in Karachi was a much bigger affair than the one in Lahore because most of the showbiz personalities are settled in Karachi. Even Pervaiz Musharraf was seen endorsing the film. He has never been seen in any of the other film premiers. Mahira Khan wore a very formal golden dress. Sonia Jehan looked stylish in a black dress. All the female and male celebrities were dressed up in formal wear.
Javeria and Saud’s daughter Jannat is already a celebrity because she is very often seen making an appearance in talk shows. She is a confident little girl who enjoys all the attention she gets. Jannat also came as a guest on Sanam Jung’s Morning Show last week dressed up as Cinderella to promote the film Cinderella which was going to be screened in cinemas. Javeria and Saud always celebrate their daughter’s birthday in a grand way. This time also they had a big frozen themed party. The party was attended mostly by family members.
Marriage is the most sacred bond between two individuals. No one can be as close to a person as their spouse. A supportive spouse helps build up a person’s personality and helps him/her excel in every field. Pakistani celebrities, no matter how famous and busy they get, they always feel that marriage is an important step in life which must be taken. Everyone tries their best to choose the best person as their life partner but sometimes people only find out after they get married that they are not compatible and that is when they decide to part ways. The good thing is that there were a lot more marriages in 2015 than there were divorces. All these celebrities who got married chose their own partners and most of them are enjoying their live together while they work hard on their careers too. Some of them had known each other for many years and others got married soon after they met. Their interviews in talk shows gave the fans an insight into how they met, which is always interesting to hear.
Here is the list of celebrities who got married and those who got divorced in 2015:
Sharmila Farooqui and Hasham Riaz Sheikh
Sharmila Farooqui’s wedding was a grand affair. The functions covered a time frame of 15 days. The wedding was held in Karachi in which Sharmila Farooqui tied the knot with Hasham Riaz Sheikh who is a former banker and currently he owns Capital TV. The couple is enjoying their life together.
Bilal Qureshi and Uroosa Qureshi
Bilal and Uroosa both are celebrities. They got married on Valentine’s Day. They have been seen together on talk shows a lot after the wedding.
Sanam Saeed and Farhan Hassan
Sanam Saeed and Farhan Hassan were childhood friends who decided that they wanted to spend the rest of their life together. Sanam Saeed’s wedding functions continued for days too. Friends and family also attended post wedding parties and dinners in Phuket, Thailand.
Babar Khan and Bisma Khan
Babar and Bisma’s wedding was a low key affair when compared to other weddings on the list because Babar lost his first wife in a tragic accident so Babar did not want a big wedding.
Shaista Lodhi and Adnan Lodhi
Shaista Lodhi’s marriage to Adnan Lodhi was a start of a new phase of life for her in more ways than one. Shaista returned to television immediately after her marriage. The marriage was a family affair.
Ali Gul Pir
Ali Gul Pir also got married this year. He did not reveal much about his wife and only shared some pictures of the wedding.
Madiha Iftikhar and Shazeel Mirza
Madiha Iftikhar looked elegant on her wedding. The wedding function was held gracefully with close family and friends attending it.
Annie Khalid and Saad Ahmed
Annie Khalid looked gorgeous in an orange dress on her baraat and she opted for yellow dress for her mehndi which looked different and attractive. Annie Khalid was very happy with her make up artist for giving her the perfect look. She posted on instagram, “You made me feel like a regal princess.” The wedding function was a family affair.
Mukarram Kaleem
Mukarram Kaleem also tied the know this year. He is better known as a host and an actor. Mukarram Kaleem’s wedding was attended by many celebrities.
Maha Kanwal and Erfan Khan
Maha Kanwal is a famous model. She got married to Erfan Kanwal this year. The couple is very happy together.
Pari Hashmi and Saqib Zafar Khan
Saqib Zafar Khan saw Pari Hashmi on the set of one of her plays and that is when he knew that this was the girl he wanted to marry. They got married soon afterwards.
Sarfraz Ahmed and Syeda Khushbakht Shah
Sarfraz Ahmed has been part of the Pakistani cricket team for a few years. He got married in a Karachi in the presence of family and friends.
Ahmed Shehzad and Sana Murad
When Ahmed Shehzad got married he did not like the presence of too many media persons on his wedding. This wedding was mostly a family affair.
Uroosa Siddiqui and Saqib Khan
Uroosa Siddiqui is well known for her comic roles. She tied the know with Saqib Khan.
Imran Khan and Reham Khan
Imran Khan and Reham Khan got married and the couple parted ways in the year 2015 too. They got married in January 2015 and the news of their divorce came in October.
Azfar Ali and Naveen Waqar
Azfar Ali announced at the end of the year that he and Naveen Waqar were no longer a couple. He did not share details about their divorce but made the announcement after getting a lot of requests for interviews together.
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