Now here is the real crispy news for all the Pakistani film lovers. Another Pakistani movie which was released this Eid nationwide ‘Ishq Khuda’, starring Ahsan Khan and Meera, will be making its way to  Norway as it has been listed for screening at the Bollywood Film Festival, held in Norway.

More excitingly, the world premiere of the said movie was also arranged in Toronto, Canada before its official release in Pakistan and the Canadians appreciated the work and found the Pakistani content interesting.

The entire team is delighted with the news and would soon be leaving for Norway to find new goals for the movie which had to face a tough competition within country soon after its release.

Meera, who played the lead in the movie ‘Ishq Khuda’ declared the venture as the best movie of her career and despite of the statement she passed that the movie would be her last film, Meera is enthusiastic again to do more films after the success the movie has earned.

It is certainly a pleasure to see our Lollywood movies sustaining the pressure and earning good ratings not only in Pakistan but all over the world.

We wish more power to the team,

Blessings,

Nida Zaidi

Shahid Nazir, who is well-known for his crazy track ‘One pound fish’ is going through a bad phase of his life where his popularity seems to turn into a bad name which is lately brought to him for not paying his loans and for that, his arrest warrants are been issued last Friday.

Often known for his song which received much of the recognition in UK, Shahid Nazir turn into a celebrity overnight where all the Pakistanis seemed proud of him for spreading his talent in UK and making his country shine in the field of singing and music. Soon after his prominence in UK, he was also seen in endorsements and Ads by big companies like PTCL.

As per the reports revealed yet, Shahid took a loan of Rs. 6.6 Million from a private company in Lahore which he failed to pay at all. Due to his non-payment, the Lahore court has released his arrest warrant on the request of the victim company.

The news is really more than a shock for his fans who are disappointed with the fact that their once-liked-‘One pound Fish’ man is not following the legal ties he once agreed to follow. Shahid, however, has not passed any remarks over the issue which is too adding more spice in the hot air revolving around the matter.

We hope that Shahid Nazir deals with the matter as per the rules of the nation and clear his dues which are unpaid according to the terms and conditions he signed.

Best Wishes,

Nida Zaidi 

It was recently rumored that Fawad Afzal Khan might make his entry in the world of Bollywood. But now it has been confirmed that Fawad Afzal Khan will be seen in a Bollywood flick pretty soon

This news was reported a few days back:

Fawad Afzal Khan has already left to shoot his Bollywood movie. He was offered a role in Bin Roe Aansu, but rejected it due to his Bollywood commitments. After he returns from his shooting for the Bollywood movie, he will start shooting for the upcoming Pakistani movie by Sultana Siddiqui

It has been a few days since he left to shoot his Bollywood movie. So, most probably we would not see him on the Television for at least a year or so. But the good news is that he will come back and shoot for the untitled movie produced by Sultana Siddiqui, which has been in news for quite some time now. Previously, it was in the news that Humayun Saeed has been casted instead, but that turned out to be a rumor. Following the lead of Humayun Saeed, Zeba Bakhtiar and many other big budgeted movie producers in town; now Sultana Siddiqui will also invest in a movie with a grand cast whose male lead has been finalized as Fawad Afzal Khan. Sultana Siddiqui is still searching for the female lead and hopefully, she will also get finalized very soon. It has also been in the news that the shooting of her movie will be held in Malaysia.

Fans have been enraged as to why Fawad Afzal Khan was not casted for Bin Roye Aansu since its cast has been revealed. There was a lot of hue and cry by fans for not casting their favorite leads of ‘Humsafar’ together. Well, now they have the answer to their question. He had his dates filed with his upcoming Bollywood movie, and that is the reason why he could not take up the show.

In the meantime, Fawad Afzal Khan would also be seen in The Green Star Charity Fund Raiser this Eid in London. There will be a huge event on the 20^th October, 2013, and he will be accompanied by stars like Sajjad Ali, Qurait-ul-ain Baloch, Shafqat Amanat Ali and Umer Sharif. Fawad Khan has always been an active participant in charities, and we hope that this event will also be a huge success!

The downside of this news is that we would not get to see Fawad on Television for at least a year or two, but the upside is that he is not going anywhere, and will be seen in Sultana Siddiqui’s movie next! The revival of Pakistani cinema has just started; after the success of Main Hoon Shahid Afridi, it has been heard that Humayun Saeed is looking at three more scripts and is planning to return with more movies that will be a notch higher than Main Hoon Shahid Afridi!

Stay tuned for more updates!

Share your views about the news!

Mariam Shafiq

Cashing their earned name as a brand is what we have been witnessing in our entertainment industry where our celebrities, once earning fan following come up with a brand, a boutique, a saloon or something similar and related to the fashion industry but what Sonia Rehman has recently came up with is much interesting as compared to the businesses I shared above,

Sonia Rehman who we enjoy watching on screen has recently conducted an international antique furniture exhibition targeting the different eras  and presenting a camouflage of years. The idea she focused on was to collect the ancient styles of furnitures of different civilizations like the British Raj, Indus Valley Civilization, Mughal Courts and things similar to them.She has individually selected each masterpiece and personally been involved in restoring each item in her signature style. These exquisite pieces are sure to be cherished by not only those who own them today but also future generations.

Showing their love and support towards Sonia Rehman, many Pakistani stars visited the exhibition and applauded Sonia for the magnificent idea she just turned into really. The event got a good media coverage and celebrities like Sania Saeed,  Humayun Saeed, Marina  Khan and Mahira Khan were spotted in the event.

Here are a few clicks taken and been shared, have a look!

Showing her interest in preserving the antique things like furniture is surely a new idea which has delighted Sonia Rehman’s fans. 

Let us see what next she comes up with after enjoying a great success in the first attempt.

Wishes,

Nida Zaidi

No matter how hard we try not to discuss about the foreign content and the controversial realities attached to it, the idea is turning into a giant monster which is haunting the local drama-makers and now the filmmakers are not exempted here.

Turkish dramas have been airing with their urdu dubbing been done and from Ishq-e-Mamnu to Fatima Gul, have gathered quite an audience so far. Now that we see our film industry flourishing with the improved efforts made by celebrities and organizers, Turkish films will now be coming to Pakistan to add in the competition which our movies have to face from Indian and Hollywood movies. Turkish movie, ‘Ask Tesadüfleri Sever’, translated as Mohabbat ek Itefaq in Urdu will soon be making its way to the Pakistani cinemas. It is interesting that the especially dubbed movie will also hit the Indian and Bangladeshi cinemas soon.

Been released in in February 2011, the movie earned a huge business of 50 million USD and is one of the highest grossing Turkish films, with a first weekend hit of 1,779,485 USD, of the year and investors hope that the movie will now add up into the revenue with its global launch in different language.

The story of the movie revolves around the life of a famous actress who is into a strong relationship but the family of her love does not approve her profession at all. She then meets a photographer during one of her shoots who falls for her and that is the point where the trio love angle starts.

The upcoming project is a result of the mutual efforts of Pakistani production team-Sohail Productions and will be releasing in Pakistan this Eid-ul-Azha. There are 18 targeted cinemas in Pakistan which will support the Turkish movie that are mainly located in Karachi,Lahore and Rawalpindi.

The movie is half way done with its translation and voice recording and it is expected to see its promos releasing not only on E-media but in newspapers too.

It is yet difficult for me to judge this move because the idea would be facilitating the cinema houses anyway but it still creates a question about how will our local industry survive in the given circumstances! The release of Chennai Express ate up all the good for the Pakistani releases on Eid as it is, and now that this Turkish movie will release on coming Eid too, it is more like a threat to other expected Pakistani movies been scheduled to release on the occasion.

Please share your views,

Wishes,

Nida Zaidi

It is more than a dilemma that there is hardly any local content left that can be associated with the children of the nation where we see no dedicated programs or channels that work on child grooming and skill motivation for the young souls who, as a result of this seek interest in foreign content and follow Indian talent hunt shows and movies.

 It is not only in India that special projects are been rendered to this specific age group of viewers but the trend is more like a need in west. It was recently a creative idea of Burka Avengers but again it too failed to attract a pretty huge audience probably because of the lack of promotions been done by the channel itself.

 Much to our delight, a non-profit organization The Little Art (TLA) is working on Children’s cinema and for that it will soon be holding an international children’s film festival in Lahore from 16^th to 21^st September, 2013.

 This 6-day festival is being held at Alhamra Cultural Complex, Qaddafi Stadium in Lahore in collaboration of Ministry of Culture and Youth Affairs, Government of Punjab.

 The significance of this film festival is the fact that the movies been chosen for the festival highlight the problems faced by children in general. The researchers claim that the idea of spreading awareness and learning through the visual arts among the children is a great way to enhance the capabilities of the children in different domains.

 The Little Art (TLA) has also announced a national art competition named ArtBeat. Festival director, Shoaib Iqbal told in an interview:

  “ArtBeat is a visual arts project to raise awareness about identity, rights, and social justice among children and youth.”

 

With the theme “Me/My Rights”, the competition aims at providing children with a platform to express their inner feelings. Children and youngsters of 3-18 years of age from all over Pakistan submitted their work early this year. The winners will be given 30 different prizes and TLA has announced to fully sponsor two brilliant artists for Sharjah International Biennial for Children’s Arts.

 TLA has done a great deal of work in motivating the children grooming through quality films and this would be its 5^th major move in the said domain.

 We wish the team a very good luck for the event,

More power,

Nida Zaidi

Just after the success of Pakistani drama industry in not only in Pakistan but across the world, Pakistan has now earned enough of name to be a subject of Indian movies in good aspects. It has been seen that these days it is becoming more like a trend that filmmakers are coming up with the ideas of joint efforts been taken from the two controversial countries, that is, India and Pakistan and offer the much alike audience an Indo-Pak venture. A new name in the list is the RajKumar Santoshi’s upcoming movie which will be reaching out to cinemas by the mid of 2014.

Santoshi, while sharing his future moves with the Indian media stated that it is his dream project to make an Indo-Pak movie which would help spreading the feeling of love and friendship across the border. For this, he is even done with the cast of the lead roles and Anil Kapoor, a veteran Indian actor, is all ready to play the lead. Anil Kapoor recently praised the Pakistani talent and acting skills of Hina Dilpazeer and with the news of Anil doing an Indo-Pak movie, his fans within Pakistan are more than delighted.

To add more in the project, Santoshi has bought the rights of the play ‘Jis Lahore Nahi Dekhya Woh Jamiya Nahin’ as its primary script. Like all other precious movies from this filmmaker, it is highly expected that the untitled movie will be a high budgeted movie which will attract the patriotic audience from both the countries.

Anil Kapoor, when asked about the said project and his views towards visiting Pakistan, Anil showed his gratitude and stated that he will soon visit  Pakistan and it is most likely to expect that his daughter Sonam Kapoor will too accompany him in the journey.

Let’s hope that Santoshi’s dream bring success to the idea which has often suffered in the past when it comes to a joint project of Indo-Pak.

Share your views,

Wishes,

Nida Zaidi

After going through a rash time in terms of ratings and viewership, Geo TV is now back to the track with the airing of local content, trying hard to get a hold of its lost audience by offering them their favorite celebrity dramas like Numm, Kasak Reh Gayi, Asmaano par Likha and much to this, even a telefilm-Daam-e-Ishq.

We did share the news in Ramadan about the telefilm and predicted its airing as an Eid special but seems like the channel had other plans to cash the idea in a best possible way. If you are back to Geo TV and following the channel, you must have seen the promos of this upcoming telefilm starring Nauman Ejaz, Sana Fakhir, Sana khan, Ayesha Khan(Snr), Adnan Shah Tipa & Mani Chao. The telefilm is presented by Junaid Ahmed khan while the productions has been done by Nuzhat Fatima Khuhawar & Atif Usmani. The telefilm is written by Shumaiel Akbar & Junaid Khan and the music is done by Kalyaan.

The promos much reveal about the life of a famous celebrity (Naumaz Eijaz) who experiences a sudden downfall in his career which becomes difficult for him to absorb. His wife (Sana) keeps on consoling her but her words make no difference to his failure.

The story seems nothing new but a mixture of previous scripts which we have been watching on and off.

Here are a few clicks of the celebrities on the set of Daam-e-Ishq.

Have a look!

All for now,

Share your views about this upcoming telefilm.

Wishes,

Nida Zaidi

There are a very few personalities of the country that are now known all over the world for their immense  popularity in the field of entertainment and no doubts, Ali Zafar enjoys a good rank in the list. This singer-turned-actor is enjoying the best days of his career currently and making new fans by his work in India and Pakistan both simultaneously.

Starting his career in India with the movie ‘Tere Bin Ladin’, Ali has been doing a real good job as an actor and is getting a hold of some major roles in all his projects which is unlike to all other Pakistani actors who are seen doing supporting roles in Bollywood movies.

It seems like Ali has finally succeeded in getting into the good books of Yash Raj Films and as per the latest Bollywood reveals, he will next be seen in an upcoming YSF ‘Kill Dill’ which is produced by Aditya Chopra and the cast includes Ranveer Singh, Pariniti Chopra and Ali Zafar.  Making the movie more interesting, this is going to be after a long time that the audience will see a Govinda as the villain of the story. He was last seen doing a negative role in Shikaari.

Pariniti Chopra, Priyanka’s sister has previously done a movie with Ranveer Singh in ‘Ladies versus Ricky Bahl’ and the two are now again ready to make the screen shake with their powerful performances. It would be really interesting to see Ali doing a major role.

The film will be releasing early in 2014.

Wishes,

Nida Zaidi

Earning new levels of popularity and recognition from her first major drama serial ‘Dil-e-Muzter‘, Sanam Jang is now back with more power and will soon be seen in a new drama serial under the title of ‘Mere Humdum Mere Dost’ which is likely to make its first promo on air in September.

It was expected that Sanam Jang will soon be seen in a big venture as it is she had been approached by producers after the first few episodes of Dil-e-Muzter and much to the news, Sanam has picked the best of all. The drama is written by Farhat Ishtiaq who has earned significant prominence for her beautiful write-ups like Humsafar and Bin Roye Ansu. The cast of the drama includes some veteran actors like Adnan Siddiqui, Junaid Khan, Sanam Jang and Hareem Farooq in lead roles.

It is interesting to see that whether it be Adnan Siddiqui or Junaid  Khan, the two of the celebrities have enjoyed a couple of successful dramas on Hum TV and with this new drama serial, the audience can even expect a little more of best work, best quality and best script.

Sanam Jang and Junaid Khan were also seen together in an event and since then are in news for their upcoming drama serial. It is yet difficult to reveal much on the storyline because the officials haven’t leaked any news related to the subject.

Note: You can also download the novel here.

Keep your fingers crossed for this upcoming drama serial,

Wishes,

Nida Zaidi

Just like our film industry, even our theatres are grooming with every next play been presented to the audience. It was only few months back that we shared all about the play ‘Dhani’ where we saw Sanam Saeed and Sarwat Gillani spreading their art of live acting in the theatre which was produced by Shaan and here we are again with a news which is surely an additional medal in the history of theatre in Pakistan.

Been written by Anwar Maqsood, the play ‘Sawa 14 August ‘ is ruling the Arts Council-Karachi from August 14th and will be live till September 14th. The play is a result of joint collaboration of Geo TV and Jang Groups and is the third major theatre write-up of the said writer, first two being ‘Angan Tedha’ and ‘Pawnay 14 August’.

Showing their love and dedication towards Anwar Maqsood’s work, leading celebrities have been making their appearance in Art Council and recently it was Ali Zafar who finally took out some time from busy schedule to show his support for the idea been pen-down by Anwar Maqsood. The auditorium was all crowded and the singer-turned-actor sat on floor to watch the play. It was the same day when Humayun Saeed too was also present there.

It is surely a peace to see our entertainment industry flourishing,

Share your views,

Nida Zaidi

Pakistan is a country where you see all the talent existing and yet waiting for a platform. Thanks to the privatization in the entertainment sector, the emerging new channels have given the industry a real boost and have taken the entertainment world above its initial level. Now that the Pakistani content is getting a global exposure, even the celebrities outside the country are praising the quality of acting and versatility which are one of the significant attributes of the A-class actors of Pakistan.

Recognizing the power of Pakistani talent, Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor, recently appreciated the acting skills of the highly talented Hina Dilpazeer, the ‘Momo’ of Bulbulay. The actor stated that he is impressed by her acting which naturally comes out on screen as a reality, and for sure, this is truly a gift with which all the artists are not bestowed with.  He further praised her adaptability of different roles simultaneously and declared her as an ‘Art Diva’.

People who might not know much about him, it is more than a news that he is running an acting academy where he teaches his students the subject of acting and he disclosed to the media during the same interview that he motivates his students by presenting Hina Dilpazeer as a model.

It is more than a pleasure for all the Pakistani drama lovers that Pakistan has overpassed the reign of Indian dramas craze within the country and now it is the Pakistani content which is been admired by the world outside by known celebrities who have even won Oscars for their contributions in the field of acting.

We wish more power to Hina Dilpazeer,

Blessings,

Nida Zaidi

The movie that made the world believe that Pakistan enjoys a sound name in the field of entertainment is now finally all set to make its release nationwide after receiving awards and applauses all over the world. Lamha or Seedlings is a Pakistani feature film which won the ’Best Feature Film’ (People’s choice) award and ‘Best Lead Actress’ award for Aamina Sheikh both at its World Premiere in The New York City International Film Festival 2012 and the annual South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit’s film festival. Moreover, the film was declared as the best feature film at DC South Asian Festival in Washington-May 2013.

We have been sharing all about the project with our readers and now that the movie will be releasing in all major cinemas this September, you expect much more coming to your way. It is more than a pleasure for the entire team that a world recognized movie will now be releasing in its hometown. The producer of the movie, Mehere Jaffri said that they are thrilled that the movie will be finally watched by their own people for whom they rendered their hard work. She also credited the stellar cast of the movie to make things work out for all of them in general.

The happening and sensational on-screen and off-screen couple of brilliant actors, Aamina Sheikh and Mohib Mirza play the lead roles in the movie. The story is about this couple who were living a happy life but the death of their son changes it completely. The two of them were also seen in the recent Pakistani movie Josh which however, could not reach the expectations audience had from it.

Now that the movie will be released in Cinema houses on September 20, You have all the time to grab your tickets and plan your routines accordingly.

Share your views,

Nida Zaidi