The holy grail in the modern entertainment business is to find something that generates both critical and commercial success.

And for a long time – over the last decade or so – Coke Studio has assumed that mantle in our country. Of course, calling it a commercial success ignores the very post-modern reality of the show, as it is pretty much a commercial in itself. Regardless, the show has entrenched itself as the high-point of the Pakistani musical calendar.

Rumors had begun earlier this month about the artists that will perform on the show. In fact, Reviewit also provided with a list of ‘expected participants’ a few days back. Today we are happy to inform that Farhan Saeed from the list has been confirmed to perform in Coke Studio’s season 10!

Previously, he made his debut on the platform with JAL the band and made waves with the tune ‘Panchi’.We know very little of what his performance is going to be at the moment; whether it’s going to be solo or a duet. But we are sure that whatever this actor-singer sings will be worth the wait and patience.

Pakistani artists have been going to work in India since quite some time now. Although due to the ban on our artists after the Uri attacks the exchange of  talent between the two nations have caught a break, it doesn’t change the fact that artists like Fawad Khan, Mahira and Ali Zafar have already managed to create a good sized fan-base in India too.

After a successful stint in Bollywood, actor-singer Ali Zafar decided to take a sabbatical from Hindi movies in 2015 and concentrate on Pakistani films.

In a recent interview with Dawn, the singer revealed that he felt conscious while he was working in India, as the political situation between both the counties are quite unpredictable.

“While I was working in India, I was very conscious of the fact that this is not my country,” said Ali Zafar to Dawn. Her further added, “Pakistan is my country. Things between India and Pakistan are very uncertain. Things can come to a stop anytime. Which is why, contrary to popular perception, I never shifted my base to India. (masalabox.com) ”

Ali, always being conscious of his fans, defended the Indian public putting the blame on their media instead. He said, “The Indian Media instantly started trashing Pakistan but on the ground level nothing changed, things were still pretty normal for me.”

In wake of the Uri attacks and the volatile situation in Kashmir, the Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association (IMPPA) had banned Pakistani actors, singers and technicians from working on Indian films. This decision had the actor return amidst the ‘Dear Zindagi’ promotions.

“Being an optimist, I always see a silver lining,” he stressed in the interview. “Things happen at a certain time for a certain reason. There’s no point thinking and wasting your energy in trying to figure out what happened. I always knew this could happen one day. And as I was saying before was that we need to build our own industry. My film was already in preproduction, I was already thinking Pakistan.”

Ali Zafar has performed in Indian movies such as Kill Dil, Chasme Baddoor, London Paris New York, Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, and Tere Bin Laden among others.

We look forward to the work he does for Pakistan while living in Pakistan!

India Today spoke to Ratna Pathak Shah about Pakistan’s heartthrob Fawad Khan. She’s more commonly known as Fawad Khan’s Bollywood mother as she played the role of Yuvraj Vikram Singh Rathore (Fawad Khan)‘s mother in his hit Bollywood movie, Khoobsurat and also the mother of Rahul Kapoor (Fawad Khan) in Kapoor & Sons.

One might thing that after playing Fawad’s mother in both of his Bollywood films, she might have developed a soft corner for her on-screen son but we are here to tell you that those motherly feelings have not found their way into Ratna’s heart.

When asked about her opinion on Fawad not being able to play more roles in Bollywood due to the circumstances in her Homeland, the actress gave a rather disappointing answer; one that hasn’t earned her any points from Fawad’s Indian and Pakistani fans:

“It is a problem but it’s not an insurmountable problem. Nobody is happy that these poor guys have been thrown out of business.”

We doubt that even her fellow Indian artists are happy about her above statement. Afterall, it’s downright disrespectful to say something like that about another artist.

Ratna however finally gave a somewhat sensible answer when asked about the on-going issue of banning Pakistani artists in India:

“I think it’s a limited and a silly vision to have. I would like to see much more participation across nations in arts.”

Although she didn’t say anything about bringing Pakistani artists back in her country for work, she did accept how important talent and art is for the Indian Entertainment Industry.

“Art is one area where we can make connections. We can hear different stores, we can look at the world with fresh eyes.”

I think she deliberately avoided the usage of the words “open mind” and “clean heart”. What do you guys think about her statements?

Also, if Indians don’t recognize what a talent Fawad is, it is good to know Pakistan does. He is always welcomed with open arms in his motherland.

Meera Irtaza has recently been very active on twitter and seems to enjoy all the responses she is getting to her witty tweets. The troll queen told media that Twitter is becoming her new hobby which allows her to interact with her fans effectively.

“On Twitter, I can speak my heart out.I am really enjoying it. Being a celebrity it allows me to directly interact with my fans.”

Meera has been all over the internet after she gave some witty responses to celebrities like Maryam Nawaz and Sheikh Rasheed. She furthermore, said that she reads every single response from her 48,000 followers, be it negative or positive

Upon asked about the reason for her being active on twitter , she said:

“There is no reason as to why I have become more active. I guess I have more time these days.”

Meera’s sudden interest in twitter also raised questions and made her followers to ask if someone else uses her account on her behalf to which she responded :

“People seem to think that my sister runs my account that is not true. I write each post myself and tweet from my iPhone 6.”

Meera jee has always looked for reasons to stay in limelight and twitter is doing her a lot of good in this regard.

Meera, the uncrowned queen of controversies, seems disappointed in the sub-continental heartthrob Fawad Khan.

She complained that Fawad Khan has never shown an ounce of respect towards the senior actors of Pakistani Entertainment Industry. She pointed out her behaviour towards her senior actors when she was younger saying, “When we were new to the industry, our seniors — legends such as Shamim Ara, Babra Sharif, Mahesh Bhatt and Subhash Ghai — taught us to go and acknowledge older actors.”

She doesn’t seem happy with entire generation of young actors saying, “Today’s young actors haven’t done much work but they still consider themselves to be superstars. They may have strong followings on social media or they may have acted in a few movies but they are yet to build a body of work for themselves.”

Further talking about respecting senior artists to ‘Daily Pakistan’, the masala queen made a statement in regards to Fawad Khan saying, “Fawad Khan is a good actor but is very disrespectful. He has never come up to me and said salaam to me. I am a senior, I have won many awards and worked in 155 films and 15 TV serials. And yet, I have appreciated his work. Why can’t he reciprocate by at least greeting me? He has never approached me and said ‘Meera, let’s work on a project together for Pakistan.’ These attitude problems need to be corrected.”

She should know that the young Sheheryar Munawar recently declared his love for her and also desired to work with her in the future! How’s that for a good, respectful actor of this generation, Meera Ji?

Sheheryar Munawar is a very busy man these days. He has been travelling a lot to promote his upcoming film ‘Project Ghazi’ and also been giving interviews to different press personals for the promotion of the same. Project Ghazi will be Pakistan’s first ever super-hero movie and after the intriguing trailer that was released sometime back, we can’t wait for the day the movie releases!

In the past, the handsome Sheheryar has worked with numerous actresses; Mahira, Sanam Saeed, Alisha Yousuf, and Syra Shehroz.However, in a recent interview he expressed his love for another actress; one who is not on the list.

Any guesses who this lucky actress is?

It’s none other than Meera Jee!

He said, “My love goes out to Meera Jee. I think she is amazing.” 

The actor further expressed his adoration for the veteran actress by claiming that she big asset to Pakistan’s entertainment industry.

He also expressed his desire to work with the lady in a rather humour and humble way, “I want to work with her, even if she does not want to work with me.”

Aww. Isn’t he just sweet?  Watch Sheheryar declare his love for Meera here:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BWMzSTHhhYV/

Ali Zafar has been recently seen filming some death defying action scenes for his upcoming movie ‘Teefa In Trouble’, costarring Maya Ali.The movie is romantic comedy and full of action. Although there is nothing much to talk about the movie since the makers have not revealed the details yet.

Lately, A specific sequence of images during the shoot has been released in which Ali has been seen doing a daring stunt himself. The director of the movie, Ahsan Rahim, admits that Ali is so dedicated to the script that he refused to a stunt double in order to deliver a true action packed scene.

The images discloses that Ali is truly devoted to his role and we can expect some powerful action scenes from the movie.

Ali has also adapted a change in lifestyle with martial arts training and modern-day gym techniques to transform himself for the character in the movie. This shows his devotion to his work.

Have a glimpse of Ali Zafar’s look for the movie.

The upcoming Pakistani movie ‘Punjab Nahi Jaongi’ is all set to release this Eid-ul-Azha.

Lately, the cast of the movie gathered at the Neuplex Cinemas, Karachi for the theatrical trailer release. The event  was different from the other trailer launches we have seen in the past, as Humayun Saeed, Mehwish Hayat and Urwa Hocane spotted arriving on a horse cart giving it a traditional look.

Lets have few glimpses of the star studded evening.

Sharmistha Chatterjee, an Indian singer who earlier sang with Meekal Hasan Band (MHB) on Coke studio season 8, will be collaborating with MHB once again. Express Tribune reports that she has sung for the band’s album Andholan set to release in Pakistan by end of this year. Besides MHB, Sharmistha Chatterjee has also sung in collaboration with Faraz Anwar and Ahsan Bari with his band Sounds of Kolachi (SoK).

Andholan was originally released in 2014 but not many of the Pakistani people listen to the album at that time. Now MHB is releasing the album under their own record label, Digital Fidelity Studios (DFS).

Although, Indo-Pak collaboration in the current political scenario was tough to make but fortunately Meekal Hassan Band made it possible. Hopefully the joint venture is fruitful for both the singers.

Who doesn’t love a Jimmy Khan song? After his super-hit track Baarish from Ho Mann Jahan, the singer is all ready to release another single soon titled as Madam. The Nadiya singer uploaded this colorful and amusing poster on his Instagram account regarding the new song.

Isn’t it quite hilarious? His followers and fans seem to think so. 

Well it does indeed seem like a traditional song, but let’s await and see till its release date. Knowing Jimmy Khan, it definitely won’t disappoint us!

Any thoughts on the poster? Let us know with your comments!

Well it certainly looks like this year is going to be pretty big for the Pakistani cinema industry. We have movies up and running at the theaters which are doing quite well at the box office and some new arrivals to be released in the year that look quite promising.

Of course there are some movies about which the audience is undecided as yet but we have hopes that they won’t let us down at a time when our film industry tends to be at such a pivotal point of cinema history.

 An upcoming Urdu movie Ishq Wala Love had its music launch on Tuesday at the Lahore Press Club, where the two songs of the film disclosed at the event were approved to have good music and catchy playback voices. The music for the movie been composed by Sanwal Khan

The movie stars Hanan Sameed as the male lead role, who summarized it as a film that has drama and romance but both outlined with the truth of reality. He is quoted to have said:

“Though the movie is not so different but the director has tried to show the lost realism in this film.” – Source: Dawn Images

The female lead is Mahi Khan and she expressed her role as protean and taxing.

Its director, Imran Adeeb was excited for the release date and seemed quite hopeful on its success.

“The film theme that of a triangle love story was difficult to handle but we have put best of our efforts in the film.” – Source: Dawn Images

The producer and writer of the movie are Nasir Abbas and Nasir Adeed respectively. Other actors in the cast include Ali Tabish, Raheela Agha and Anwar Ali.

The film was shot in locations of Pakistan comprising places such as Kaghan, Naraan and Bahawalpur.

The film will be released on the 14th of August, 2017.

ARY Filma and Six Sigma Plus have just released the new theatrical teaser of star studded Punjab Nahi Jaungi. The multi starrrer has Humayun Saeed, Urwa Hoccane, Mehwish Hayat, Saba Hameed, Ahmed Ali Butt, Azfar Rehman and Naveed Shehzad.

It is written by Khalil Ur Rehman Qamar and Directed by Nadeem Baig.

Watch how the movie looks in the trailer. We found it very interesting and colourful and has much increased the anticipation of the movie. The ladies are looking exceptionally ravishing ; Urwa Hoccane in her punjabi kuri look for the dance number and Mehwish Hayat in her gorgeous westernised as well as modern eastern attire. Here, have a look;

Alizey Tahir is one of the relatively new ones in  Pakistani showbiz. She never fails to impress with her good looks and natural acting.

She has shared some new photos of herself posing with her fiancé and they are looking gorgeous, all dressed up for what seems to be close one’s wedding days.

Ushna Shah has always been very versatile when it comes to carrying off different looks successfully. In Alif Allah air Insan, we have seen her transform magically from a beggress to a polished and groomed not yet prostitute, but a maid on the Kotha.

After all these fancy hairdos and big loose hair, Ushna Shah is now sporting a very funky and laid back cornrow hairstyle.

It is an African hairdo, where hair are twisted and braided back off the face in neat cornrows starting from the forehead. Ushna’s reason for changing her looks was that she is semi retired now, so wanted a change of hairstyle that would be comfortable in this heat. She finds it too hot to sport Rupenzal like hair. She has no intention of changing the hairstyle back to open locks any sooner now, as she is enjoying the ease of it. Don’t forget to give your opinion about her new looks in the comments.

The beautiful and talented celebrity couple of our showbiz, Fahad Mirza and Sarwat Gillani celebrated the second birthday of their elder son Rohan.

The couple has been lately blessed with their second baby boy a month ago and named him  Araiz.

Rohan has turned two now and the couple has celebrated his birthday with the family. Have a look on few clicks from the event.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlFan2lZeIU

The line-up of artists in upcoming season of Coke Studio has already left us starstruck. There is another news on Express tribune that Aamir Zaki will be seen playing on a track being produced by Jaffar Zaidi. This will prove to be his farewell performance.

Last year in Season 9 of Coke Studio, we heard Amjad Sabri for the last time that touched our hearts a lot. This time we will be watching one of Aamir Zaki’s last recordings for television on Coke Studio.

The news has already melted our hearts and we look forward for Aamir’s farewell performance.

Pakistan cricket team had been invited at Prime Minister house on Tuesday to celebrate the Champions Trophy 2017 victory. The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif hosted the event and praised the team’s performance in the Champion’s Trophy.

Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Sheheryar Khan also addressed the ceremony. He congratulated the team and announced that Sarfraz Ahmed will now also captain the test cricket team.

There was another good news for all the cricket lovers of the county. Chairman PCB Executive Committee, Najam Sethi also claimed that the West Indies and Sri Lankan cricket teams will visit Pakistan after the World XI event in September.

Cricket has brought smiles to our faces recently and we hope that cricket team continues to do well in future.

Adapting to a role of super hero in a movie is never an easy task. Actors have to go through a lot to portray themselves as one. The actors of first ever upcoming Pakistani super hero movie ‘Project Ghazi’ have also put in a lot of hard work. A recent clip of Sheheryar Munawar has released on social media in which he talks about the efforts he has made during the training sessions of the movie to perform a character of super hero.

The clip below shows the intense fitness regime that he had to follow to prepare himself for the role.

https://www.facebook.com/PakistaniCinemaOfficial/videos/1918834011727140/

Sana Fakhar has been very selective about the programs she appears in but recently we are seeing her every week in Alif Allah And Insan, in which we must say, she is doing justice to her character.

We will again be meeting her very soon in O Rangreza, a drama show coming under the banner of MD Productions, directed by Kashif Nisar. Sajal Aly and Bilal Abbas Khan are playing the leads in the play.

Sana has disclosed that her character is inspired by Madam Noor Jehan, and is called Sonya Jahan in the serial. On comparing it with her role as Nigar Begum, Sana said that it does appear similar in some ways but it is also quite different because she is playing a role that is inspired by such a big legend in O Rangreza.

She further elaborated on her experience of working in the drama, calling it brilliant and telling that most of her scenes are with Noman Ejaz, whom she thinks is a great actor. She also encourages the relative newcomers, Sajal Aly and Bilal Abbas Khan, calling them very good to work with.

Hope the serial lives up to the praises Sana is lavishing.

Hollywood’s The Big Sick stars Anupam Kher of Bollywood and revolves around the real life story of comedian Kumail Nanjiani. What’s important though, according to the actor, was the fact that it focuses on how Muslims are distrusted in the society due to their religion and false ties with terrorism. He is quoted to have said:

“The Big Sick is a very important film. It talks about racism, xenophobia, cultural isolation and the way Muslims are regarded with suspicion and distrust. And it deals with such serious issues with warmth and laughter. I love it.” 

He is excited working for it since the film is directed by the celebrated Michael Showalter. Also he said that this movie has been an opportunity to broaden his horizon as an actor after having worked with the likes of Woody Allen and Robert De Niro.

The electrifying Dil Banjara duo, (Sanam Saeed and Adan Malik) is yet to make another magical appearance on your screens with the movie Cake The Film, featuring a star studded cast including Aamina Sheikh, Mohammed Ahmed, Beo Rana Zafar and Faris Khalid. Already the name of the British -Pakistani movie has people mystified and aroused with curiosity about the plot-line and story; it has been said to be titled as cake because of the layers that are comprised within the story, and we certainly can’t wait to see it! Here are some behind-the-screen shots that lately popped up on social media regarding the making of the movie:

Doesn’t Sanam look classy in this outfit? We can’t get over her candid poses! But take a look at Adnan below:

We certainly can’t guess what R stands for but we are sure impatient to find out! Also,  knowing Adnan Malik it can’t be anything bad, right?

Here’s a shot of Amina Sheikh from the sets:

Amina Sheikh’s projects and characters are almost always an exciting prospect to look forward to and her being part of the cast is one guarantee that this movie is definitely going to be a worthwhile watch.

Are you excited about the movie? What are your thoughts on it? Let us know!