It is a common misconception that since celebrities lead a life laced with glitz and glamor, they are always happy and satisfied with that life. Unfortunately, the two are not mutually exclusive. It is important to realize that mental illnesses do not have any fixed causes or reasons behind them. The manifestations of them, likewise, take various forms.
Did you know that all these Pakistani movies are on Netflix?
The advent of digital platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime has heralded a new era of entertainment across the globe. There has been a paradigm shift, especially with respect to the available choices to viewers in terms of avenues to enjoy their favourite films and TV shows.
36 fun questions with Pakistan’s Hollywood boy Faran Tahir
From Kumail Nanjiani to Iqbal Theba, a lot of Pakistanis are making the country proud in Hollywood. But if you are talking about the biggest Pakistani name in the world’s capital of films and TV, it has to be Faran Tahir.
With a Hollywood career spanning over 25 years, Faran has starred in blockbusters like Star Trek, Iron Man, Charlie Wilson’s War, and Escape Plan. He has also starred in multiple hit TV serials like The Practice, Family Law, The Agency, NYPD Blue, Lost, and The Blacklist.
Humayun, Mahira, and Ali Zafar expected to attend a film festival in India
Indus Valley International Film Festival (IVIFF) is all set to commence on 25th February 2019 in New Delhi. Organized by South Asia Forum for Art & Creative Heritage (SAFACH), and celebrating South Asian art and cinema, a lot of Pakistani dignitaries such as Humayun Saeed, Mahira Khan, and Ali Zafar are also expected to attend the event.
Hania Amir turns singer for her next and does a pretty damn fine job
The cuteness overlord of Pakistani dramas and films, Hania Aamir, started her career with Janaan in 2016 and there has been no turning back for the actress ever since. She has been switching between the dramas and the silver screen and has been praised for both.
Missed ‘Aangan?’ Here is your second chance to catch all the episodes
The exceptionally popular period drama, Aangan is eight episodes old in its run. If you, however, were a victim of the channel’s policy to not let the show appear anywhere online or missed it for some other reason, there is good news for you. Yes, the channel is now offering people a second chance to catch all the already aired Aangan episodes and that too in a bundle.
Back Again Back to Back
In a tweet yesterday; just before the latest episode (8th) of the show aired, HUM TV announced that it will be running all the eight episodes, back to back, on this Sunday (10th February 2019).
Missed it? | Watch back to back all the 8 episodes of the mega drama serial #Aangan
10th February, Sunday at 2:20 PM on #HUMTV pic.twitter.com/yB3Rwoe7xW— HUM TV (@Humtvnetwork) February 7, 2019
So yeah, all you people who missed the show in its original airing for one reason or another, or can’t have enough of it, 2:20 PM, this coming Sunday is your time.
Why No Aangan Episodes Online?
With the world of entertainment moving to paid streaming platforms like Netflix, Iflix, Eros Now, etc., HUM plans the same for its content too. This is precisely the reason why you will find it becoming increasingly difficult to watch the channel’s content (especially the recent one) on a free platform like YouTube.
Talking to Galaxy Lollywood for one of the earlier pieces, HUM’s PR Manager, Minhas Saghar had said, “Yes! We haven’t uploaded the episode yet on YouTube. We are negotiating with different web portals that approached us to acquire Aangan’s copyrights.”
He had further revealed that these negotiations will be over in a week and a subsequent announcement will come from the channel. This was, however, back in late December when the first episode of the show had just aired. We are more than a week in February now, and the promised announcement hasn’t yet arrived.
Update
When we contacted Minhas again for his comment on the entire development, he said, “Well, this re-run is actually for those fans who were a bit angry with us and missing the show online. As far as its web release is concerned, things have pretty much finalised with a big digital streaming platform, and the show will release there once it completes its run on TV. You can expect an official announcement on this in the next couple of weeks.”
Minhas’s comment shows that HUM realises the error on their part and is now taking measures so that Aangan doesn’t lose any more of its buzz. We welcome the decision, but wonder if it will manage to salvage the show?
So Bilal Khan and Maya Ali may be dating and here’s what we know
Bilal Khan, the Pakistani pop singer, actor and vlogger all in one, has been capturing most of us burgers’ hearts with his wholesome vlogs and songs for the past many years. His recent badass hair transformation has been the topic of discussion lately too.
However, even more recently, we have observed a new development on his social media. There has been a recurrent appearance of certain somebody (that’d be Maya Ali) in his recent vlog and Instagram posts. The nosy neighbourhood aunties that we are, we think that Bilal Khan and Maya Ali might just be dating and here’s everything we’re basing this conjecture on:
Bilal’s most recent vlog features Maya Ali through and through. Let’s dissect it bit by bit.
The Evidential Vlog
The vlog begins with Bilal Khan sitting at a cafe with Maya Ali. It then progresses to snippets of his performance from the Islamabad Coke Festival and then moves on to an adorably hilarious clip from the Shendi of Maya’s cousin.
Bilal hints towards the ring in Maya’s hand to which she responds with, “I am wearing it in my right hand so koi scene nai hai.” The two of them then talk about Bilal’s hair transformation. The whole video is interspersed with his Coke Fest performance and him sitting at the same cafe with Maya, having hilariously lame conversations.
It Gets Interesting
Towards the end, Bilal asks Maya about her shadi plans. She says that she’ll get married when she finds a nice man. Bilal, in response, pans the camera to his face, Maya hits him playfully, and the vlog ends. Adorable, isn’t it?
You can watch the whole thing here:
Bilal Khan also put up a rather adorable picture of him and Maya Ali on his Instagram from the same Shendi.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs-1whsntvY/
And another one from the Shendi but since this one announced the arrival of his new vlog, it doesn’t really count unless it does?!?
https://www.instagram.com/p/BtQeF9aHHdM/
Here’s my personal favorite; a wholesome New Year’s photo with another one of the industry’s loved couple – Asad Siddiqui and Zara Noor Abbas.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BsFWmfYHyX0/
Some More Evidence
Even more recently, the two of them were seen at an event in Lahore – Levis Live – where they seemed perfectly comfortable in each other’s company (holding hands and all).
Honestly, the two of them could just be really friends or maybe more, we can’t say for sure.
What do you think of the whole situation? Let us know in the comments.
Films this Friday (8 February 2019): Three films for you this weekend
Last weekend saw no new releases apart from the very limited release of two Indian Punjabi movies (Sallu Ki Shadi and Uda Ada) that were also actually more of territory-specific releases.
This led to a very low weekend in terms of business for the local cinema industry as coupled with the Kashmir Day holiday; it was a long five-day weekend that ended on February 5, 2019 (an opportunity missed, we say).
8 ways Hollywood & Bollywood stereotype the “miserable” life in Pakistan
I was once talking to one of the co-producers of Shoaib Mansoor’s 2017 rape survivor film, Verna. Our conversation was more of a complaint from my side on how the director has continuously; from Khuda Kay Liye to Bol, to now Verna, portrayed Pashtuns in a stereotypically negative way.
The co-producer, however, believed that people identify more with characters when they are shown in more conventional (read stereotypical) ways than those which are relatively unknown to them. This partially convinced me but not to the extent where I would drop my concerns.
Stereotyping in films or dramas is not just a problem in a small industry like that of Pakistan. The biggest culprits of this are in fact two of the biggest film producers of the world, i.e., Hollywood and Bollywood.
We don’t know if it’s their intellectual laziness or the fact that till 2015, Pakistan wasn’t that open to the world because of its internal issues. But the portrayal of the country in almost all forms of foreign media and entertainment has been quite one-dimensional, negative, and simply untrue.
It was only recently that the Indian directors stressed on a point that Pakistan needs to be depicted with respect in their films, but the point of stereotyping remains to be addressed. If you have any confusion, here are some examples.
1. Love for Topi and Red Kufiya
According to Veer Zara and the Oscar, BAFTA, and Golden Globe winner, Salam e Ishq, whether a Pakistani man is strolling through Lahore’s Anarkali Bazaar or the historic railway station, he can’t leave home without his beloved Topi on the head and the red Saudi Kufiya on his shoulders.
Pakistani fashion police and the Sharia Law make it mandatory to dress this way, and if someone doesn’t obey, they are flogged and stoned to death.
2. Beard Not Gillette, is the Best a Man Can Get
According to Hollywood and Bollywood, Pakistani men not only use the beard as a general terror tool, but they also exploit it for economic terrorism. It was actually Pakistani men who popularized beards, making it the hottest feature of a man’s body and ultimately causing huge falls in Gillette’s share prices across the world.
And the beard we are talking about is of course, without a moustache, because that, my friend, is Haraam.
3. No Word but the Word ‘Janaab’
It is considered blasphemy in Pakistan if a person is found speaking in an accent other than a Lakhnavi style Urdu. The 210 million people in the nation can’t breathe if they don’t use the word Janaab in every sentence they utter.
We love this word so much so that we have coined similar words like jaan, jaanaza, janaan, and janaabat, so that every time we say these words, we are reminded of our national word Janaab.
4. Mud Houses for Life
Pakistanis live in mud houses, don’t have the second world luxuries like shopping malls, cinemas, universities, and McDonald’s. Our favorite food is Naan along with some whole lamb BBQ cut into large pieces, which we always eat sitting on the floor since what is even a dining table?
We also play cricket to entertain ourselves and watch Bollywood movies on our VCRs, because again, cinema aur shopping mall kisney dekha hai Janaab? All Pakistanis also have names like Gulfam and Mahrukh or something inspired by the famous cricketers, generals, politicians and terrorists of the time.
We are basically Turkic people who look like Punjabis – and Biharis if Pashtuns – dress like tribal Pashtuns, eat like Arabs, dance like Tajiks and listen to modern Iranian folk songs.
5. Death to America, Hugs for Shahrukh
We hate every Indian and every white man just because they have eight eyes and we have two. They have Bollywood and Hollywood and we are doomed to watch Ali Zafar, Fawad Khan, and Humayun Saeed on our big and small screens.
They have Modi Jee and Trump, and we don’t have any populist warmongering political leader (aww, sad life).
6. Kashmir Banega Pakistan, Janaab
If we find an Indian man in Pakistan, the only topic of discussion would be Kashmir and Bollywood (Aman Ki Asha, Sarfarosh, Dil Pardesi), and since we don’t know English, we won’t talk to any white man, so we just kill them, or they casually kill us if we get too close.
7. Sati Savitris All Around
All of the Pakistani women are housewives and have arranged marriages. Not only that, Pakistani women invariably don veils and the only parallel that could be drawn to their oppression is that of Jews in Hitler’s Era.
It was Pakistani women who inspired terms like “satti savitri” in subcontinent’s literature (depicted very accurately in Veer Zara and Ghadar: Ek Prem Katha). They don’t have a choice other than getting married in their early teens or late twenties as per the wishes of their parents and ultimately giving birth to children every nine months.
Well, it’s either that or Mujras for our women, basically.
8. Indian Men for Love
Pakistan only has Muslim girls whose purpose in life is always to fall in love with a Hindu or Sikh man who came especially for her from India (Hina, Veer Zara, Ghadar).
Since all Pakistani men are bearded topi wearing losers, she is left with no choice but to fall in love with this saviour of an Indian man she meets.
While stereotyping may remain in our popular culture for some time; be it out of the necessity of the narrative or intellectual laziness, but it takes only a little research to get accurate with your facts.
Even the slow and steady shift from the mainstream Khans of Bollywood to Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Pankaj Tripathi, Irrfan Khan, and Manoj Bajpai hints at the fact that the audience has started appreciating more the content that is as close to reality as possible. Something that needs to translate into cross-national and ethnic identities in films and TV shows.
Disclaimer: This article is a work of satire.
Clash of the Countless Titans: 10 films, 3 dates, and the race is on!
Sustainability commands success in the consumer market and cinema is not an exception to this trade rule either. A continuous presence of local films on cinema screens has been a primary requirement for the tenable growth of Pakistan film industry.
However, the current scenario defies this basic principle, where filmmakers and distributors have developed this chronic tendency of cluttering their releases on a particular date, mostly Eids.