2019 has begun on a good note for the local cinema industry with Simmba, Aquaman, Bumblebee, 3 Bahadur, and Zero bringing in good moolah at the box-office. Cinemas, however, need movies every week to keep functioning smoothly.
Therefore, this Friday, i.e. 11th January, we have a total of six releases with two being the local.
See below to know more about these releases:
Ushna Shah got into a rather ugly feud with the hairstyle and make-up artist Omayr Waqar, on Instagram a couple of nights ago. The latter had asserted, through his Instagram, that untreated stray dogs in Karachi needed to be removed from the streets because they were harmful and no one is willing to treat them as such.
In the never-ending series of controversies surrounding Bilal Lashari’s The Legend of Maula Jatt,” Sarwar Bhatti throws his card this time. The producer of original Maula Jatt, Bhatti has lawyered up and obtained a restraining order against Bilal Lashari.
Ushna Shah – the Pakistani television and film actress – got into a rather ugly feud with the hairstyle and make up artist Omayr Waqar, on Instagram last night. The fight got a little out of hand, things were said, and harsh words were exchanged. Here’s a summary of everything that happened.
Where the PTV gave us classic ageless dramas which would get the roads and bazaars deserted, it has also seen its fair share of lows. Being a government entity, PTV plays cautiously when it comes to stepping out of its own little world.
Veteran film and television actor, Moammar Rana, of Choorian and Azaadi fame, formally entered politics just a day ago. He announced to join the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), and it was reported that the decision was made after Rana had a meeting with the party chairman, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, on Sunday.
Mahira Khan has been the reigning queen of the Pakistani entertainment industry since Humsafar first aired in 2011. She has done many dramas and films since then, one even India, but we all just want to see more and more of her. Well, guess what? 2019 is the year in which we all get to enjoy our superstar’s performance in not just one, not even two, but possibly three films.
We reported you late last year that our resident Manto, Sarmad Khoosat is currently working on a Punjabi film. Set in Lahore, the film was under production for the last couple of months, and its title was kept undisclosed.
But just as the shooting of the film wrapped up a couple of days back, it has been revealed that the film will be titled Zindagi Tamasha. Furthermore, for this debut production of Sarmad’s home banner, Khoosat Films, it has also been revealed that the director has acquired the rights of the classic song, “Zindagi Tamasha Bani.”
The song was actually a part of another classic Punjabi movie, Nokar Voti Da (1974), and the Pakistani singer Afshan had originally voiced it. Nokar Voti Da was a big success on the local box office, and its music had received special appreciation. In 1983, the film even saw an Indian remake, Naukar Biwi Ka, starring Dharmendra and Reena Roy.
Talking to Galaxy Lollywood at the time of the film’s announcement, director Sarmad Khoosat had this to say about his then-untitled upcoming film, “Being a local of the city Lahore, I can relate to the subject of the film in a purely raw way.”
Answering why the film is in Punjabi, Sarmad had said, “The reason the film is going to be in Punjabi is because it is set in Lahore and Punjabi is the only language that will encapsulate the story rooted in this city and its culture. I feel like the aura, the authenticity, and the dialect of Lahore have not been embedded on screen yet.”
Zindagi Tamasha stars names like Samiya Mumtaz, model Eman Suleman, and Arif Hasan in prominent roles. Behind the camera, Khizar Idress is doing the cinematography of the film whereas Nirmal Bano has developed the screenplay.
While the release date of the film isn’t out yet, but since the shooting has already wrapped up, it shouldn’t fall any later than the next few months. What, however, can be said with confidence at this moment is that unlike Manto, there is a good chance that Zindagi Tamasha will not be releasing under Geo’s distribution banner.
As the new year came, along came the colder weather. But hey, we still need to get up, get dressed and do things, right? Since we had already shared our favourite winter wardrobe looks adorned by the female celebrities, we decided to do a take on the men’s wardrobe too.
Pakistani cinema has seen immense growth over the past few years. One major reason for this has been the support it has got from the Bollywood films releasing in Pakistan every other week. We have approximately 161 screens in the country, and without Indian movies, it would be very difficult for this small number of screens to survive.
Past few weeks have seen two major Bollywood releases in Pakistan, Zero and Simmba. Moreover, local animated film, 3 Bahadur, is also successfully running in cinemas side by side. Here is a detailed report on how these films are performing at the local box office. Since it is the first piece of Galaxy Lollywood’s new box office series, we present a more comprehensive picture of these film, and not just the past week’s numbers.
Zero came out on 21st of December with 360 shows all over Pakistan and went on to rake in some good moolah over the first week. It had an estimated business of 10 crores 75 lacs in the first seven days, but the numbers significantly dropped by its second weekend, adding a mere 1 crore 75 lacs to the first week numbers.
The film did a total business of 12 crores 5 Lacs in its first 10 days in Pakistan. It has failed to perform elsewhere in the world as well, and is expected to wrap up in 90 crores in the Indian market. Although a Shahrukh Khan and Anushka Sharma starrer, the negative word of mouth has resulted in Zero being a clear under-performer.
Simmba, on the other hand, came out on the 28th of December 2018 and has surprised everyone with the robust start it took in the local markets. The weekend grossing of the film stands around 5 crores 25 lacs which is big considering that Zero was still playing along with Aquaman and Bumblebee.
The film showed a supreme hold on first Monday with its 1 crore business, showing that good content always finds its takers. The 4 day total of the movie stands at a whopping 6 crores 25 lacs. Simmba is running riot at the Indian box-office as well, managing 150 crores in first week and has also crossed the 60 crore mark at the overseas markets too.
Along with these big Indian releases, 3 Bahadur has also managed to hold its ground with the 2nd week collections of the movie being more than its 1st week business. This is, undoubtedly, a rare and a great feat for the ARY release.
The film managed a good figure of 1 crore 80 lacs in its first week and the 2 weeks total is coming around 4 crores. This shows extraordinary hold and seems like the movies will end up being the highest grosser of the successful franchise, as the previous one did a business of around 8 crores 10 lacs.
Zero in its lifetime will wrap up under 14 crores in the local market. Despite largely being a box office failure around the globe, these figures will still be the second-best for an SRK film in Pakistan.
On the other hand, Simmba seems to be accumulating around 9-10 crores in its first week, and will go on to collect 14 to 15 crores in its lifetime in Pakistan. This will be a great result and a stamp of the fact that “Ranveer – the star” has arrived in the Pakistani market as well.
We will keep you updated regarding the local box-office numbers for all films releasing in the coming weeks too.
