Karachi is host to the four-day finale of Pakistan International Film Festival (PIFF)’s first edition these days, and with yesterday’s introductory press event at Pearl Continental Hotel, along with the first day of the event already underway today, the entire exercise has formally kick-started.
Exclusive: S.S.Rajamouli, Vishal Bhardwaj, Nandita Das, and many more to speak at PIFF 2018
The Pakistan International Film Festival (PIFF) which began last month with a workshop session for the youth is all set for a power packed finale this week where quite a few interesting sessions are set to take place. The four-day finale will actually kickstart with a pre-event press conference on the 28th of March while the event itself will start on the 29th which will comprise of film screenings ( short, feature, documentary) seminars and some gala events, the details of which are under wraps as of now.
While we will share the complete list of film screenings in a subsequent post, what we are more excited to share with you right now is the list of the speakers who will be a part of the festival and will be speaking on different panels. While on one hand we big names from our Pakistani Industry which include the likes of Haseena Moin, Sultana Siddiqui, Jami, Asim Raza, Mehreen Jabbar, on the other hand, we have Bollywood stalwarts like Nandita Das, Vishal Bhardwaj any more coming specially to Pakistan for this festival.
Yes, you read that right, the first edition of the Pakistan International Film Festival is leaving no stone unturned to make a powerful debut and has invited who’s who of Bollywood. S.S.Rajamouli -director of the all-time blockbuster film series Bahubali, is making an appearance as is Vinay Pathak- a veteran actor with a lot of critically acclaimed films. Want to know who else is coming, well here is the complete list of all the sessions:
Session#1
Film Diplomacy & Cross-Border Collaboration
Moderator: Asif Noorani
Panelists: Asim Raza, Anjum Rajabali, Nandita Das, Harsh Narayan, Sajal Ali, Rashid Khwaja.
Session#2
Innovation on Screen: Digital Dimensions
Moderator: Tazeen Hussain
Panelists: Abrar Ali Khan and Farees Shah.
Session#3
Genre Busters: The Exploration of Genre in the South Asian Film Industry
Moderator: Hashim Raza
Panelists: Adnan Sarwar, Atiqa Odho,Mehreen Jabbar, Nandita Das, Sana Tauseef, S.S.Rajamouli, Shobu Yarlagadda, Vinay Pathak.
Session#4
From Script to Screen and Beyond
Moderator: Aasma Nabil
Panelists: Amin Farooqui, Kamran Jawed, Tahir Moosa, Saket Chaudhary, Zeenat Lakhani.
Session#5
Films for Change.Socially Motivated content in South Asian Film IndustryModerator: Rashid Sami
Panelists: Hareem Farooq, Haseena Moin, Jami, Nishtha Jain, Subhash Kapoor, Sultana Siddiqui, Vishal Bhardwaj.
Session # 6
The Future of Music & Lyrics.How important is music in the subcontinental cinema?
Moderator: Arshad Mehmood
Panelists: Asif Noorani, Dr. Omer Adil, Izzat Majeed, Sultan Arshad, Rekha Bhardwaj, Vishal Bhardwaj
Galaxy Lollywood will be covering the event so stay tuned to our website and social media handles for all live updates from this film festival.
Exclusive: Zara Noor Abbas to make her film debut alongside Mahira and Sheheryar in Asim Raza’s next
This girl is on a roll. After impressing television audiences with her stellar performance in the currently on air drama serial ‘Khamoshi’, which by the way is a rating bonanza, the talented actress is all set to make a move for the silver screen.
Zara Noor Abbas, daughter of veteran actor Asma Abbas and niece of Bushra Ansari, first made her television debut in 2016 with drama serial ‘Dharkan’ which she followed up with ‘Khamoshi and in a short span of time, the actress became a fan favourite courtesy her innocent looks and acting prowess. However, Zara is now ready to take things a few notches higher as she has just signed Asim Raza’s next film ‘Parey Hat Lav’ alongside Mahira Khan and Shehryar Munawar.
Taking to Galaxy Lollywood, Zara revealed how elated she is having signed Asim Raza’s next film as she has always been a huge fan of his work and wanted to work with him. Also sharing screen space with Mahira Khan and Shehryar Munawar is something she is looking forward to. She didn’t reveal much about her role or but did say that the film is a romantic comedy and that we will get to see a different side to Zara.
Also starring in the film are Ahmed Ali Butt, Hina Dilpazeer, and Nadeem Baig. Here’s wishing the beautiful actress the best of luck with her debut film. You stay tuned to Galaxy Lollywood for all updates.
Do Pakistani Cinemas need films like ‘Cake’?
I’m sure ‘Cake’ is a great film.
If the trailer was anything to go by, then this beautifully shot film with strong performances is definitely one of the better films to have come out of Pakistani Cinema. Add to that the raving reviews it has received at various screenings and no I’m not talking about the spurious twitter reviews by individuals who hailed ‘Verna’ as a masterpiece, but authentic reviews by industry insiders who are genuinely liking the film for its direction, script, and acting.
So let it be clear that this article is not about challenging the quality of the film rather it is about the larger picture and the shaky future of Pakistani Cinema where the audiences are quite simply not buying the ‘Be Pakistani Support Pakistani’ card anymore. This piece is about asking some valid questions about indie/niche-market/art films and their place in the future of Pakistani Cinema.
Let me start by providing a quick summary of changing cinema trends worldwide and then will make my way to the Pakistani market. Okay, so for the past few years, there has been a decline in ticket sales and quite simply people aren’t flocking to the cinemas as they used to. Now while there are many explanations for this change, one that is universally agreed upon and is a hot debate in the cinema industry worldwide is the advent of online streaming services such as Netflix.
These online streaming services are not only producing quality original content in huge numbers but are changing distribution models altogether where films are making their way online a few days after their theatrical release and small budget/indie films which would probably never have had a theatrical release are making their way to such sites for the world to see. So given the huge library, where the viewer gets to chose from dozens of fresh releases, for an economical price it is no surprise that the cinema industry is losing its pull. Add to that the golden age of television and a bombardment of great content, which again mostly available on these streaming services, films aren’t what they used to be.
Also the well-informed cine-goer today carefully selects what he wants to see in the cinema given the ever-increasing ticket prices.The choosy consumer wouldn’t want to waste his money so he makes a decision of whether the price tag is justified or not. If a film provides the complete cinematic experience, that is the movie has a sense of scope and drama which needs to be experienced on the silver screen, he will buy the ticket, or else he can always wait a few days to catch the film on his television screen. Therefore it should come as no surprise that ‘Star Wars’ was the biggest hit of 2017 whereas ‘Black Panther’ has set the box office on fire in 2018, both films provided the cinematic experience.
Let’s move to Pakistan now where the story is pretty much the same, or maybe a bit extreme as compared to the worldwide trend. Cinema attendance is falling, people want to see quality films with cinematic value, with an additional barrier being that the audiences don’t really trust the Pakistani film-makers because of the mediocre content they have been churning out. And another matter of grave concern is our dependence on Bollywood to fill our cinemas.
2017 proved to be a horrible year for Pakistani Cinema which saw a total of sixteen Pakistani releases out of which two were box office hits, seven were colossal washouts, five were flops and two did average. This downhill journey began with the self-imposed ban on Indian content in the last quarter of 2016, which reduced foot-falls to a depressing low and killed the cinema business. The simple fact that everyone came to realize after this episode was that ‘We need Bollywood to bring people to the cinemas’ period! However, this ban broke the momentum which continued in 2017-2018 with major crowd-pullers like Dangal, Raees, Tubelight, Tiger Zinda Hai, Padman and Pari being banned in Pakistan.
In addition to this Bollywood dependence, Pakistani audiences have quite simply just had it with Pakistani films. And why not, for most of these glorified telefilms presented as films and thrown into cinemas for a quick buck have actually been disasters! And the ones which were better weren’t really compelling enough to get the viewer to spend a good 1000 rupees on the ticket and popcorn. So to summarize, the Bollywood restriction reduced the number of cine-goers drastically, and the ones that remain aren’t big fans of Pakistani films.
You may say that ‘Punjab Nahi Jaungi’ was a hit and yes it was but again it gave the viewer a cinematic experience, something he can not get at his home! The film had naach gaana, larger than life characters, stellar cinematography, flashy wardrobe, picturesque locations which all made for a memorable trip to the cinema and provided value for the ticket. No wonder the film had repeat audience and is still playing in cinemas!
As for the indie/niche-market/art films, why would the viewer go spend on a film which he knows is a risky proposition, given the history of Pakistani films and that he can very well stay at home and watch something far better on Netflix?The makers of such films should realize that the audiences worldwide are moving away from cinemas as they already have a little cinema at home and an impressive list to choose from online and that the audiences in Pakistan are extra cautious.
Therefore the makers should explore other far better-suited avenues which won’t only be profitable for them but will be a win for the audiences involved too. Our cinema needs outright commercial films right now, which won’t only pull people to the cinemas but will also restore their lost confidence in films. So while Cake may be a brilliant film it is not something that our cinemas need right now.
Luxus Grand 4th Galaxy Lollywood Awards 2018 (Nominations)
It is that time of the year, and Galaxy Lollywood Awards (GALA) makes a return for its fourth edition. Adding to its grandeur this time will be Luxus Grand Hotels, one of the biggest names in the hospitality industry of Pakistan, bringing with itself great valuable additions to the award brand of GALA, details of which will be unwrapped further at the later stage of this exercise.
With twenty categories and lot more exciting nominations, all that made our 2017 an entertaining year in their individual and collective capacity, we aim to honor what deserves to be honored, and recognize even what got missed out in the cutthroat world of box office numbers and critical receptions.
Style File: Top 5 ‘Yay’ and ‘Nay’ looks from the 17th Lux Style Awards 2018
The 17th Lux Style Awards 2018 took place in Lahore last week and left us dismayed. Be it the poor execution of a theme that did not really gel well with the event in the first place, or the fact that the night was painfully low on entertainment value, but this edition of the awards was definitely amongst the weakest ones of the much-hyped LSAs. However, the list of winners went as expected, as did the red carpet appearances whereby some impressed and some left us scratching our heads. Here is our style file where we pick our top five ‘yay’ and ‘nay’ looks from the ceremony.
Top 5 ‘Yay’ Looks!
#1
Who: Ainy Jaffry
Wearing: Choueiter
Stylist: Rao Ali Khan
Hair and Makeup: Nabila Salon
We absolutely loved this look on Ainy! Black is a classic at any red carpet around the world and one can hardly go wrong with it. Stylist Rao Ali definitely gave his best as we simply couldn’t take our eyes off Ainy who attempted to go bold with the red lips and side swept hair reminiscent of the 80s. This look was a major yay, and we definitely want to see more of Ainy on red carpets.
#2
Who: Sadaf Kanwal
Wearing: Zaheer Abbas
Hair and Makeup: Nabila Salon
Model turned actress Sadaf Kanwal looked effortlessly chic in this silk draped one-shoulder dress. The confidence with which Sadaf slew this look had us head over heels for her. The no makeup look paired with just one accessory turned the outfit into a perfect red carpet attire. Also, we hardly remember this girl ever going wrong with her appearances, no wonder she is the face of every other clothing brand.
#3
Who: Ayesha Omar
Wearing: Kristina Fidelskaya
Stylist: Rao Ali Khan
Hair and makeup: Omayr Waqar
Ayesha appearing on a Best Dressed List is a given and boy did she meet our expectations, which by the way were pretty high after that New York trip. Just like Sadaf Kanwal, Ayesha Omar bowled us over with a satin silk green dress she chose for her second look. Stylist Rao Ali Khan and makeup artist Omayr Waqar gave her this simple yet elegant look in just under five minutes! This definitely is one impeccable look which was created under a record time.
#4
Who: Iqra Aziz
Wearing: Asim Jofa
Styling: Etesham Ansari
Hair and Makeup: Nabila Salon
Although Iqra Aziz likes to play it safe, just like she did last year at the Hum Style Awards with that black outfit, she sure manages to bring an extra oomph factor to the red carpet. The statement earrings paired with an all pure white ensemble made for a sure shot hit and that is that is exactly what we expected given style guru Ehtesham Ansari was creating the look. We only wish the dress was a tad bit shorter in length for the petite Iqra seemed a bit lost in it. A yay nonetheless.
#5
Who: Amina Sheikh
Wearing: Sana Safinaz
Hair and Makeup: Nabila Salon
Va va voom! Veteran beauty Aamina Sheikh surely gave the newbies a tough competition by donning this custom made outfit by Sana Safinaz. The short, edgy hairdo and shimmery eyes added extra pizzazz to Aminas glitzy outlook and quite honestly this was the only red carpet look which literally made people turn heads. You go girl!
Almost made it to the list: Sahiba (Erum Khan) , Amina Babar (Elan) , Uzma Hassan (Waseem Khan) and Juggan Kazim (Kamiar Rokni).
Top 5 ‘Nay’ Looks!
#1
Who: Mawra Hocane
Wearing: Manish Malhotra
Styling: Rao Ali Khan
Hair and Makeup: Nabila Salon
Okay, we are not really sure what we feel about the colorful floral embroidery, although a slightly altered version of the same ensemble looked rather hot on Jahnvi Kapoor. Somehow it didn’t quite work wonders on our Lux girl, Mawra Hocane. We wish she would have done away with that drape around the shoulders which looks like torn, shredded cloth. You win some, you lose some Rao.
#2
Who: Urwa Hocane
Wearing: Mohsin Naveed Ranjha
Hair and Makeup: Nabila Salon
First could someone tell us what in God’s name is that dress. Is that supposed to be a gown with a trail? A kameez? Like what is it? Definitely a classic case of fusion gone wrong, very wrong! Thus just like the younger sibling, the elder Hocane failed to impress. Add to that her laid-back hair and minimal makeup which did not blend well with her whole styling.
#3
Who: Mathira
Wearing: Amina Yasmeen
Makeup: Khawar Riaz
Wearing red on a red carpet was a ballsy move on Mathira’s part but unfortunately, the look ended up being a major nay.The ensemble could have worked, actually, it would have looked hot, had the designer gotten rid of the furry shoulders and all that frill which made the gown look absolutely tacky. We wished she had kept her makeup minimal, for it seemed like there was too much of red going on.
#4
Who: Hadiqa Kiani
Wearing: Erum Khan Couture
Hadiqa Kiani’s kurta pant-type of an outfit was way too casual and bland for the LSAs. On top of it all, it seemed like Hadiqa was in a rush and couldn’t get it ironed. Maybe if her stylist had added a pop of color somewhere, it would have worked for her.
#5
Who: Mahira Khan ( Faraz Manan), Sajal Aly ( Ivy Bridals) and Zhalay Sarhadi (Shamael Ansari)
Unless they had a wedding to go to after the event, these three beauties created looks that weren’t red carpet appropriate at all which is why share a spot on our list. As beautiful as your black lace dress maybe, you’d get a major boo if you showed up in that on a mehndi. Similarly, these three wore ensembles which worked on their own but given it was the LSA red carpet, a major no!
Almost made it to the list: Amna Ilyas (Fahad Hussayn),Saheefa Jabbar Khattak (Hamza Asghar Bukhari), Meera (Sadia Mirza), Aima Baig (Erum Khan Couture), Zhalay Sarhadi (Shamael Ansari) and Zara Noor Abbas ( Erum Khan Couture).
Pakistan’s Censor Boards have officially lost it!
As a cinema lover who enjoys watching films on the silver screen, just like they were meant to be seen, I am enraged. Enraged because of the fact that the censor boards of Pakistan are operating on some completely different tangent, where logic and reasoning seem to be an alien concept. The censor boards are on a banning spree whereby any film that generates some buzz and interest in Pakistan, gets the axe.
Firstly, you should know that for a teeny tiny country like ours, we have three different autonomous censor boards whereas our neighbor India with 29 states has one central censor board. We have one board for Punjab, one for Sindh and then there is mama bear Central Board of Film Censors based in Islamabad which technically is supposed to only look after the capital territory, but its kind of bad ass, and tends to influence all the boards because why not , for initially, before the 18th amendment they were all one entity and mama bear is still not over this divide.
I won’t go into the rather colorful history of our censor boards (You can read about it here). But let’s talk about what they have been doing recently, very recently. In December, Tiger Zinda Hay was banned because you know the drill, a reference to Pakistan calls for a ban, even though if it’s about promoting peace and doesn’t have an iota of negativity. Khair this was expected so no shock there.
In 2018 we baned Padman, Aiyaary and now Pari. Padman was banned because women in Pakistan don’t menstruate so makes no sense to release it here right? No seriously, it was a film ‘whose name, subject and story are not acceptable yet in our society’. See! Aiyaary was banned because God knows why. However, the most interesting case is that of the Anushka Sharma starrer Pari.
The film was cleared by Punjab and Sindh Cesnor Boards albeit a few cuts were demanded which was expected. However mama bear Central Board saw the film and was like nopes, this ain’t releasing in Pakistan because this totally goes against our culture and religion, and you Punjab and Sindh Censor Board know nothing! Yes, you are autonomous bodies and can make your own decisions but no you really cant, so yeah the film is banned!
This decision is confusing on so many levels. First, you mama bear override the Punjab and Sindh Boards and make them look like fools in the public’s eye. Then the reasoning you give is that: “This film stimulates the viewers in favor of black magic and promotes thoughts that are contradictory to our religion”. It is a film, a piece of fiction, which is meant to entertain. You just cannot ban ideas you don’t agree with because you have the power to so.
The cinemas of Pakistan are already going through a tough time given Pakistani content that has been coming out is mediocre at best, while almost all major Indian films in the last few weeks got banned. The audiences are simply not going to cinemas and you censor boards have a huge role to play in this. We really hope you make amends to your ways or else our film industry will soon go back to where we were a few years back: NOWHERE!
The ultimate guide to what all happened at the 17th Lux Style Awards 2018!
The 17th annual Lux Style Awards took place in Lahore this past week. Whether the night was full of celebrities and glamor is debatable, but almost everyone in attendance would agree that the night was painfully low on the entertainment factor which resulted in it being one of the most boring and dragged award shows of recent times. From the outset, the event looked like the grand LSAs we’ve all come to love, but content wise the show was as weak as it gets.
The theme for the event was raising awareness about various social issues which was a commendable effort, but it was done via scattered acts here and there resulting in one of the most confused productions which was neither informative nor impactful. Thankfully, there were a few moments here and there which sort of made up for the lackluster event, but they were few. So what all happened at the event? Well here is our trademark personalized timeline from the event
5:00 pm
The invite I received mentioned 4 pm as the red carpet time, however, the e-invite which was circulating on WhatsApp said 5 pm. Thus I decided that 5:00 pm seemed like a decent time to leave for the venue given I had to cover the event for you readers.
5:45 pm
Arrived at the venue and I must say that the setup looked grander than ever and was sheer perfection. The red carpet area was slightly elevated, which made for better pictures. There was a barrier between the red carpet area where the celebrities were to walk and the area where spectators could walk which was probably the smartest move ever in the history of award shows in Pakistan. Generally, its all one big red carpet where the media is trying to cover the celebrities but the uncles and aunties who’ve somehow managed to score an invite are fighting their way for selfies. This divide meant smooth red carpet proceedings.
6:00 pm
The red carpet picked up steam as the media had all taken their positions on the lengthy red carpet. It was as if each specific patch on the red carpet was now the territory of so and so media house. Though here Id like to point that while one hand there were the respectable publications, print media, and bloggers, on the other side there was this plethora of so-called media which was basically a bunch of over-enthusiastic shady individuals who with a phone and a microphone in their hands were supposedly representing media houses nobody had ever heard of. What’s worst is that these nobodies were hogging most of the red carpet area and were conducting lengthy meaningless interviews with the celebrities followed by photo sessions of their own. *Sigh*
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bfa869DnhBU/?taken-by=galaxylollywood
6:10 pm
Syed Noor while interacting with the media joked that given the nation’s obsession with selfies he is going to make a new film titled ‘Selfie’. We are still not sure if he actually meant it or was being cheeky.
6:45 pm
Lots of Lollywood veterans like Sangeeta Jee, Bahar Begum, Nishoo Jee, brightened the red carpet with their appearance.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bfa-I7gH-j7/?taken-by=galaxylollywood
7:00 pm
Could someone give Osman Khalid Butt an award for being the most grounded celebrity ever? He made sure he talked to all the media present, interacted with fans and was the most pleasant person to talk too. We really hoped he win Best Actor, but as he said himself hell would freeze over if that happens. We love this guy!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfbAjhwnBvq/?taken-by=galaxylollywood
7:30 pm
Team Cake made sure to make the most of the platform and promote their upcoming film. The trio was seen posing for pictures, making boomerangs and giving interviews. The film looks interesting and is on our must-watch list.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfbEofrn3Qn/?taken-by=galaxylollywood
8:00 pm
Mahira Khan arrived and boy it was no less than a storm. She had an entire team of four to five people walking with her, and then the hysteria, she is definitely a superstar in the true sense of the word! She did pose for photos here and there and did try to accommodate the media as much as she could.
8:05pm
Interestingly Meera was being interviewed at the other end of the red-carpet when Mahira arrived. Everyone was suddenly interested in the storm on the other end to which Meera said “Kuch nahi hay udhar kuch nahi hay’. Also, there was this assistant girl with Meera who was guiding her as to what she should say to the media. Interesting
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfbNvtUHniY/?taken-by=galaxylollywood
9:00 pm
By then the red carpet was almost over and it was time to head inside. The star power was definitely weak as one could judge from the red carpet. Half the nominees like Fahad Mustafa, Nehwish Hayat, Neelam Muneer, Humaima Malick, Adnan Siddiqui, Imran Abbas, Bushra Ansari, Kubra Khan and Saba Qamar didn’t show up. Then the big guns Shaan Shahid, Fawad Khan, Ali Zafar, Atif Aslam etc were absent too.
9:15 pm
The show opens with a performance by Mahira Khan and Naheed Siddiqui ( who was later awarded a Lifetime Achievement award) followed by another act performed by Ahsan Khan and Amna Ilyas. Somehow in the hustle of finding my seat, I couldn’t really fully enjoy the performance. I’m not exactly sure what they were trying to say but the renditions of ‘Bol kay lab azaad’ and ‘Gurus of Peace’ were probably meant to shed light on the social issues movement the LSAs wanted to kickstart.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfbQ5obnqf4/?taken-by=galaxylollywood
9:35 pm
Ahmad Ali Butt comes on stage and actually opens the show with his funny rap where he takes a dig at almost everyone and has us laughing out loud. He is later joined by Vasay Chaudhry and the two make sure that the night begins on a high note with their funny one-liners and jokes.
10:15 pm
The music awards have been done and dusted and now its time for a pointless fashion nominees presentation, because why not?
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfbjYW0HTxj/?hl=en&taken-by=galaxylollywood
11:30 pm
The fashion awards are handed out after which Ahmed and Vasay did another of their comedy segments where they grilled celebrities. It started out as a funny segment but the entire part with Mawra Hocane was downright insulting and uncalled for because the questions were offensive and weren’t really funny. We are glad that Mawra fired back and made sure that the comments made by Vasay Chaudhry did not pull her down. It’s okay to joke about things but taking them on a personal level is not cool Mr. Chaudhry.
11:50 pm
Ali Azmat comes for a performance and tries to wake up the half-asleep audience with his singing and theatrics.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfbfqfzHGpd/?hl=en&taken-by=galaxylollywood
12:00 am
As the clock struck 12 we finally got a little dose of something we expect from an event like the LSAs. Ahsan Khan and Mahira Khan do a little improv dance on ‘Zaalima’ and ‘Sadqa’ and this is the stuff LSAs are made off! We wished there was more because these two dancing together surely made one hot couple. We hope some film-maker is reading this.
12:30 am
Baaghi wins Best Drama, Ahad Raza Mir Best Actor for Yakeen Ka Safar and Saba Qamar Best Actress for Baaghi. It was surprising that Saba won, given she was not present in the audience while Sajal Aly was ( you do know these awards are all about attendance right) and since they both had done a phenomenal job it was expected that Sajal was going to win. Hell, Sajal probably sat there expecting a win because five minutes after the award was announced she left the venue.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfbncaEnUhG/?taken-by=galaxylollywood
12:45 am
And its time for the film awards, finally! Here is the list of who all won. Some interesting tidbits from this section.
- Aima Baig won Best Singer for the second year in a row! You deserve this and more girl.
- Mahira Khan won Best Actress film for the third year in a row. Last year she said she didn’t deserve it, this year we all knew she didn’t deserve it as the award belonged to either Mehwish or Uzma. Given it was a public choice we were expecting it to be Mehwish for she did star in the highest-grossing Pakistani film of all time.
- Humayun Saeed won Best Actor and dedicated his award to Mehwish Hayat.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfeDpXcApq6/?taken-by=rraannaayy
1:20 am
As the stage gets ready for the much-hyped finale performance, Ali Kazmi invites the LUX girls, both past and current, on stage ( sorry not on stage but on to the space between the stage and the seats which was reserved for all comedy segments) for a segment that could have been so much more but came across more as a joke courtesy its treatment. The LUX girls definitely deserved better. Present were Nishoo Jee, Sangeeta Jee, Sahiba, Meera, Mahira Khan and Mawra Hocane
1:40 am
Time for the much-awaited closing performance where thirty-two musicians, forty-piece orchestra along with activists, survivors came on stage as the anthem for the ‘Mein Bhi’ movement was performed. Amongst those on stage were Abu Fareed Ayaz , Humeira Channa, Mohsin Abbas Haider, Aima Baig, Faakhir,Amanat Ali,the Viccaji sisters Kashmir The Band, Sounds of Kolachi, Lyari Underground, Abid Brohi, , Natasha Baig, Mussarrat Misbah and her many acid burn survivors, Mukhtara Mai, Ansar Burney and his work, Maheen Khan, and many others. Definitely a powerful closing to an otherwise lackluster event.
2:00 am
As the show ends and I’m on my way back home I realize that the LSAs are getting from bad to worse with each passing year. Last years show, the 16th edition, which was spearheaded by HSY was no doubt entertaining, but it seemed like a step down from the 15th edition in 2016 ( the last show under Frieha Altaf) which had the perfect dose of star power, comedy, dance, and entertainment. The 16th edition in 2017 was a step down with more focus on fashion and gen-next which gave a more niche show appealing to a certain audience.
However, the 17th edition this year, directed by Vaneeza Ahmad with opening and closing executed by Frieha Altaf, was an all-time low! Maybe it was the budget cuts or maybe it was the theme which didn’t sink well with the awards, but the end result was a show which was an absolute drag. Hope the LSAs can redeem themselves with their next edition in 2019. Maybe its time to call back Freiha Altaf as the show director, for she certainly knows how to put on a show!
So here’s what all happened at the awards. Hope you enjoyed this post. Stay tuned, we will be doing a fashion post where we will tell you who looked fab and who looked drab
LSA 2018: Winners of film awards at the 17th Lux Style Awards 2018
The 17h LUX Style Awards took place in Lahore on Tuesday and we gave you, our readers, live updates from the event on all our social media platforms.We will be sharing a detailed post of what went down at this glamorous night but for now here is a list of the winners in the film category.
Best Film
Balu Mahi
Chupan Chupai
Na Maloom Afraad 2
Punjab Nahi Jaungi (Winner)
Verna
Best Actor
Ahsan Khan in Chupan Chupai
Fahad Mustafa in Na Maloom Afraad 2
Humayun Saeed in Punjab Nahi Jaungi (Winner)
Mohsin Abbas in Na Maloom Afrad 2
Osman Khalid Butt in Balu Mahi
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bfbm5ZEnbGW/?taken-by=galaxylollywood
Best Actress
Ainy Jaffri in Balu Mahi
Mahira Khan in Verna (Winner)
Mehwish Hayat in Punjab Nahi Jaungi
Uzma Hasan in Arth 2
Neelum Muneer in Chupan Chupai
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfbncaEnUhG/?taken-by=galaxylollywood
Best Film Director
Haisaam Hussain for Balu Mahi
Mohsin Ali for Chupan Chupai
Nabeel Qureshi for Na Maloom Afraad 2
Nadeem Baig for Punjab Nahi Jaungi (Winner)
Shoaib Mansoor for Verna
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfbmmjyHab4/?taken-by=galaxylollywood
Best Supporting Actor
Ali Rizvi in Chupan Chupai
Faizan Khawaja in Chupan Chupai
Sohail Ahmed in Punjab Nahi Jaungi
Javed Sheikh in Na Maloom Afraad 2 (Winner)
Gohar Rasheed in Rangreeza
Best Supporting Actress
Durdana Butt in Balu Mahi
Humaima Malik in Arth 2
Sadaf Kanwal in Balu Mahi
Urwa Hocane in Punjab Nahi Jaungi (Winner)
Zhalay Sarhadi in Chalay Thay Saath
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Best Singer (Male) – Film
Adnan Dhool for ‘Sadqa‘ from Chupan Chupai
Haroon Shahid for ‘Sambhal Sambhal’ from Verna
Mohsin Haider Abbas for ‘Heeray’ from Na Maloom Afraad 2
Rahat Fateh Ali Khan for ‘Sawaar De’ from Arth 2 (Winner)
Sahir Ali Bagga for ‘Murshid Jee’ from Arth 2
Best Singer (Female) – Film
Aima Baig for ‘Kaif O Soroor’ from Na Maloom Afraad 2
Aima Baig for ‘Sadqa’ from Chupan Chupai (Winner)
Jonita Ghandi for ‘Bagiya’ from Rangreeza
Nirmal Roy for ‘Raunaq-e-Aashiqui’ from Punjab Nahi Jaungi
Sana Zulfiqar for ‘Aadat’ from Arth 2
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Galaxy Lollywood congratulates all the winners!
Box Office: Parchi nears its box office end with big numbers!
We cannot vouch for the authenticity of these box office numbers given by independent box office tracking site Box Office Detail. However, until we have some official box-office tracking system in Pakistan this is all we have got. The numbers are also revised at times and hence you may observe fluctuations.
After a rather disastrous December where three Pakistani films released and couldn’t attract the audiences, the first release of 2018 seems to have done the magic. Directed by Azfar Jaffri and produced by Imran Kazmi, Parchi released on January 5 and set the box office bells ringing.
The film opened with a 0.9 crore day one, 1.1 crore day two, 0.9 crore day three and had a weekend of 2.9 crore. Interestingly in the first three days itself, the film managed to overtake the collections of films Arth, Rangreza and Chupan Chupai which had released prior to Parchi and had ample time to rake in better numbers.
However, the real surprise was what happened post-weekend. Pre-release, the film had a positive buzz thanks to the extensive promotions so a strong opening was always on the cards, but since the film hadn’t received much appreciation from the critics and audiences the film was expected to see a major dip in collections Monday onwards.
But the film proved naysayers wrong and continued its vigorous run at the box office and added about 1.6 crore to the collections taking the total seven-day numbers to 4.5 crore. The film showed no signs of stopping in its second week where it added 2.35 crore to the total tally. Similarly, in its third week, it added a healthy 1.65 crore to the kitty.
The film is currently in its seventh week and still has a few shows in cinemas all over Pakistan. The total number is somewhere around 9.5 crore and given its smooth sail at the box office, the film might just touch the 10 crore mark at the very end. Here’s congratulating the makers on this success and hoping that other films follow suit where the box office run is concerned.