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The State Of Pakistani Cinemas In A Post-Lockdown World

By
Zaryan Khawar
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The owner of the AMC cinema group, Adam Aron, said earlier in March, “movie theatres need government assistance to weather the financial storm brought by the coronavirus.” AMC operates 634 locations across the U.S and Canada, and it still needed help. Pakistani cinemas, since the ban of international content from across the border in February 2019, have been in dire need of help as it is only the big local releases that come out on Eid which have kept the cinemas running.

On the 14th March 2020, considering the rising cases of coronavirus cases in the country, Pakistani cinemas shut their doors as the country went into lockdown. There are roughly around 75 cinemas in Pakistan with around 160 screens. In figures, these are small numbers but considering the jobs created through this stream, and with zero business coming through, these are difficult to sustain. In March, Nadeem Mandviwaala owner of Atrium Cinemas pointed out that the business in 2019 saw a drop of 50% in sales. By March 2020 the business was at the rock bottom. Corona hit the cinema industry while it was at that rock bottom so one can only imagine the kind of state the cinema business is in now.

Delay in re-opening

It was initially announced that cinemas in Pakistan will open from the 11th of September with Mulan, and Tenet was supposed to release on the 18th of September. The list of SOPs to be followed by cinemas due to corona restrictions kept on seeing a back and forth before getting finalized.

Initially, there was a restriction on the use of carpets inside the halls as bacteria stays in the carpet for a longer period. Removing carpets was not possible for cinemas as the Dolby sound is linked with the structure and carpet is important for the halls’ structure. The length of movies that can be played inside cinemas was also asked to be kept minimal, but again that is not something which the cinema owners can control.

The current state of the cinemas

On 18th September cinemas in Pakistan reopened but in a very limited number. There have been two new Hollywood releases, Mulan and Tenet to grace the screens. The cinemas that have reopened are Cinestar, Cinepax, Cinegold, Universal Cinemas, and Capri Cinema. Mainly cinemas in Karachi have not opened yet. One reason for all cinemas not re-opening at once can be that both these films do not seem likely to bring in too much business.

Mulan has been already released online on Disney+ in many countries, which has led to its pirated version being available online for all to watch. This reduces the urge among audiences to go to cinemas considering the fear of the virus is also still there. For Tenet, the film is a Christopher Nolan directorial so carries a good amount of hype among his loyal fans. Tenet has done business in the excess of 200million worldwide, but it is not a film that would appeal to the masses in Pakistan.

What the near future holds

In the coming months Hollywood films like Death on the Nile, No Time to Die, and Wonder Women are expected to release. On the local front, the Fahad Mustafa-Mahira Khan starrer Quaid-e-Azam Zindabad will be the first Pakistani film to release at cinemas post-lockdown. To release a major Pakistani film at a time when cinema owners are skeptical about re-opening cinemas on a large scale without having a sizable amount of content is indeed a risky move.

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When Galaxy Lollywood reached out to Nabeel Qureshi to know about this decision, all Nabeel had to say was, “Quaid-e-Azam Zindabad will Inshallah release this year.” Considering how Na Maloom Afraad was released to very limited screens in 2014 and managed to do big business, it looks like Nabeel Qureshi and Fizza Ali Meerza know what they are doing with this move.

There are a number of Pakistani productions that have or are near to wrapping up their production. But most of them are waiting for the situation with the cinema halls to be more stable before they get released. We sincerely hope that cinemas in Pakistan can sustain through this period and this entertainment medium does not die down.

Feroze Khan Dubs TikTok ‘Cancer’ And Calls For A Ban

By
Hammad Akbar
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Feroze Khan is known to be a very vocal celebrity who has never taken the diplomatic route when it comes to sharing his views and ideas. He has never shied away from being blunt, regardless of what people may think about him.

This is why Feroze Khan makes for a very interesting celebrity when it comes to interviews. Although he is not working on any drama project currently, Feroze has still been in the news for his social work. Just recently, he launched an online platform by the name of ‘Protect Them Now’ which is aimed to help and protect the women who are victims of harassment and stalking. The platform played a significant part in capturing the harasser, Ibsham Zahid,  for which Fatima Amir Sheikh, who had been a target of Ibsham’s harassment and stalking for four long years, thanked Feroze Khan for his generous and selfless help.

And now it looks like Feroze’s next target is the popular video-sharing social media app: TikTok.

Tiktok is cancer

A few days ago Feroze Khan was interviewed by the ace designer and celebrity talk show host Hassan Sheheryar Yasin, or HSY as he is more commonly known as, on an Instagram live session. During the interview when the conversation shifted towards the content found on the internet, Hassan asked Feroze what he thinks of TikTok. Feroze replied that TikTok is “cancer”.

Explaining the reason behind his statement, Feroze narrated a video that his friend had shown him in which a boy had died after a train hit him while he was making a video for TikTok. He believes that TikTok should be banned by the government. Feroze also touched on the topic of TikTokers earning their income through the app and said that this source of income is temporary as it can go away anytime with the app.

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Feroze also called the app “useless”. Although he did acknowledge the creative videos that some people make on TikTok, he said that ninety-nine percent of those videos are useless, such as young boys making romantic videos.

Controversial content

Feroze statements don’t seem far away from public sentiment regarding the app. The app has been in the news for pushing youngsters to pull dangerous stunts that have resulted in their death. And if not actual death then spreading fake news of death is used to gain followers and sympathy.

A few days ago, news of the death of a local TikTok star Adil Rajput went viral on social media. Rajput’s wife, Farah Adil, who also stars in Rajput’s videos, made a video on their TikTok account where she was seen weeping. She revealed that she had just received a call that Adil was no longer alive. After hearing the news, fans went to his house in Rahim Yar Khan to offer their condolences, but they were shocked to see Rajput alive and well. Farah later uploaded a video where she explained how someone saw Adil faint and thought he was dead, but Adil had only fainted.

This stunt did not sit well with everyone. Some people called them out for using sympathy to gain followers, while others repeated what they had been saying from the start: TikTok stars are junk.

Unfortunately, many people have met their demise while making videos for TikTok. Their death is one of the primary reasons why netizens have often demanded a ban on the mobile application. Others, on the other hand, believe that the people died due to their own negligence and TikTok shouldn’t be banned as several TikTok stars are earning a handsome amount with the help of it.

Discussions around the app’s usefulness and its dangers tend to get lengthy as there are many points to be considered. Feroze Khan, however, has made his own stance clear about it.

‘It Is Important To Promote Our Cultural And Societal Values Through Films.’ – PM Imran Khan

By
Uzair Anwer
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Pakistani cinema has seen a rebirth in the last decade. Bol (2011) paved the way for industry-related people to invest in local filmmaking, whereas films like Jawani Phir Nahin Ani (2015) further improved the economical dynamics of the industry in Pakistan. While film producers and artists have consistently worked towards the betterment of the industry as a whole, there was a significant lack of government support to help the revival process.

Taking notice of the situation, Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired a meeting on 16th September to discuss an immediate revival of the cinema industry post the COVID’19 lockdown.

Meeting discussion

Lieutenant General (Retd) Asim Saleem Bajwa, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting, confirmed via Tweet that the Prime Minister is enthusiastic about the development of  Pakistan’s film industry.

One of the key discussion points in the meeting was the lack of a sufficient quantity of cinema screens in the country. The Prime Minister was informed about the industry statistics of the times when the industry was fully functional. He was told that the country had 1150 cinemas before the year 2000. Currently, the nation has 150 multiplex screens and 70 cinema halls.

The committee discussed the importance of increasing the number of cinema halls, especially single screens for an affordable film-watching experience for the masses. It was discussed that the current multiplex ticket rates are very expensive for an average citizen especially from lower-middle socio-economic capacities.

Imran Khan made a statement at the meeting, “It is important to promote our culture/societal values through films to educate the young generation. Unfortunately, due to the lack of local content, we are unable to show youngsters our history.”

The government body aims to use the film industry as a soft power tool for the country internationally and to glorify the country’s cultural marvels through the help of filmmaking on a mass level. Prime Minister Imran Khan emphasized the need for increasing the number of films being made in the country and announced establishing a fund for monetary support to filmmakers and artists, especially technicians who are underpaid and work on daily wages.

“We were forced to buy foreign content which pushed us back in terms of content quality. It is high time to race our efforts for the resumption of our film industry.” The Prime Minister stated at the meeting.

Response from the fraternity

This announcement has been welcomed by the industry bigwigs such as Shaan Shahid, Humayun Saeed, and Fahad Mustafa. The actors expressed their happiness and excitement regarding the latest political development regarding the film industry on their social media handles.

The Teefa In Trouble star Ali Zafar called this move a “game-changer” for the Pakistani film industry. Singer Shehzad Roy urged for an expansion of cinemas as many livelihoods depend on it. Director Nabeel Qureshi enthusiastically called the development as “best news!”

Final Word

If the revival strategies discussed at the meeting gets implemented, it will greatly benefit the film industry. Not only will the industry contribute to the national GDP but it will also create multiple employment opportunities for people related to the fields of creative arts. Cinema as a soft power tool has worked well for countries such as India and Turkey and can prove to be favorable for Pakistan’s international media coverage. Government support will provide important resources to the industry to flourish and be financially more viable for the economy in the long-run.

Will It Be Possible For Pakistan To Have Its Own Netflix Original Soon?

By
Maisooma Batool
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It is safe to say that Netflix has done wonders in making the local content of countries more accessible on a global level. After all, when before Netflix could a person enjoy quality content in English, German, Turkish, Korean, Hindi, etc that was all available on one platform? With Netflix offering its services to 190 countries, the platform has definitely changed the viewing habits of viewers worldwide.

Of course, the catalog that Netflix offers differs from region to region. It is not necessary that titles that are available on Netflix Canada will be the same as being offered on Netflix Pakistan. While that may be the case with the titles that are only being streamed on Netflix after the platform has acquired distribution licenses for them, the case with Netflix’s original programming is different.

When Netflix produces or co-produces, content for the platform, it gets the exclusive rights to digitally stream in international territories. Because Netflix provides services in 190 countries, a deal with Netflix can ensure that the content gets a global release and reaches viewers on a much wider scale than it would if released on its own. This makes Netflix an extremely lucrative platform for content creators to feature their programs on.

So, why hasn’t Pakistani content found a home at Netflix yet?

Fewer subscribers for the platform

Pakistan only has four drama serials, sixteen movies, and two animated features that are available on Netflix. All these titles have been licensed by Netflix to be streamed from the platform in “selected territories”. There has been no development where the platform has commissioned or co-produced any Pakistani content and the reason for that is more to do with Pakistan itself than the platform.

According to an article published on Arabnews.pk, the demand for subscription-based OTT platform in Pakistan is very less for Netflix to take interest in the country. Only 100,000 subscriptions out of Netflix’s 180 million subscriptions are from Pakistan. This is a very low number compared to India which is not only a much larger country than Pakistan but has already adopted a digital-friendly culture for itself.

It is not wrong for Netflix to be wary of venturing in Pakistan based on the stats. While some may argue Pakistan’s digital streaming habits cannot be denied as episodes of shows uploaded daily on Youtube get millions of views within 24 hours of their upload, Youtube is a very different case than Netflix. For starters, Youtube is free. Apart from the few minutes worth of advertisements on monetized videos, that a viewer can skip within seconds, Youtube offers seamless streaming to its viewers for no cost. For Netflix, a paid subscription is necessary before even browsing the contents.

Consuming Indian content

In contrast to Pakistan, India already has a good catalog of original programming that is hosted on Netflix. From 2018 to 2020, India has created 13 original drama titles exclusively for Netflix. This is excluding the Netflix Original Films made in India for Netflix. Because of shared language, the Pakistani audience readily consumes the original Indian content which further pushes Netflix away from investing in Pakistan as it doesn’t feel the need to invest in two different regions that have very similar content to offer.

Amazon Prime, another giant streaming platform, hosts even more original Indian content. While Amazon Prime has some Pakistan titles available for viewing on the platform that are not acquired by Netflix, the irony of the situation is that Pakistanis have no way of viewing them because Amazon Prime is not available in Pakistan. The same is the case with Viu. It is a Hong Kong-based OTT streaming platform that primarily offers services in Asian countries. Viu hosts Pakistani drama titles to be streamed in the list of territories where Viu offers its services. Pakistan is not included in that list.

Unprofessionalism exhibited by Pakistani producers

However, perhaps the most embarrassing reason why Netflix does not seem very keen on pursuing to commission or produce Pakistani content is the unprofessional behavior exhibited by some Pakistani producers. Tahseen Shaukat, chief executive of BVC Media who also works as a content aggregator for Netflix and Amazon Prime, told Arabnews about the unreasonable demands made by the producers from the international giant.

“A producer quoted the massive amount of almost Rs800 million for Netflix original, which was not acceptable for the platform, so the idea fizzled out because of the unreasonable budget. One writer, who got his idea approved by the app, demanded Rs120 million just for the tagline.”
(source. Arabnews.pk)

Talks and rumors of some Pakistani content or the other getting a home of Netflix do appear from time to time. And those talks fizzle out just as quickly. Last year, Shamoon Abbasi had claimed that his web series Mind Games had a “90% chance of going on Netflix” and yet nothing came out of that. When Hum TV’s drama Aangan didn’t get a digital release on Youtube like other dramas, rumors of it being kept off the digital space for a Netflix release were circulating a lot. The drama is yet to find a home on any digital platform.

Subpar content

But what of content that is already aired in Pakistan and only needs Netflix’s licensing to be hosted on the platform? Mr. Shaukat said in the Arabnews article that the Pakistani content suffers from, “weak storytelling, and flawed screenplays and scripts that don’t meet international standards.”

Apart from this, Pakistan does not have official agents in the country that can submit Pakistani content to the platform for reviewing that could potentially turn into a licensing or production deal. All submissions are voluntary from the producer’s part and the process to do so is both lengthy and it costs a lot of money. Still, the chances of the content being approved after going through the entire process are not 100%.

Final word

So yeah, the chances of Pakistan getting a Netflix Original to its name seem very slim in the near future considering all these things. However, the success of Churails, Pakistan’s first web series to be commissioned by OTT platform Zee5 and get a release in 190 countries, has definitely worked in favor of Pakistani content creators. Zee5 has four more original Pakistani web series that are awaiting releases. Maybe their success can nudge Netflix into finally taking interest in Pakistan.

Meet Naveed Nashad – The Man Behind Many Popular Pakistani Drama OSTs

By
Hammad Akbar
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Pakistani dramas may have their ups and downs in terms of quality content, but their OSTs have always delivered. Even the dramas that might not have done well critically have had melodious OSTs that people could not stop listening to. It is precisely why many blockbusters OSTs have managed to rake in millions of views on YouTube.

Some of the dramas of recent times that had very popular OSTs have been Do Bol, Mere Paas Tum Ho, Suno Chanda (season 1), Ishq Zahe Naseeb, Yeh Dil Mera, Ishq Tamasha, Yaariyan, Alif Allah Aur Insaan. The OST videos of these dramas have views in millions on Youtube. And the one thing in common between all these songs is the man who is credited for composing them – Naveed Nashad.

Talent runs in the family

Speaking to Galaxy Lollywood, Naveed Nashad revealed a bit about his background. He is the son of late music director Wajid Ali Nashad and the grandson of composer Nashad, who composed songs not only in Pakistan but India as well. Some of his famous songs include Zindagi Main Sabhi Pyaar Kia Karte Hain, Rafta Rafta Woh Meri Hasti Ka Samaan Ho Gaya, and Khuda Kare Muhabbat Main Woh Maqam Aye, etc. In fact, maestro Nashad composed sixty percent of Mehdi Hassan’s songs. Crediting his family’s talent to having a clear soul, Naveed said, “If your soul is nice, you can feel better.”

No formula to make a hit song

With over a dozen hit songs including Mere Paas Tum Ho, Do Bol, and Ishq Zahe Naseeb, it might seem like Naveed has found a formula for composing a hit song. However, that is not the case. Naveed believes one never knows which of their songs will resonate well with the audience. There is a depth to both the lyrics and the music and one should delve into those depths. Talking about the importance of learning music, Naveed said that it is imperative that musicians learn the basic things such as the raag and the taal, of music.

Upon asking whether he takes inspiration from somewhere for composing songs that sound so distinct from one and other, Naveed replied that the most important thing for an OST to be is to fit well with the narrative of the story that is being told.

“I try to ensure that the OST I am composing is according to the situation. One that takes the story of the film or drama forward.”

Advice to budding musicians

Naveed has worked with the top three channels of Pakistan – ARY Digital, HUM TV, and Geo Entertainment. When asked about his experience working with these channels, Naveed replied that he had a good experience working with them. He revealed that he believes in the “good attracts good” principle.

“I am a very soft and kind-hearted person. I am not a quarrelsome person at all.”

Advising upcoming musicians, Naveed reiterated that music is not a part-time thing; you have to give a part of your life to it. It doesn’t matter whether you like jazz, pop, or rock, just stay true to yourself.

Currently, on-air drama serials Mushk, Mera Dil Mera Dushman, Saraab, Uraan, Jalan, and Tera Gham Aur Hum all have OSTs composed by Naveed. We wish Naveed Nashad all the best for his future endeavors.

Have Fawad Khan’s Baffling Career Choices Affected His Stardom?

By
Hassan Hassan
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Fawad Khan can be easily dubbed as one of the most popular names that the Pakistani showbiz arena has produced in the past two decades. Very few people taste success in the entertainment industry the way Fawad has and continues to do so. Dramas, films, music – Fawad Khan has made a name for himself in all three fields as being truly a fine artist. However, is this all there is to him?

A considerable amount of people get confused about how to judge Fawad Khan in the current times. Being Pakistan’s most popular actor since the turn of the century, Khan has not done any substantial work either in Pakistan or internationally that would justify his the title of a reigning superstar of the industry – a tag that was associated with Fawad Khan for a good period of time.

Impeccable career

Beginning his acting career via a sitcom, Jutt and Bond, Khan did not do any acting projects for some years. He focused on his career as a musician as the lead singer of an alternative rock band Entity Paradigm. He later left the band to pursue an acting career where he ultimately grabbed a supporting role in Shoaib Mansoor’s 2007 blockbuster Khuda Kay Liye. Since then the actor has featured in classic and blockbuster dramas like Dastaan, Humsafar, and Zindagi Gulzar Hai.

A Bollywood debut and later winning the coveted Filmfare Award for Best Debut proved to be the pinnacle for the actor’s career. He was dubbed as “The Next Khan” of Bollywood and featured in top sections of lists like Most Attractive Men, Most Beautiful Man, Most Desirable Men, etc. that the popular tabloids could think of and come up with at that time.

The popularity wasn’t idiosyncratic. Fawad has been a part of many memorable and iconic projects in the past two decades that have been praised internationally. Fawad’s associations with projects, both in Pakistan and across the border, have given him an image of being an actor that is truly worthy of being called the pride of the Pakistani entertainment industry.

Baffling choices

There is no doubt the Khoobsurat actor has a broad appeal that makes him bankable for any project the showbiz people can think of. What baffles his loyal fans, like myself, are his career choices off-late. It has come to a point where one cannot help but question – does the current Fawad Khan deserve the hype that never seems to leave him?

For a good actor who is conventionally handsome, is well-spoken in real life, possesses an air of enigma around him, to not appear in any notable TV or silver screen project to continually prove his mettle surely gets disturbing, to say the least. Despite every other director and producer wanting to work with him, he doesn’t seem to be keen on offering his ardent fans anything special, especially in the past four years.

The last time Fawad Khan worked in any Pakistani project was in 2013 when he starred as a lead in the telefilm Armaan. The last acting project that had him in a substantial role was the 2016 release Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, albeit it was later dubbed as a cameo by the makers of the film due to the Indo-Pak political tensions. 2020 is about to end and there has been no concrete news of when his next project will be released. While we wait for the news of his films to release, there is a weekly entertainment show that Fawad is all set to host for the first time in his career so I guess he is doing something on TV.

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There was a time when TV director and producers like Abdullah Kadwani would call him “the closest actor to Waheed Murad.” Not just that post-Khoobsurat, Indian Express described the actor as someone who redefined the image of a Bollywood actor, replacing the stereotypical image of a Bollywood lead actor having bodybuilder six-packs with someone who is full of charm. Seeing these comments in today’s perspective where he hardly has anything to offer to his fans is a cause of concern.

Left behind

Projects like The Legend of Maula Jutt have to be partly blamed for Fawad’s relative slumber at the local box office. The film has been a victim of many unfortunate delays that of course, have nothing to do with Fawad himself. He dedicated all his time and energies to the project yet, it has failed to find a proper release date contributing to his disappearance from our cinema screens. However, co-stars from the very same film like Mahira Khan and Hamza Ali Abbasi have continued to do different projects and progressed in their careers. They have put the film behind them, more or less, by headling other successful projects while Fawad Khan has yet to do any such thing.

Fawad Khan’s contemporaries like Fahad Mustafa have impressed the masses and classes alike with projects like Load Wedding, Jawani Phir Nahin Ani 2, Na Maloom Afraad, and of course Jeeto Pakistan. Fawad’s senior Humayun Saeed has transformed himself into an industry mogul by churning blockbuster after blockbuster both on TV and cinema, cementing his position as the industry’s top superstar. Even Sheheryar Munawar, who started his career when Fawad Khan was at its peak with Zindagi Gulzar Hai, and Ali Zafar who has been Fawad’s peer since his music days, have a better cinematic or showbiz profile at the local arena than Fawad when compared in the recent past.

The only long-term project Fawad has done in the last few years is acting as a judge in a music reality show. He has been continually appearing in TVCs banking on his Humsafar–Khoobsurat charm and the package is working for him as people still adore and want more of him. How long will this aura last, that nobody is sure of.

Final word

With any other actor’s only career choices in the past four years being appearing as cameos in someone else’s films, doing TVCs, modeling for spouse’s clothing brand, or judging a musical reality show, and it wouldn’t warrant a discussion. But it is Fawad Khan that we are talking about here. Fawad Khan who is the audience’s sweetheart. Fawad Khan has the screen presence, off-screen charm, and acting skills that attract the audience towards him as they flock to no one else. Not only that, but he also has the authority and the means in the industry where he could very well dictate what kind of projects he would have liked to do. For him to not take advantage of all of that is just tragic.

Fawad has spent a better part of the last four years giving both his audience and the industry close to nothing worth boasting about. 2021 will be the most important year for Fawad’s career as he has two releases lined up – The Legend of Maula Jutt, and Money Back Guarantee, with two more potentially getting a release in the upcoming year as well – Aan and his home production Neelofar. Will his absence from the television and movie screens impact his upcoming releases negatively? Or will these new releases once again shoot Fawad Khan up at the top of the game? Only time will tell.

Nida Yasir Owns Up To Her Mistake And Apologizes For Hurting Sentiments

By
Kasim Bilal
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Nida Yasir isn’t new to controversies and online backlash. Her morning show Good Morning Pakistan airing on ARY Digital has been in the news many times for controversial comments made by artists. Just a few months ago, the show got a ton of backlash for not practicing social distancing seriously in the midst of a global pandemic.

This time however the issue is far more serious than before. Last week, Nida invited the family of the late Marwah, a 5-year-old rape-murder case victim on her show, to publicly discuss the details of the tragic incident. This caused yet another controversy and backlash for the host.

The apology video

To recap, the show invited the family of Marwah for a special episode where Nida asked the grieving family the details about the case. This did not go down well with the viewers when the clips from the episode surfaced on the internet. The show and Nida Yasir both got backlash on social media for the insensitive nature of the show.

Nida had first responded to some comments online clarifying her side of the story. However, she made a four-minute-long apology video today that she posted on her Instagram account where she explained the details leading up to the controversial episode and its impact.

She starts the video by apologizing to everyone and asking for their forgiveness for hurting the public sentiments. Nida explains that her intentions for the doing the episode were not to cash in on a family’s tragedy but to give them a platform so their grievances could be heard by the concerned authorities. Nida also defended her show that Good Morning Pakistan‘s content is usually cheerful and entertaining because her intentions are to start her audience’s day with a smile. However, when the show was approached to do this show, Nida said she dropped all their pre-planned episodes of the week to concentrate on this episode that needed attention. She did so despite knowing how depressing the topic is for herself and that it affects her negatively.

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Nida clarified that the show hadn’t approached the victim’s family instead, the family had approached them through Sarim Burney Trust so the case could get media attention and support. Nida also talked about how media support is crucial when it comes to such cases and that’s exactly what she provided the family with. Nida claimed that the show had been crucial in helping the victim’s family and how the culprit was caught two days after the airing of the show.

Lastly, Nida said in her apology video that any hurt that was caused was unintentional. Her intentions were selfless as she only wanted the victim’s family to get justice. Her show’s TRPs come from happy, cheerful episodes so there is no way she took up this subject for the sake of ratings.

The reactions

While the hate and backlash for the episode were very strong and consistent across the board, the reactions to her apology video have been mixed so far. Some are calling it a hollow apology saying Nida keeps making mistakes and never truly changes. Some were still adamant that PEMRA should ban her show for good. Others sympathized with her and seemed more willing to forgive her, finding her apology genuine and her seeming to have the right intentions behind the interview.

It’s clear that audiences are tired of Nida and her shenanigans. The hate against her and the show has been piling on for so many years now and this seemed to be the breaking point and the final nail in the coffin. However, Nida’s apology did feel genuine. It isn’t every day that a celebrity actually owns up to their mistakes and issues an apology for hurting sentiments. In a world where celebrities tend to make mistakes and then, instead of acknowledging them, they act like victims when being called out for them, Nida’s apology is a welcome change.

We can only wait to see if she actually changes for the better and proves that this wasn’t just damage control but her speaking from the heart. We hope Nida has learned from this situation and will now try to do more sensible hosting when it comes to sensitive topics like these.

Mohsin Abbas Haider Talks About His Two Upcoming Dramas

By
Hammad Akbar
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It has been a while since Mohsin Abbas Haider has done television dramas. His last stint on television was in a cameo role in Deewar e Shab and a mini-series by the name of Mujhay Tum Pasand Ho. Now, almost two years after Meri Gurya, his last appearance in a full-fledged leading role in a drama, Mohsin is set to be back with not just one, but two dramas.

The sneak peeks posted by Mohsin on his Instagram account surely gotten the people curious about his projects. Speaking to Galaxy Lollywood, Mohsin shared his excitement about his two upcoming dramas and shared some details about the characters he is playing in them.

Ghamandi

When director Sohail Javed shared a picture on his Facebook account with him, Mohsin and Nazish Jehangir sitting on a bench, which seemed to be taken from the sets of an ongoing project, it created quite a stir on social media. Well, that picture was taken on the sets of Ghamandi, an upcoming drama that is going to be aired on Express Entertainment. The drama has Mohsin Abbas Haider and Nazish Jahangir in the lead roles. Speaking about his character, Mohsin revealed his character is very innocent.

“He is pure and innocent to the point of being a fool. It is a story about this guy’s childhood love and how he grows up and struggles to get his love.”

The drama is produced by Adnan Siddiqui and Akhtar Hasnain. The supporting cast of Ghamandi includes Maryam Noor, Shaheen Khan, Parveen Akbar, Rabya Kulsoom, Sajeer Uddin, Ali Rizwi, and Fahad Sheikh.

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Dil Tanha Tanha

Directed by Ali Masood and produced by Momal Productions, Dil Tanha Tanha is another drama that has Mohsin in a lead role opposite Kiran Haq. This drama will go on-air on Hum TV. Talking about his character in Dil Tanha Tanha, Mohsin revealed that it is completely opposite to his character in Ghamandi.

“It is a grey character. An egoistic and stubborn character who would to go to any extent to get what he desires. There’s a very interesting journey with this character where he starts as something and ends up as something else. The story is about how this person is taught a lesson by life.”

Mohsin also shared that he was having fun playing the character. The supporting cast for the show comprises of actors Nazish Jahangir, Ali Ansari, Nabila Khan, Fareeha Jabeen, and Shahzad Malik.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFG–izMQQZ/

There has been no announcement on when the dramas are set to go on-air as of yet.

Did Nida Yasir Really Take Advantage Of A Family’s Tragedy For Ratings?

By
Uzair Anwer
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Media is an extremely powerful tool in bringing the less discussed social issues and societal crimes to public knowledge. It is an influential entity in spreading awareness and educating the public about serious socio-cultural subjects such as rape and child abuse. However, in the era of privatized media, the need to monitor the way in which the spotlight is being shed on these important issues is extremely vital.

Good Morning Pakistan, ARY’s long-running morning show hosted by Nida Yasir is under fire once again. A recent episode of the show is being criticized heavily on social media where Nida invited the family of a young girl, Marwah, who was a victim of a brutal rape-murder case.

What went down 

Nida invited the family of the late Marwah, a 5-year-old rape cum murder case victim on her show, to publicly discuss the details of the tragic incident. Nida started the questioning by first apologizing to the family, which included Marwah’s father and grandparents, for asking them about the whole incident but deemed it necessary for the sake of getting the case the investigation and the attention that it deserves. She also stated that the possibility of any eye-witnesses coming forward also increases when the details of the incident are brought to public attention.

The questions asked by Nida were a mixture of the investigation procedure and the incident’s details. Nida was asking the victim’s family their first-hand account of how the incident occurred and how much help from the authorities have they been getting about their tragedy. The tone of the entire episode was solemn as both Nida and Marwah’s grandmother broke down crying multiple times during the episode when talking about this sensitive topic.

Nida stated in the show that the family members are unable to have a constructive conversation because of their disturbed psychological state and hence not more shall be expected from them. Therefore, among the guests on the show was an ARY reporter who had reported the details of the incident for ARY News. He shared more professional details about the incident and gave updates about the investigations that were going on. During her interactions with other guests on the show such as Frieha Altaf and philanthropist Sarim Burney, Nida repeatedly expressed her apologies and concerns to the family of the victim for discussing the details of the show in front of them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB1COF8JUq4

The sensitiveness of the issue

Owing to the extremely sensitive nature of the issue, the emotions in the episode were very high. At one point, Marwah’s grandmother got overwhelmed and started crying with pain as she mourned her granddaughter’s tragic death. Nida cried with her and allowed the woman to speak to her heart’s content without interrupting her.

To her credit, Nida was mindful of the sensitiveness of the issue and was hesitant to ask certain questions. She even stopped the reporter from indulging in triggering details of the case. However, there were several points in the episode where Nida could have intervened and spared the family of the victim more emotional trauma.

Social media backlash

Segments from the episode have surfaced on social media. The segments and the episode have received flak on social media for emotionally abusing the sentiments of the family for the sake of channel ratings. Netizens have panned the insensitive nature of Nida Yasir’s questioning from Marwah’s family. Some even felt that the show was designed as a rating gimmick.

The comment section under the video that featured Marwah’s grandmother’s breakdown is full of comments criticizing Nida for fishing for dramatic content by giving her a platform to speak when the lady was not in control of her emotions. The comments criticized that why was a grieving grandmother’s personal outburst highlighted on live television and deemed it as being derogatory for the family’s sentiments. As it was already quite evident that the grandmother was in trauma and was losing her emotional control after short intervals, it wasn’t sensible enough to ask her about her feelings.

Apart from YouTube, the topic also gained recognition on Twitter and Instagram. The angry netizens have even tweeted to PEMRA for a ban on the show.

Nida’s justification

Upon receiving backlash for a clip of the incident discussion, Nida replied to a few public comments on Instagram stating that not everything needs to be scrutinized and that the conversation shouldn’t be seen out of context. She claimed that such antics do not increase the TRPs of the show rather it helps them spreading awareness and education about such social issues.

Nida added that the show has helped the investigation process severely and hence the suspects have been arrested. She also mentioned that the episode has helped Marwah’s family in receiving financial assistance.

Although Nida’s statement of the suspects being found in 2 days is slightly exaggerated as the show went on-air on 9th September whereas the suspects were taken into police custody on 15th September. And as per the discussions that happened in the show, the police were already investigating the matter and had caught a few suspects of the case when Marwah’s family was invited on it. Add to it how the incident happened on 4th September while the show was aired on 9th September and the public isn’t conviced by the show’s seemingly selfless motivations.

Final word

The negative public feedback is against the insensitive misconduct of the discussion by dramatizing a discussion about the tragic incident for the sake of ratings. Nida could have handled the discussion on her show in a more sensible manner, but her intention for the show doesn’t seem doubtful. We hope that this backlash from the audience will be received in a constructive way by the show’s producers and that will reflect in their future discussions on such vulnerable subjects.

Did The Celebs Really Hijack A Protest Organized By The Transgender Community?

By
Maisooma Batool
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The Motorway Incident has sparked nationwide protests as people from all walks of life are demanding strict repercussions for the criminals. The incident has put a spotlight on the alarmingly large number of rape cases that are reported in the country on a regular basis. The topic is trending both on social media and in real life as protests are happening to make sure that these horrific cases are now dealt with in such a manner that the chances of them being repeated in the future lessen, if not get completely eradicated.

Our celebrities have also shown their support for this issue by both showing up to and organizing protests meant to get the media’s as well as the government’s attention towards the issue. Celebrities have been vocal about their support both on social media and on the streets. However, some accounts that are now emerging on social media have raised suspicions that the celebrities, in being vocal, are drowning out the voices of other victims who need the platform more that is readily available to the celebrities than them.

A tale of two protests

On 14th September, a group of some of the most popular Pakistani celebrities showed up in front of the Karachi Press Club to protest against the Motorway Incident. The protest that was joined by the likes of Mahira Khan, Sarwat Gilani, Ayesha Omar, Ali Rehman Khan, Sarah Khan, Aijaz Aslam, Faysal Qureshi, among many others and organized in part by Yasir Hussain got much of the media attention. However, this protest also took away from another protest that was happening at the same time at the same venue.

A group of transgender activists had gathered in front of the Karachi Press Club to demand the safety of the transgender community as well as protesting against the Motorway Incident. Last week a couple of transgenders were targetted by some unknown people who opened fire on them which resulted in the death of one and caused several injuries to the other. This incident highlighted the precarious situations in which the transgender community lives in the country where they have to constantly fear for their lives and safety.

Hijacking the protest

Some accounts of people, who were on the ground when the two protests happened to coincide, are being shared on social media where it is being shared that the celebrity protest had hijacked the ones being conducted by the transgender community. A post on Facebook briefly accounts the events of the protest that when the celebrities showed up at the venue, they took up all the space and the media attention away from the already happening protest by the transgender community that happened to be against the same issue as the one the celebrities were protesting against.

The posts also read how a couple of transgender activists were being harassed just a few feet away from the celebrity protest but no one had come to their aid. The media cameras were pulled away from the 200 or so transgender women who had gathered to protest for Trans Rights and were focused on the celebrities.

Incidentally, on 12th September a huge protest was organized by Aurat March that was joined by thousands of people, including a few celebrities as well. That protest was bigger in number and focused solely on the issue of the Motorway Rape case. People on social media began to question why the celebrities, that chose to organize their own celebrity special protest on the 14th, hadn’t joined the larger protest on the 12th and lent the organizers their support then.

https://www.facebook.com/M.Moiz/posts/10224311316112553

The other side of the story

Galaxy Lollywood reached out to Yasir Hussain who is being credited for organizing the celebrity protest. Yasir claims that the protest was all done in a peaceful manner and no such thing as being reported on social media happened on the ground.

“Karachi Press Club is a place where big and small protests happen on the regular. There were already 2-3 protests going on when we reached there. All of them were carried out in a peaceful and successful manner.”

Yasir also said that he cannot take full credit for organizing the event as Frieha Altaf, Asim Jofa, and Sarwat Gillani had helped a lot in making sure the protest was all well organized. When questioned about what he has to say about social media posts that are asking why a separate protest was organized by the celebrities when they could’ve joined another, already bigger protest a few days ago, Yasir said that it was all done for causing awareness.

“We had celebrities that have following in the millions on social media individually. When a group of people with such massive following all gathers at a place, it is bound to create awareness. Which is what our aim was. I would like to see more and more groups come out to protest. As this is an issue that affects all of us.”

Yasir said that it is the media’s job to cover everything that happens and it is wrong to just blame the celebrities for media not doing its job. When questioned what he has to say about the trans community saying their voices were drowned by the celebrities’ protest, Yasir said that the transgenders were standing with them.

“They were standing with us. They were very cooperative. They asked us for pictures and videos. In fact, I had gone to the other protests that were happening and supported them.”

Regarding the last allegation that the transgenders were attacked and harassed, Yasir had to say that he saw nothing of that sort happening. From the moment they arrived to the venue to the point that they left, everything was done in a peaceful manner.

Final word

Celebrities coming out in support of social causes should not be discouraged as they lending their support to causes like this does bring much-needed attention to the issues. However, the transgender community has a history of being discriminated against and their voices being silenced. Even if this situation is a case of unfortunate coincidence, the transgender community has a right to speak against their platforms being hijacked by celebrities. And their voices should be heard.

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