Best entertainment news in the industry, we break entertainment stories as soon as celebrities post on their social media and do Pakistani drama reviews.
The popular Korean drama ‘Crash Landing On You’ is reportedly getting a re-make in Hollywood, with a strong possibility that it will have sci-fi influences. The idea originated from the New Yorker profile of Netflix’s Global Head of Television Bela Bajaria, where he and the streaming service’s head of drama development, Jim Howe, discuss how they might remake the hit K-drama as it was specifically about North and South Korea.
“So, I think we’re gonna see if maybe we can make that divide a little bit more symbolic. We’re looking into sci-fi,” Howe replied.
“Well, you need a world, right?” Bajaria responded. “Because it is the culture clash of two people who don’t fit together but were meant for each other.”
‘Crash Landing On You’ stars Son Ye-Jin as a South Korean heiress and business woman who accidently lands in North Korean part of the demilitarized zone after paragliding. She meets Captain Ri Jeong-hyeok (played by Hyun Bin) who agrees to hide her in his home and pretend they are fiancees. The two begin to fall in love with each other.
Bollywood star Aishwarya Bachchan was served notice over non-payment of agricultural tax. The tax amounting to INR 21,960 was pending on a 1-hectare land which she owns in Adwadi village of Sinnar taluka of Nashik district. Reportedly, even after repeated reminders and opportunities by the district administration of Nashik, she allegedly avoided paying the tax for an entire assessment year.
Not only Aishwarya but around 1200 property owners were issued notices by the Sinnar Tehsil Office. As per the latest update, her legal advisor has responded to the notice and will clear the dues today.
“Legal advisor of the actress met us today and told us that the tax will be paid by tomorrow,” Sinnar tehsildar Eknath Bangale informed The Indian Express on January 17. Further speaking to the media publication, Bangale said, “She has invested in a windmill. The land was bought in 2009. She has paid the tax for all these years. Only the tax for this particular assessment year is pending.”
He added, “Our revenue assessment year starts in August. We have sent her a demand notice twice but there was no response. Now on January 9, we have again sent a notice to her to pay the tax. We had given her 10 days’ time, but now her advisor told us that the tax will be paid by tomorrow.”
On the work front, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was last seen in last year’s Ponniyin Selvan 1, directed by Mani Ratnam. She played the roles of Nandini and Mandakini Devi. The actress will reprise the roles in the sequel Ponniyin Selvan 2, which is set for April 2023 release.
Panama Scandal
The Dhoom 2 star hit the headlines last year as she was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate in New Delhi to appear before them in the Panama Papers leak case.
The actor reached the ED office in Jam Nagar in New Delhi on Monday in afternoon. Now, after 6 hours of questioning, Aishwarya was snapped leaving the ED office.
As per a report, the Dhoom 2 star arrived at the ED office on Monday for a probe regarding the alleged forex violations as per the Panama Papers.
The Fanney Khan diva, whose name came up in the matter, had reportedly submitted all the documents in connection with the alleged forex violations related to the Panama Papers.
After questioning for almost 5 hours, Aishwarya was snapped leaving from the ED office premise on Monday evening. She was summoned earlier as well in the same matter.
However, she had twice asked for more time from ED in the case. The actress can be seen being escorted by security in the photos.
The media could be seen waiting for the her outside the ED office.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Faisal Javed Khan has put forward a bill to ensure royalties for artists. Taking to Twitter on Monday, the senator wrote that last year, a lot of awareness was raised about the need to ensure royalties for artists. He therefore was putting forward a bill in the Senate, ensuring creative people are prioritized. Royalties are payments made to artists when a show that they have worked on is re-run on television. “After getting the resolution passed unanimously last year. Glad to announce that today it was indeed a pleasure tabling the much needed royalties bill especially for the poor creative people of our country. #RoyaltiesForArtists Hoping to get it passed soon Insha’ALLAH”
After getting the resolution passed unanimously last year. Glad to announce that today it was indeed a pleasure tabling the much needed royalties bill especially for the poor creative people of our country. #RoyaltiesForArtists Hoping to get it passed soon Insha’ALLAH
“Artists have been facing the issue of rightful & just royalties for a long time due to redundant and out-dated provisions of relevant laws. The amendment in copyright ordinance 1962 aims at empowering copyright board to fix the royalties for licencing & assignment of work”
Artists have been facing the issue of rightful & just royalties for a long time due to redundant and out-dated provisions of relevant laws. The amendment in copyright ordinance 1962 aims at empowering copyright board to fix the royalties for licencing & assignment of work
Actors like Vasay Chaudhry applauded the bill, and marked it as an important decision to protect creative people in Pakistan, as he pointed out how shows are consistently aired on television shows, but actors or writers whose efforts led to the show’s success, are not given proper compensation.
Thank you @FaisalJavedKhan for sticking to this. NO Royalties are given to Pakistani actors,writers,Producers where as their work is run again n again n again on different platforms,without being given a single penny for those Rerun. https://t.co/1FlkOXHiX4
Last year, the hashtag #giveroyaltiestoartists began trending on Twitter as celebrities like Ushna Shah and Mansha Pasha used their twitter accounts to shed awareness on the limited support creative artists have to remain financially secure for their remaining life, after veteran actress Naila Jafri passed away battling cancer.
Royalties are meant to feed artists for life but in PK we are heartbreakingly forsaken. #NailaJafri shouldn’t have had to publicly request for what is hers on her cancer bed. Many artists have relied on the kindness of samaritan fans once their distress was made public. 1/2
When can we expect proper policies for artists and technicians in this country so that they dont have to make a video from a hospital bed in order to ask for that which would have been guaranteed in another country? @shiblifarazhttps://t.co/305RyjXvNo
Bollywood dancer and reality television star Rakhi Sawant recently announced her marriage with Bangalorean Muslim entrepreneur and model Adil Khan, which was ritually performed in May 2022.
The actress got married to her boyfriend as per Muslim customs. However, when the media contacted Adil, he called the marriage ‘fake’ and denied the reports. After learning about his reaction, Rakhi was left heartbroken and started crying in an interview.
“He asked me not to reveal the marriage for a year because of his sister’s wedding. I trusted him and went to Bigg Boss Marathi 4 house.”
“When I was in the Bigg Boss house, many incidents happened outside the house, which were unacceptable for me. Hence, I shared pictures of our wedding on social media. I was very scared. He loves me a lot but why is he denying my marriage? He must be getting pressure from his family,” Rakhi added.
She further added, “I did halal instead of haraam. Many people do ‘haraam’ but I did ‘halal’. I am not wrong.”
Sawant started crying and said, “My mother is hospitalised. She has brain cancer. I am worried for her. Adil has not been speaking with me since morning. You can ask him why he is not speaking with me. I don’t why such bad things are happening to me. Why why why?”
Adil’s Announcement
After days of silence, Adil Khan has now confirmed that they, in fact, have been married since last year and that he had maintained silence on the matter as he had some issues to take care of. Now, sharing a wedding photo of the couple, Adil said: “So here’s an announcement finally,I never said I am not married to you, Rakhi. Just had to handle a few things so had to be quiet, happy married life to us Rakhi (pappudi). “ Rakhi Sawant replied to the post saying: “Thanks jaan lots of love.”
Actresses Devoleena Bhattacharjee and Ankita Lokhande congratulated the couple.
While Rakhi Sawant shared the news of her wedding last week, no such confirmation came from Adil’s side, leading to rumours that there may be trouble in paradise. After days of silence, Adil to ETimes, “Well, yes, Rakhi and I are married. We are living together and happy.” However, when asked whether his family had accepted Rakhi, he said, “Woh process ab bhi chal rahi hai (it is an ongoing process). It will take some time.”
Rakhi’s Response To Adil’s Acceptance
After Durrani confirmed his marriage to the reality TV queen on Monday, the couple was papped recently in Mumbai where she claimed that her ‘bhai’ Salman Khan called Adil when the latter reportedly refused to accept her.
During her latest interaction with the media, Rakhi thanked Salman for helping her. “Bhai ka phone aaya tha inko… Mere bhai Salman ne mera ghar basa diya (Salman Bhai called him, he saved my marriage)”, she said.
The Krazzy 4 star was earlier captured behind the scenes of a photoshoot, during which Sawant said that she will completely stop wearing revealing dresses because it’s not allowed in Islam.
Rakhi previously converted to Christianity from Hinduism in the mid-2000s.
Earlier in an interview, the dancing diva revealed that Adil has gifted her a BMW car and a lavish home in Dubai. “Adil has bought a house in Dubai in my name. The other day, he’d gifted me a BMW. But frankly, my treasure is his love. His love is true. He is a loyalist. He is very serious about me, else which guy introduces his love so early to his family?”,
She recently traveled to Dubai to meet Adil’s family members, which signals the fact that their relationship is just getting more serious by the day.
Last year she announced her separation from her ex-husband Ritesh Singh via social media post. In her statement, the actor had said that she was ‘really sad and heartbroken’. It was during Bigg Boss 15 show when Rakhi introduced Ritesh for the first time on national television.
Ever since the news of her wedding came into the picture fans were quite excited to see who her husband is. Later when Ritesh and Rakhi entered Bigg Boss 15, fans could not keep calm as finally the mystery around her husband was lifted. But after being together and facing so many ups and downs the couple has parted ways. Today in an Instagram post, Rakhi shared a long note announcing her separation.
In a press interaction, Sawant stated that she is munching on sweet delicacies in depression after her husband left her.
Taking to her Instagram handle, Rakhi Sawant shared a post and wrote, “Dear fans and well-wishers, Just wanted to say that Ritesh and I have decided to part ways. After the Bigg Bos show a lot happened and I was unaware of certain things which were out of my control. We have tried to work out our differences and tried to make things work but I think it’s best we both move on amicably and we both enjoy our lives separately. I’m really sad and heartbroken that this had to happen before Valentine’s Day but the decision had to be made. I wish Ritesh the best in life at this stage in life I have to focus on my work and my life and keep myself happy and healthy. Thank you for understanding and supporting me always!”
Speaking with Times of India, Rakhi said crying, “He left me! I loved him so much and he left me. After Bigg Boss a few weeks ago, we started living together in my house in Mumbai, but yesterday he packed his bags and left. He said that he is in legal trouble because he didn’t divorce her first wife and now he doesn’t want to live with me anymore. He said that he lost an of money also in his business as he had to go through a lot of scrutiny after he entered the Bigg Boss house with me.” She added that her heart broke as after coming out of the Bigg Boss house she got to know that he already has a wife and a kid. Rakhi further said the she is trying to come to terms with the fact that everything has ended.
Netflix documentary ‘Dahmer-Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer story’ has been panned by families of the serial-killer’s victims for profiteering off from their tragedy and glorifying a killer. While accepting the Golden Globes Award for Best Actor, Evan Peters said in his speech how hard it was to do the film, and how he hoped it would further lead to some good in the world. The mother of one of Dahmer’s victims has criticized Peters for his speech in an interview with TMZ. She pointed out that Netflix consistently profits from making movies and documentaries about serial killers, and will glamorize and further add grief to the families who suffered because of Dahmer. ‘Nothing good will come from Evan’s award for the Netflix series. She says it just adds to the grief for the families of the people Dahmer killed, replaying the tragedy over and over.’ The mother said that Peter’s should have made his acceptance speech about the families who had suffered because of Dahmer’s action, and also encourge Hollywood to stop glorifying serial killers. “Evan should have used his acceptance speech to mention the families who are still suffering from Dahmer’s crimes, or to say Hollywood should put an end to telling stories about killers and glorifying them.”
Star-singer Aima Baig took to her Instagram stories to announce that she has called off her engagement with Shahbaz Shigri in September last year.
The Balma Baghora crooner shared a lighthearted note on her Instagram story confirming her break-up with long-term boyfriend turned fiancé’ Shigri.
The Chan Ve diva wrote: “Yes, I will always respect this person for giving me a good time. Sometimes, shit happens and happens for a reason. And to answer all your questions, yes we have parted ways. but we both are doing good and fine so don’t worry.”
“I wanted to do it in the most respectful way and so I did. People can choose their ways of expressing their feelings, which defines who they are from the inside.”
“That’s me, telling the truth to anyone wondering if are they or are not together. And the answer is Nope, I and Shahbaz are not together anymore. P.S no more “feeling sorry texts” please! We are doing just fine. Music is life, let’s see where it takes us”, she added.
Aima Baig and Shahbaz Shigri were in a relationship since 2019. They announced their engagement in July 2021. After their split, the duo unfollowed each other on social media.
Latest Update
Seems like the new year has brought a change in the ex-couple’s equation as they followed each other again on Instagram. This digital move of Shigri and Baig has made their fans extremely happy.
Recently, the Sajna Door star indulged in a Q&A session on her official Instagram handle. She opened up about her colleagues and revealed her favourites.
Be it daily soaps or serials, Pakistani dramas have an enormous viewership around the globe. In 2022, we witnessed blockbuster gems like Parizaad, Mere Humsafar, Hum Tum, and Pinjra, depicting unconventional stories that kept the audiences hooked to their screens.
While 2022 was a good year for Pakistani television, 2023 seems to be even better with a good line-up of projects with some fresh concepts and pairings.
Here’s a list of the year’s most promising serials:
Tumhare Husn Ke Naam
Currently, in its last leg of the shoot, Saba Qamar, Sidra Niazi, and Imran Abbas starrer, THKN has already become the talk of the town, ever since it was announced. The project will touch on themes like jealousy, friendship, and complicated love.
Kuch Ankahi
Although its first episode aired last week, the drama is purported to be a social comedy with a message. Written by Mohammed Ahmed and directed by Nadeem Baig, it is co-produced by Kashf Foundation and Six Sigma Plus. Kuch Ankahi is about family values, women empowerment, and strong female characters. While the cherry on the top is its hit-leading pair. The drama stars Bilal Abbas Khan, Sajal Aly, Mohammed Ahmed, Irsa Ghazal, Mira Sethi, Adnan Samad, Babar Ali, Vaneeza Ahmed and Qudsia Ali.
Main Manto Nahi Hoon
Director Nadeem Baig, superstar Humayun Saeed, and writer Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar will be reuniting for this project after London Nahi Jaunga. Saeed has roped in Maya Ali as his romantic interest in the play. Contrary to the title, the plot is not based on Manto’s life but will have a symbolic representation of the writer in a contemporary narrative, and you won’t regret setting the bar of your expectations high.
Chaand Tara
Celebrity spouses, Danish Taimoor and Ayeza Khan are set to star in a Ramadan 2023 serial, Chaand Tara. The series is set to be directed by Danish Nawaz and written by Saima Akram Chaudhry, the maestro of Ramadan serials. While this is Danish’s first Ramadan play, Ayeza has earlier wowed her fans with comic characters in Chupke Chupke and Chaudhry & Sons.
22 Qadam
This is a project that is being awaited for the longest time, featuring Wahaj Ali as a cricketer, opposite Hareem Farooq, and Kinza Razzak. ’22 Qadam’ is directed by Anjum Shahzad of ‘Pehli Si Mohabbat’.
Serial Killer
Another Saba Qamar starrer, this one is certainly a unique and promising show, which is evident in the title. Saba plays a cop alongside Daniyal Raheal. Serial Killer is written by Umera Ahmed and will hit our screens soon on ‘Green channel’.
Jo Bachay Hain Sang Samait Lo
Ever since Farhat Ishtiaq announced her next novel that is going to have a drama adaptation is JBHSSL, fans and viewers have been speculating a mega blockbuster. Be it Ahad Raza Mir and Mahira Khan’s debut project together or Mohammed Ehteshamuddin’s supposed direction, the project has been in the news for a long.
Seems like Pakistani television has an exciting lineup of star-studded upcoming dramas that will hopefully set new benchmarks of viewership and success in the near future.
Late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s sea-facing Mumbai home located at Carter Road gets its first tenant after almost a gap of three years, reports. The apartment now belongs to an NRI who will be renting it out at the cost of INR 5 lakh per month along with a security deposit of INR 30 lakh.
The sources revealed that a broker named Rafique Merchant confirmed that the house is finally renting out. He revealed that the owner of the house contacted him regarding the matter a few months back. “We have found somebody (a tenant). We are in the final stage of talks with the family to finalize things. People are now relaxed about it (Sushant’s death) because they say it has been a while.”
Rafique talked about the process of finding tenants for the apartment, and said: “People are scared to move into this flat. When prospective tenants would hear that this is the same apartment where he died, they would not even visit. Nowadays, people are at least visiting the flat as the news of his death has become old. Yet, the deal is not getting finalized.”
“The owner is also very particular and doesn’t want to come down on the rent. If he does, it’ll be sold quickly. Since he’s selling it at the market price, tenants prefer buying some other flat of a similar size in the same area since it would come without the baggage of controversy that this flat is associated with, revealed the broker.”
Merchant further disclosed: “The clients are informed in advance that this is where Sushant used to stay. Some people don’t mind the history and want to go for it. But their friends and family members discourage them from going ahead with the deal. Now, the owner is very clear that he doesn’t want to rent out the flat to a film celeb, no matter who or how big he or she is. He wants to hand over the flat to a corporate person.”
As per Pinkvilla, Sushant Singh Rajput moved into this four-bedroom apartment in 2019, he was living there on a rent of INR 4.5 lakh per month.
After the backlash to the Karachi Eat Festvial’s poor management and security, that couldn’t stags from gate crashing the event, many young women took to social media to share instances of harassment and groping. It also started a public conversation about banning men from entering public events, since it would make it harder for young women and families to enjoy their nights out.
harassment and groping did not happen at karachi eat because of “mismanagement” and “security” issues. think about it. if this is how men behave and there’s no bouncers & surveillance for women in public spaces, think of the kind of abuse that happens in broad daylight everyday.
But it seems like many musicians are now agreeing with the idea. Singer Ali Tariq uploaded a screenshot on his Instagram on Friday where he said that he eill hold a public, girls only event and asked for sponsors to cover the band, venue and production cost.
‘After reading the messages from you guys, I want to put out a public gig, all girls only! This is to cater to all the girls who came out on Sunday but weren’t able to enjoy their day to the fullest. I’ll pledge my performance, need sponsors/ donors to cover my band, venue and production cost.”
Bollywood’s King Khan Shah Rukh Khan has been quite active on Twitter lately. Amidst promoting his upcoming film Pathaan, the superstar has been engaging with his fans on social media. Well, lucky for us because we have been getting all the tea from him and some quirky responses too.
On Thursday, during an #AskSRK session on Twitter, fans sent hundreds of questions to Khan. However, one user lit up the proceedings by asking the actor about his first girlfriend.
We know that Khan has been married to Gauri Khan for more than three decades now. But did you ever wonder who was his first-ever girlfriend? Any guesses?
Replying to the user’s curiosity, King Khan didn’t hesitate to open up. He wrote: “My wife Gauri.”
