Tag: ent-stories

  • Mehwish Hayat pledges to promote hockey in Pakistan

    Mehwish Hayat pledges to promote hockey in Pakistan

    Award-winning actress Mehwish Hayat has vowed that she will work towards promoting Pakistan’s national sport, hockey.

    After a video of thirsty hockey players searching for water outside the stadium during the ongoing National Hockey Championship went viral, Mehwish took to Twitter to express her shock at the conditions of the players and called for the revival of the sport in Pakistan.

    The following day, she visited the Abdul Sattar Hockey Stadium in Karachi to promote the ongoing championship. Mehwish even tried her hand at the sport with the players.

    At the stadium, while speaking to the media, Mehwish expressed her disappointment on the conditions of the players and stadium in general. Mehwish said that more attention needs to paid to the sport and requested the government and Prime Minister Imran Khan to help the sport. She even urged the authorities to integrate sports into the school curriculum.

    Mehwish later shared her thoughts on Twitter as well and encouraged others to also support the game.

    Mehwish’s initiative gathered a lot of appreciation on social media and several other renowned personalities also spoke on the matter.

  • Pakistani film ‘Darling’ to screen at the prestigious Venice Film Festival

    Pakistani film ‘Darling’ to screen at the prestigious Venice Film Festival

    The Pakistani film industry may appear to be just about fun Eid releases but young, independent filmmakers are working hard to expand the industry and take it up a notch.

    Pakistani filmmaker Saim Sadiq’s Darling is on its’ way to becoming the first Pakistani film to be screened at the 76th edition of the prestigious Venice Film Festival. The oldest film festival, the Venice Film Festival is part of the ‘Big Three’ a term used for the three most prestigious film festivals in the world namely Cannes, Berlin and Venice.

    Set in a dance theatre in Lahore, Darling revolves around a young boy and a trans girl. Speaking exclusively to The Current, the film’s director said, “Darling is loosely based on my feature film in-development ‘Gulaab’ – both being an exploration of masculinity and femininity set in a highly sexualized erotic dance subculture that exists like an open secret in an otherwise repressive Pakistani society. It’s in equal parts a coming-of-age story, a queer celebration, and a love letter to the Bollywood dream.”

    The main cast of the film includes Abdullah Malik who plays Shani and Alina, a trans girl from Lahore who makes her acting debut with this film.

    The supporting cast of the film includes Nadia Afgan of Suno Chanda fame and Mehar Bano. Nadia will also be producing the film along with Mahak Jiwani. The film has been directed by Saim Sadiq, who is currently a student of Film Directing at Columbia University in New York. Mo Azmi, of Cake, was the Director of Photography.

    The world premiere of Darling will take place in Venice in September 2019.

  • Jeez, ‘Hassad’, bas bhi kardo

    Jeez, ‘Hassad’, bas bhi kardo

    Allah, the poor, poor widow, young, beautiful, with one lock of hair always on her face to give her delicate softness, she is shunned by everyone since her husband died.

    The Beychari Naintara

    The beychari Naintara (Minal Khan) gives birth to her dead husband’s (Shahroze Sabzwari) son (after he is killed in a robbery) and is suffering, suffering, suffering ever since. Her husband’s older brother, Farhan (Noor Hassan) feels terrible about her state and is growing sick of his uber jealous wife Zari (Arij Fatima) who is doing everything in her power to make Naintara look like a complete skank who couldn’t wait for her husband to die. Zari plays idiotic games, from trying to get her brother to rape Naintara, to faking a pregnancy and then accusing Naintara of causing her miscarriage, to getting her friends to shame Naintara for getting it on with her brother-in-law Farhan.

    Oh and Naintara has a sister, whose husband wants to marry Naintara off to an Indian businessman for money. If she doesn’t marry the businessman, he will divorce Naintara’s sister. Farhan helps Naintara get out of the situation but it’s sickening – how a sister is willing to sell her blood because Oh No! Mera ghar toot jaye ga, mai kya karoon?

    Hassad wali Zari

    Farhan’s mother (who is also Zari’s khala) decides to get Naintara and Farhan hitched so Naintara can have her “rightful, respectable” place in the society after Farhan’s first wife Zari leaves in a huff and goes back to her house. Farhan, not so reluctantly agrees and Naintara doesn’t put up much of a fight either (aye hai, beychari, how can she) and they get nikkahofied when Zari isn’t there. Right after the qabools, Zari walks in and has an (obvious) crisis. She leaves and later decides that she needs to come back and break up this marriage.

    Okay. What the hell. Did the writers not know that it is now A CRIME to not ask your first wife for permission before you marry again? And why is it that Naintara cannot attain a “rightful” place in society without having a man by her side? The dialogues are literally cringe-worthy, to the extent of being really, really sexist. Oh, aurat ka ghar tou admi se hi bunta hai. What a terrible, terrible social message. Don’t get me wrong, its fantastic mirch masala, the oh NO! Oh nahi, kya! that comes up every time there is a twist. But is it really important to pass such messages to society? Sparring wives, sad, sad widow, jealous crazy wife?

    Crying-all-the-time Naintara and Saas

    If you actually watch Hassad, it shows all that’s wrong in our society. Glorifying the male child and showing women as being mental devils with nothing better to do than ruin reputations. Get a job, Naintara. You can do it.

  • ‘Friends’ to bid goodbye to Netflix

    ‘Friends’ to bid goodbye to Netflix

    A moment of silence for all Friends fans. US reruns of the popular television sitcom Friends will be moving from Netflix Inc to a new streaming service, HBO Max in 2020.

    The service, from AT&T Inc’s WarnerMedia is scheduled to launch next spring, and is expected to offer more than a dozen original shows and movies from stars including Reese Witherspoon and Anna Kendrick. Programming from AT&T-owned networks such as HBO and TBS and classics from the Warner Bros film and TV library will also be part of the service.

    A subscription price for HBO Max has not yet been announced.

    Friends, a TV hit in the 1990s, was the second-most-watched show on Netflix in the United States when measured by minutes streamed, according to Nielsen data for 2018. The most-viewed Netflix show is The Office, which will switch from Netflix to a planned digital offering from Comcast Corp’s NBCUniversal in 2021.

    According to The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix lost Friends in a bidding war with WarnerMedia, which agreed to pay $85 million per year for five years for the show. Netflix reportedly made a Herculean effort to keep the show, spending $80 to $100 million to keep the series for 2019, but couldn’t manage beyond that.

    Netflix, in a comment on Twitter, said it was “sorry to see ‘Friends’ go.”

    “Thanks for the memories, gang,” the company said.

  • What went down at the Lux Style Awards

    What went down at the Lux Style Awards

    Pakistan’s most coveted awards show, the Lux Style Awards, took place in Karachi Sunday night and were a star-studded affair as A-list celebrities descended upon the red carpet dressed to the nines in their finest clothes. Though this year’s award show was shrouded in controversy from the minute the nominations were announced, the awards show were a glitzy and glam affair with the entertainment industry’s who’s who present at the event. And unlike last year, this year’s event was more happening.

    Here’s a rundown of all that happened at the 18th Lux Style Awards.

    Iqra and Yasir get engaged

    Possibly the biggest news from the night. Actor-comedian Yasir Hussain put a ring on fellow actor Iqra Aziz after a very public proposal. The two have allegedly been dating for a while now and fans were expecting an announcement soon. But itni bari announcement toh shayad hee kisi nay expect ki ho.

    Yasir’s actions drew mixed responses from the public who referred to it as an attention-seeking stunt and called out the couple for their public display of affection. Social media is full of crass jokes made on the newly-engaged couple.

    Watch the full video of the proposal here:

    Iqra-Yasir

    Ali Zafar wins Best Actor Viewers Choice for Teefa in Trouble

    The man who stirred the entire LSA controversy took home the award for the Best Actor for his performance in Teefa in Trouble. Though Ali himself wasn’t present at the awards show to receive the award in person, he took to social media to thank his fans for voting for him.

    It is pertinent to mention here that following Ali’s nomination several people, including Meesha Shafi, model Eman Suleman, Faris Shafi and Saima Bargfrede withdrew their nominations because they did not want to “share the platform with an (alleged) harasser.”

    Meera, Maya and Saba pay a glorious tribute to Shabnam

    LUX girls Saba Qamar, Maya Ali and Meera took the stage by storm as they paid a heartfelt tribute to Pakistan’s legendary actress, Shabnam by performing dance sequences on some of her hit songs.

    Meera has truly revived herself and was a treat to watch as she danced away on stage with Asad Siddiqui on Wada Karo Sajana. She truly is a star.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BzoXR0qhNUc/

    Maya Ali performed on Chitti Zara Saiyaan Ji while Saba Qamar gave a fiery performance on Runa Laila’s Mera Babu Chail Chabila.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BzobeBVhVih/

    Atif Aslam’s performance on Thaam Lo

    Everyone’s favourite singer sang his award-winning song Thaam Lo from the film Parwaaz Hai Junoon mesmerising the crowds.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BzoTW3nhk-Z/

    Mehwish Hayat & Fahad Mustafa’s performance

    Meera makes an appearance with Captain Naveed

    Not sure what this means but Meera Jee was spotted on the red with Captain Naveed with whom she will reportedly also be doing a film soon.

  • Spinning the #BottleCapChallenge

    Spinning the #BottleCapChallenge

    The #BottleCapChallenge has taken over the internet by storm. Celebrities across the world are taking the challenge hence making the trend viral. But what exactly is the #BottleCapChallenge?

    Though the exact origin of the challenge is not known, The New York Times reports that videos of the challenge first circulated widely in mixed martial arts circles and the trend may have been started with Farabi Davletchin, a Kazakh Taekwondo champion. But the challenge gained momentum after Jason Statham, the action-movie star known for his martial arts prowess, posted a video of himself kicking a bottle. His 23-second Instagram post has garnered more than 17.3 million views.

    The challenge involves unscrewing the cap of a bottle with a roundhouse kick without knocking the bottle over. The trick is to loosen the cap beforehand and have someone off-camera hold the bottle steady.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BzYT3WpBDfe/

    The challenge came into the spotlight in Pakistan after Mehwish Hayat posted a video of herself spinning the bottle cap with utmost precision.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BzgE9CfFZD4/

    Here are other celebrity challenges we enjoyed.

    Akshay Kumar

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BzcTHSpHHhq/?utm_source=ig_embed

    Tiger Shroff

    https://www.instagram.com/p/Bze3q9InaIN/?utm_source=ig_embed

    Ryan Reynolds

    Trust Ryan to do something like this.

    https://twitter.com/VancityReynolds/status/1146480180946452480

    Sidharth Malhotra

    Ellie Goulding

    Who else feels this chappal?

  • Zaira Wasim’s decision to quit Bollywood stirs debate

    Zaira Wasim’s decision to quit Bollywood stirs debate

    Bollywood actor Zaira Wasim, who gained popularity after her appearances in blockbusters Dangal and Secret Superstar, recently announced that she is quitting Bollywood because she felt it was interfering with her imaan (faith).

    The 18-year-old, who hails from Kashmir, took to social media to announce her decision. In a detailed post, in which she also quoted verses from the Quran, Zaira said that she wasn’t entirely happy with her line of work and the identity it gave her. Hence, she decided to quit the industry after working in it for 5 years to focus on her relationship with Allah.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BzUBXYrlsml/

    Zaira’s decision and announcement stirred a debate on social media. While many including fellow actor Raveena Tandon and journalist Barkha Dutt criticised her for using the religion card, others including Former CM J&K Omar Abdullah supported her.

    Raveena Tandon felt Zaira was being ungrateful.

    https://twitter.com/TandonRaveena/status/1145327226490982400

    But when she received backlash on her comments, she wrote:

    Journalist Barkha Dutt felt that it was the society that pressured the young actress into giving up her career.

    Actor and director Kamal R Khan felt the whole thing was just a publicity stunt.

    However, there were others who supported Zaira. They drew comparisons to Vinod Khanna, who quit the film industry at the peak of his career to follow his spiritual guru Osho Rajneesh and pointed out the film industry’s double standards.

  • UAE PM writes poem to condemn ‘runaway’ wife, Princess Haya of Jordan

    UAE PM writes poem to condemn ‘runaway’ wife, Princess Haya of Jordan

    Prime Minister (PM) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has written a furious poem criticising the “treachery and betrayal” of his wife.

    His wife and the daughter of the late King Hussein of Jordan, Princess Haya bint Al Hussein, secretly fled to Europe with their son Zayed, 7, and daughter Al Jalila, 11, last week. She is also the half-sister of King Abdullah II.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BzBI5aChdCT/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

    Al-Maktoum, 69, is known for frequently marking great occasions of state and family events such as weddings, in verse.

    “You Lived and You Died” is the new poem, which appears to have been written by the prince in outrage at his wife’s decision to leave.

    “Some mistakes are known as betrayal, and you have transgressed and betrayed,” the poem begins. “You traitor, you betrayed the most precious trust, you exposed your games and nature,” he adds in the piece.

    The royal then continues to accuse his wife of lying, suggesting the claim was backed by evidence.

    “You no longer have a place within me, go to who has kept you occupied,” he wrote, ending with “I do not care whether you live or die”.

    While the subject behind the poem was not disclosed by al-Maktoum, the tone suggests it was addressed to a woman who had betrayed him.

    Princess Haya is believed to have initially sought asylum in Germany, while reports claim her application has been approved in principle.

    According to reports, she is also said to be seeking refuge in the United Kingdom (UK) as her preference is to live in London, where she is currently said to be residing at a secret location.

  • Based on True Stories, Series That Will Blow Your Mind

    These three
    docu-dramas series are so good that while watching them, you’ll be googling to
    see how true they really are.

    HBO’s CHERNOBYL

    IMDb: 9.6

    Unbelievable.
    Many of us have never heard of Chernobyl and the nuclear disaster that history
    suggests, was also a part of the downfall of the Soviet Union. In five riveting
    episodes you’ll be transported to April 1986 when an explosion at Chernobyl, a
    nuclear power plant in Russia caused one of the world’s worst catastrophes. The
    series details how the Soviet Union tried to downplay the disaster and how many
    lives were affected by the event. It’s so unbelievably real, that you’ll have
    to google it just to confirm that such a big event took place in our recent
    history and you weren’t aware of it. When the series was released people said
    it was better than Game of Thrones and Chernobyl has now become a tourist
    attraction.

    NETFLIX’s WHEN THEY SEE US

    IMDb: 9.1

    https://youtu.be/u3F9n_smGWY

    Racism at its peak, this four episodes series
    will leave you shocked at the how deeply engrained racism was in American
    society. The series tells the 1989 true story of four black and one Hispanic
    teenagers who were convicted of a rape they did not commit. They were called
    the Central Park 5, who were forced into false and convoluted confessions and
    convicted for many years. The episodes chronicles the conviction and the
    release and the director of the series says it was compiled after many years of
    research and is “very accurate.”

    NETFLIX’s MINDHUNTER

    IMDb: 8.5

    Questions were never seem to ask or think of,
    and once you start an episode of Mindhunter, you think, damn, why didn’t I
    watch this earlier? Set in the late 1970s, two FBI agents interview serial
    killers to find out what causes them to do such heinous crimes. They interview
    serial killers, (who have done crimes you will not believe), and use the information
    to solve cases. Want to know how the term serial killer first came into existence?
    Watch this.

  • ‘Parey Hut Love’ has more stars than you can count

    ‘Parey Hut Love’ has more stars than you can count

    The trailer of Asim Raza’s much-awaited romantic drama Parey Hut Love released Friday and the one thing that caught our attention was the plethora of stars in the film.

    Apart from the star-studded lead cast which includes Sheheryar Munawar, Maya Ali, Zara Noor Abbas, Ahmad Ali Butt, Hina Dilpazeer and Freiha Altaf, there were glimpses of Mahira Khan, Meera, Fawad Khan, Cybil Chowdry and Sonya Jehan in the film.

    • Mahira Khan
    • Sonya Jehan
    • Cybil Chowdry
    • Meera
    • Fawad Khan

    And given that it’s an Asim Raza venture, we’re pretty sure there’ll be plenty of more cameos.

    The three-minute trailer was fun, colourful, festive and glamourous and the premise of the film appears to be shaadi – no points for guessing that.

    Parey Hut Love releases on Eid-ul-Azha.