Ace producer Shazia Wajahat, whose ongoing drama Raqs e Bismil is currently making waves on television, celebrated her birthday on Sunday at the beach with colleagues, friends and family.
The beachside party was hosted by her husband director Wajahat Rauf. Celebrities including Hania Aamir, Ali Rehman Khan, Fahad Mirza, Dananeerr Mobeen, Yasir Hussain, Iqra Aziz, Urwa Hocane, Imran Ashraf, Shahzad Sheikh, Momin Saqib and many others were spotted at the birthday event.
Meanwhile, Wajahat penned a sweet note for his wife, saying: “Happy birthday to the love of my life. You not only won my heart 25 years ago, but you have a gift of winning over whoever you meet.”
“I don’t blame them, how can you not love this woman?,” he added.
It’s the season of birthdays! AfterSaboor Aly’s star-studded birthday night, Kinza Hashmi celebrated her birthday with close friends including Saboor, Imran Ashraf, Aiman Khan, Muneeb Butt and Minal Khan. Pictures from her birthday celebrations are being widely circulated on social media.
The birthday girl looked radiant in an all-black outfit with smokey eyes and nude lips.
Imran Ashraf’s ‘dream’ Mushk came to a close Saturday night with a perfect fairytale ending giving all us hopeless romantics just what we wanted on Valentine’s Day eve.
The final episode of the drama had all the usual tropes of a happy ending with star-crossed lovers coming together and riding into the sunset for their happily ever afters.
On one hand, Mehak (Momal Sheikh) and Shayan (Osama Tahir) finally reunite after Shayan managed to escape his evil Mamu Muqaddar Khan’s (Aehsun Talish) clutches while on the other, Adam (Imran Ashraf) realises his love for Guddi (Urwa Hocane) and the two get married.
Adam also turned into the knight in shining armour for Guddi after she is kidnapped and forced to marry Chotay Malik, helping her escape, though not before she slit her wrists in an act of defiance. Once she recovers, she decides to head back home and is waiting for her train, when Adam catches her and asks her to marry him. The drama ends with Adam saying ‘Shukar Alhumdulillah‘ to everything that transpired.
Meanwhile, the evil characters in the drama are punished with Chotay Malik jailed for killing Dr Rana (Raja Haider) and Muqddar Khan paralysed and confined to the wheelchair, leaving viewers satisfied with their anjaam.
While the drama had most viewers hooked with its interesting storyline and unpredictable twists and turns, it faltered at places and was slow-paced with some scenes unnecessarily dragging on. But what did work for the drama was its dramatic dialogues and brilliant performances. Imran proved to be a wonderful romantic hero and was a delight to watch on the screen. Osama was brilliant as Shayan and the range of emotions he expressed deserve a round of applause, even though most of the time you just wanted to give him [Shayan] a slap for his stupidity.
As unfortunate as it is, dramas currently trending on Pakistani television are those which are either centred on women running after other women’s husbands or the usual family issues in which two people who like each other are not allowed to get married for whatever XYZ reason. In all this hullabaloo, Mushk was like a breath of fresh air and a great example of a solid script enhanced by brilliant performances.
You can always count on Hania Aamir to have the most exciting birthday bash ever. After last year’s ‘Stranger Things’-themed party, this year the actor went low-key with an intimate bash with her closest friends from the industry.
Shazia and Wajahat Hussain hosted the party for Hania at their residence. Pictures from the star-studded celebrations were widely circulated on social media. Those in attendance included Iqra Aziz, Yasir Hussain, Ali Rehman Khan, Aashir Wajahat, Farhan Saeed, Shehzad Sheikh and his wife Hina Mir, Imran Ashraf, Danyal Zafar, Ali Ansari, Azam Khan, Walid Siddiqui and Mariam Ansari and husband Owais Khan.
After walking the ramp at the Hum Bridal Couture Week 2021, Imran Ashraf has lauded and appreciated models for making all fashion shows successful with their hard work and dedication. Ashraf walked the ramp for Uzma Babar wearing a greenish-gold sherwani with Yumna Zaidi.
In an Instagram post, the Ranjha Ranjha Kardi actor wrote: “This applause is solely for the models of the fashion week. You deserve all the credit for making the show successful.”
“The celebrities are just mere guests at such events. It’s the models who are the real kings and queens, who deserve all the appreciation,” he added.
Soon after Imran’s posts, models thanked the actor for appreciating and acknowledging their efforts.
“This means so much,” said Maha Tahirani. “Absolutely glad to hear it and pleased to have people like you to look up to!”
“You’re the sweetest Imran,” said Farwa Kazmi. “Indeed very humble. Thank you for acknowledging our hard work and respecting our platform. It was so great meeting you, you’re a wonderful person.”
Similarly, another model Raahima Ali, commenting on Ashraf’s post, wrote: “Always had mad respect for you as a person and as an actor, but today that respect has skyrocketed. You are what they call a star sir. Thank you for acknowledging our work that’s barely ever shed any light on.”
Supermodels Mushk Kaleem and Amna Baber also thanked Imran for his kind words.
“Thank you for speaking up for the backbone of our fashion shows,” said Mushk. “Our models deserve so much applause and thank you for bringing that to everyone’s notice.”
Imran started his career as an actor in 2011 with supporting roles. His strong and heartfelt performances won the audience’s hearts making him an established actor in the field.
While most of the time, we critics or drama viewers, complain about how Pakistani dramas have become redundant and monotonous with the same old storyline based on unrequited love, marital woes, or love triangles, every now and then comes a new drama that shakes things up and makes you believe in the drama industry once again.
Sarah Khan and Imran Ashraf’s ongoing drama Raqs e Bismil is one such example. Directed by Wajahat Rauf and written by Hashim Nadeem, the drama’s plot revolves around Sarah and Imran’s characters – Zohra and Moosa. Moosa comes from a very conservative background – he refuses to let his sister marry her love because he did not belong to the same sect – while Zohra belongs to a family of dancers and entertainers. The two cross paths on a bus and Zohra, who is wearing a burka at the time, catches Moosa’s attention, who immediately falls for her and her gutsy nature and asks her to marry him after their second meeting.
While Zohra initially rejects Moosa’s advances with some powerful dialogues, she later invites him to her home so that he can find out her reality first-hand. The third episode of the drama ends with Moosa finding out Zohra’s reality and viewers are excited to know what will happen next for the two protagonists, who are worlds apart.
The first three episodes were engaging and fast-paced with brilliant performances by the lead and supporting cast. Imran and Sarah were brilliant as Moosa and Sarah, while their chemistry was also lit. Moosa, in particular, has many shades and Imran manages to portray them flawlessly; fluidly switching between a hardened family-man and a man smitten. A special mention to Momin Saqib, who really gave a solid performance as Essa, Moosa’s brother and wingman.
Raqs e Bismal has quickly made it to our list of must-watch dramas and one we are delighted to recommend.
The comment which has now been deleted read criticised the actor for posting about her work, not long after the death of her father.
“You are worried about Moosa and Zohra! And your father? He hasn’t been gone a week and here you are posting about dramas. Oh, God. What is this world of showbiz!” it read,
In response, Sarah hit back saying: “Would my pain have lessened if I posted after a month? Does that even make sense?”
Sarah’s father passed away in December 2020. The actor had earlier posted a heartfelt note for her late parents.
With several Pakistani dramas coming to an end soon, TV channels have started dropping teasers and promos of their upcoming releases. Four new dramas with brilliant casts and directors are expected to hit our screens in the coming weeks and we are looking forward to them.
Starring Bilal Abbas Khan, Sana Javed and Naumaan Ejaz in the lead, Dunk is about sexual harassment in universities and colleges. The first promo of the drama dropped to a mixed response but we’re going to hold our thoughts and opinions till we watch the first few episodes.
Pehli Si Mohabbat
The drama will mark Maya Ali and Sheheryar Munawar’s return to the small screen after a long break. From the BTS and first looks, the drama promises to be an intense love story and I am definitely looking forward to this. It has been written by Faiza Iftikhar and directed by Anjum Shehzad of Khaani fame.
Maya, in a recent interview, revealed that the drama will not have “typical saas-bahu fights and affairs in it”.
“You will feel that you have heard or seen this story, because there’s a love story as evident from the title Pehli Si Muhabbat, and everyone has experienced their first love story. Some people find their first love and some people live with keeping it in their hearts,” she shared.
Raqs-e-Bismil will see Sarah Khan and Imran Ashraf share the screen together for the first time. A fresh pairing is always intriguing and given that both are brilliant actors, I am sure this drama will be a treat. From the teasers, the drama appears to be intense and uncomfortable. According to the makers, the drama “follows the soulful story of a conservative and conformist family who adhere to strict family values”. Raqs-e-Bismil will also see Hadiqa Kiani make her television debut.
It is expected to air on Hum TV by the end of the month.
A multi-starrer drama, Amanat will feature Imran Abbas, Urwa Hocane, Saboor Aly, Haroon Shahid, Saba Hamid, Sheheryar Zaidi, Babar Ali, Asad Siddiqui and Gohar Rasheed.
According to Imran, Amanat is a “circumstances-based love story”, while producer Sana Shahnawaz says it is “a family drama with love, romance and all other elements audiences wish to see in our dramas.”
Imran Ashraf Awan received his first Lux Style Awards nomination this year for his performance as Bhola in Ranjha Ranjha Kardi and his son couldn’t be happier.
In a video shared by Imran on his social media, his son Roham can be seen jumping with joy over his father’s nomination.
Earlier, the actor had expressed his own joy at being nominated and thanked his fans and the organisers for the honour.
“Alhamdulillah, Thank you Lux. Yeh meri first Lux nomination hai. Bhola ko abhi tak koi Pakistani award nahi mila. Par aap ke baishumar dil milay hein,” said Imran.
Humayun Saeed was given the honour of sharing Roham’s first-ever picture on Imran and his wife Kiran’s anniversary this year.
“Imran had promised me that Roham’s first picture will be posted by me so here’s introducing their son Roham to all of you for the very first time ever,” shared Humayun in the caption.
Remember the meesna Atif Mian from Sabaat? Turns out the actor who played the character is none other than Imran Ashraf’s brother Abbas Ashraf Awan. This one celebrity sibling pair we did not see coming.
Now that the secret is out, one has to say that on a closer look, the two do look similar.
It is interesting to note that the two brothers have barely shared any pictures of each other on their social media handles, unlike other celebrity siblings who go all out. While Imran is an established actor and is set to make his film debut very soon, Abbas has gained acclaim for his role in Sabaat.
