Pakistan’s upcoming film ‘Wakhri’ is gearing up for a nationwide release on January 4, with director, Iram Parveen Bilal, promising a fantastic music album. Renowned music producer Abdullah Siddiqui has curated an impressive collection of tracks featuring prominent female singers from today’s music scene.
Abdullah Siddiqui took to his Instagram to share the news, announcing a multi-artist album: “I produced four new tracks for Wakhri, the new film by the wonderful Iram Parveen Bilal and they’re out now. They’re performed by the insane lineup of Meesha Shafi, Ali Sethi, Eva B, Natasha Noorani, and RFB.”
Siddiqui expressed joy in creating the soundscape for the vibrant world of the film, calling the songs both enjoyable and significant. He listed the tracks included in the album, featuring Eva B’s ‘Baaghi’, Meesha Shafi’s ‘You Don’t Give a Haqq’, Natasha Noorani’s ‘Matlabi (Wakhri version), and Risham Faiz Bhutta and Ali Sethi’s ‘Wakhri Dhamaal.’ Reacting to Siddiqui’s post, director Iram said in the replies, “We are so honoured and I can’t wait to watch you soar even higher!” followed by a series of heart emojis. The film, based on the life of Pakistan’s social media sensation Qandeel Baloch, recently celebrated a significant milestone with its worldwide premiere at the Red Sea Film Fest in Jeddah.
Head of International Programming, Kaleem Aftab, praised “Wakhri” for changing the narrative on a specific incident in Pakistan, while also bringing up Zarrar Kahn’s horror film, ‘In Flames’ as Pakistan’s international Oscar contender, adding diversity to the lineup.
A High Court in the United Kingdom has found that New Vision TV, the broadcaster of ARY UK, has defamed singer Meesha Shafi in a December 2020 broadcast.
The broadcast was aired by ARY UK on December 5, 2020, in which reports were presented by newsreaders and on tickers as evidence.
In a preliminary hearing, the court found out that the channel had deliberately made defamatory remarks by implying that Meesha was failing to comply with court orders over two years and that the channel depicted Shafi as “someone who does not comply with legal requirements laid down by a court and engages in such behaviour repeatedly”.
The channel is now required to submit its defence to the court by January 26, 2024.
Sued ARY/NVTV in London High Court for broadcasting relentless lies about me
Judge has ruled in my favor! Feeling very grateful
“Such an assertion would have the tendency of lowering the claimant [Ms Shafi] in the estimation of right-thinking people generally; it is contrary to the common shared values of our society for people to deliberately ignore court orders requiring them to attend court, and to do so repeatedly over an extended period…The claimant is a very high-profile Pakistani celebrity who has taken a leading role in the advancement of women’s rights, holding herself out as an example to society. Given the claimant’s standing, the words complained of are likely to have a seriously adverse impact on the way the claimant is treated, thus satisfying the seriousness threshold,” the court asserted.
The court examined the evidence in the broadcast, which said: “She [Ms Shafi] came to Pakistan, did her work and left. Singer Meesha Shafi threw the court orders to the winds. She came to Pakistan, recorded a song, and then returned to Canada. She did not present herself in court. Ali Zafar has filed a defamation lawsuit against Meesha.”
In 2018, Ms Shafi accused singer and actor Ali Zafar of sexual harassment, in what was thought to be the first #MeToo moment in Pakistan.
Actress and singer Meesha Shafi shared a first look of the upcoming film ‘Mustache’ on her Instagram account, and announced that it had been selected for the ‘Narrative Feature Competition’ section at the SXSC Film and Tv Festival.
So excited to announce that this beautiful film I did with so many beautiful and hardworking people has been selected in the ‘Narrative Feature Competition’ section at the prestigious SXSW this year!
Couldn’t have asked for a better team! You are all amazing
Directed and written by Imran J Khan, the Pakistani-American film also stars comedian Hasan Minhaj, Rizwan Manji and Alicia Silverstone.
The film’s premise revolves around a 13 year old boy Ilyas, who has to navigate the social hierarchy of his public school in California with a mustache that his parents won’t allow him to shave off. Meesha Shafi is set to play the mother, while Manji is set to play Ilyas’ father, Hameed.
A new cross-border collaboration has made it’s way to the digital space, and its Meesha Shafi’s soulful voice for Amazon Prime India’s new series Hush Hush. The show stars, Juhi Chawla, Soha Ali Khan, Kritika Kamra, Karishma Tanna, Shahana Goswami among others.
The song called Mere Mahru dropped on YouTube on Sunday that opens to Chawla working out at dusk, her daily life featuring the other female leads and Shafi’s belting notes. The show director, Tanuja Chandra took to Instagram and shared her experience of when she first heard the song. “Arijit Datta sent me [‘Mere Mahru’] as a voice note, I loved it. I’m so happy to have it in Hush Hush, it’s kind of the beating heart of the series,” she wrote.
Chandra re-shared her Instagram story and thanked Shafi for singing for them “from across oceans”. She also expressed that she’s glad Shafi came to her mind after she spoke with actor Sania Saeed and asked if she could get her the ‘Muaziz Saarif’ singer’s contact details.
According to Amazon Prime, Hush Hush is about “four friends that find themselves hurling down a rabbit hole of lies, deceit and secrets after a dangerous encounter at a party. As their privileged and safe world turns upside down, the secrets become the reason to bond for their survival.”
The show is now available to watch on the OTT platform and has seven episodes in total.
Well this isn’t the first time that Meesha has made her way to Bollywood. Earlier she starred opposite Farhan Akhtar in the superhit film, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag.
She has also starred in the Hollywood film, Reluctant Fundamentalist which also starred Bollywood actors.
Pakistan’s most acclaimed entertainment award show, Lux Style Awards has begun its nomination process. However female singers Meesha Shafi and Zeb Bangash have highlight how there are no women nominated in the music category.
The veteran singer took to her instagram stories to state, “Not a single woman nominated in the LSA music nominations. Erasure at this scale (there is an exceptionally high number of nominations this time) of the entire female population occupying the Pakistani music industry is unjustifiable and highly problematic.”
She also tagged the likes of Hadiqa Kiani, Natasha Noorani, Naseebo Lal, Eva B and Arooj Aftab.
Fellow musician, Zeb Bangash reshared Shafi’s story and wrote that awards and nominations are not necessarily a measure of an artist’s caliber or popularity but they do still play an important role in sending out a message. “To complete ignore women on platform fueled by a woman-centric brand that has always been run by women is surprise and gives cause for concern,” she expressed.
A video of senior actor Resham surfaced online that saw her throwing meat and bread from the top of a bridge overlooking a large water body to feed the marine life.
The clip immediately went viral because along with food for the fishes, the Jeeva star threw in polythene bags, wrappers and plastic utensils as well.
Netizens trolled Resham for her act. While the clip was temporarily removed from various platforms, Resham offered a justification for her actions.
In response to the flak that she’s garnered on Twitter, among other social media apps, Resham, on Tuesday, contested that there were more alarming issues to worry about. “I admit to having made a mistake by dumping plastic into the flood water but women are gang raped everyday,” The Friday Times quoted her as saying.
“Violence against women is commonplace, yet, everyone’s blinded by a piece of plastic. They are dwelling in a fool’s paradise. I was merely offering sadqah (charity),” she went on. While presenting her “unconditional apology,” she also blamed Covid-19 for having clouded her judgement. “I tested positive for Corona twice and I happen to be absent-minded because of that.”
The Naagin diva revealed that she lost her only brother some time ago too, and so, she’s been struggling with mental health issues. The celebrity, however, asked why her lapse in judgement was causing such a ruckus when clearly, untreated waste is dumped into the sea on a daily basis and industrialists are not held accountable for it. “Why am I getting this special treatment for something I did out of absent-mindedness?” she probed.
“I am in Charsadda as we speak. I have been quietly helping thousands affected in the calamity-hit district. But of course, people are only interested in trolling me. I do a lot of good too,” she pointed out. “I have an enviable, 600,000 people following me just on Facebook. That’s more than enough publicity for me. I feed hundreds. A great deal of what I make is spent on this but people will only comment on that video,” Resham noted.
The Naagin star has been trending on Twitter with numerous users sharing her clip and calling her out for dumping plastic into flood water, that too, on camera, despite being a public figure, and an educated one at that. From asking officials to charge her for this “criminal offence” to schooling her about the irreparable consequences of her “kindness,” people have been flooding to the micro-blogging site to bring attention to her “good deed.”
Several celebrities condemned throwing groceries and plastic shoppers, trays into a river, irrespective of the “pure” the intentions.
Meesha tweeted, “Distributing aid on camera to victims of horrific floods caused by giant climate change calamity right after throwing groceries and plastic shoppers, trays into a river (also on camera).” Armeen wrote, “Don’t throw plastic into rivers and oceans folks. For the record, the road to hell is also paved with good intentions.”
Activist Shaniera Akram shared the viral clip on her Instagram stories and asked, “And who throws meat and plastic containers into the flood affected river, [that too], on camera?” Users said the video “boiled their blood” and that they expect better from “educated” and “influential” members of society.
The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday acquitted the prime suspect and brother of model Qandeel Baloch, Waseem Azeem, in her murder case, abolishing the life imprisonment awarded to him by a sessions court.
The LHC’s Multan bench cancelled life imprisonment of the accused after witnesses deviated from their statements in the trial court and Qandeel’s mother submitted a reconciliation agreement stipulating parental pardon.
In 2016, Muhammad Waseem was arrested after he confessed to killing Qandeel Baloch, 26, for posting what he called ‘scandalous’ pictures on social media. The case became Pakistan’s most high profile “honour killing” of recent years.
Actor Osman Khalid Butt tweeted, “Qandeel Baloch’s murderer walks free today after serving less than six years of his life sentence. He is on record admitting to drugging and murdering his sister. Someone please make this make sense to me.”
Qandeel Baloch’s murderer walks free today after serving less than six years of his life sentence. He is on record admitting to drugging and murdering his sister. Someone please make this make sense to me.
He went on to comment, “We are in the concluding stages of a high-profile and incredibly brutal murder case even now – how does this ruling inspire any confidence (except to the guilty) in our judicial system? Six years – and an anti-honour killing Bill – later, we’re back to square one.”
This is not the first time sentences for heinous crimes have been reduced or overturned. Why do these loopholes still exist in our judicial system whereby murderers can eventually walk free?
Osman concluded with, “This is not the first time sentences for heinous crimes have been reduced or overturned. Why do these loopholes still exist in our judicial system whereby murderers can eventually walk free?”
Singer Meesha Shafi also spoke about Waseem’s acquittal. “So Qandeel Baloch killed in cold blood,” the popular singer tweeted, adding, “Her father, who tried to pursue justice above and beyond his means.. passed away. Her murderer, her brother, alive and roaming free once again. We’re living in the opposite world.”
So #QandeelBaloch killed in cold blood. Her father, who tried to pursue Justice above and beyond his means.. passed away. Her murderer, her brother, alive and roaming free once again.
During the hearing on Monday, defending lawyer Sardar Mehboob argued before LHC Justice Sohail Nasir that the father of the model and complainant had passed away, adding that the witnesses had also deviated from their statements in the trial court.
He said the sessions court had ignored the settlement reached between the parties. After hearing the arguments, the court acquitted Waseem by cancelling his life imprisonment. “He has been fully acquitted”, his lawyer Mehboob told AFP, without giving further details. The court order has yet to be made public.
A popular Coke Studio season 3’s song, Alif Allah sung by Arif Lohar and Meesha Shafi has been claimed by an unknown company called ‘Bquate SAC’. The producer of season 3, Rohail Hyatt has requested YouTube to help in reclaiming the song on his Twitter.
Hyatt shared the screenshot from his Youtube channel along with his tweet and wrote, “With much controversy over copyright infringement recently, here I am with a claim on YouTube. A company called Bquate SAC has claimed Jugni and even after disputing it, they retain their claim.”
Previously, Hyatt disputed the claim with this song however they again reclaimed the song. It was claimed by this unknown company after 11 years of the song’s release.
Singer, Meesha Shafi has won a civil revision challenge at the Lahore High Court against a stay order obtained by Ali Zafar against a defamation suit which Meesha had filed against him.
The stay order that was issued on February 13, 2020 issued by the trial court had stopped the proceedings of a civil defamation case filed by Meesha Shafi in 2019 under the Defamation Ordinance 2002 for false and defamatory statements made by Ali Zafar in the media and social media.
In its application for a stay order against Meesha’s defamation case, Ali Zafar had argued that Meesha’s suit should be stayed until a separate defamation case filed by Ali Zafar is decided. However, the Lahore High Court has overturned this order by accepting a civil revision challenge which has stated that the cause of action of the two suits is sufficiently different and the trial against Ali Zafar can proceed and Meesha Shafi’s legal team can now pursue the case against Ali Zafar.
What is Meesha’s defamation suit?
Meesha Shafi had filed a case on September 17, 2019 pertaining to a defamatory smear campaign by Ali Zafar. In the suit, Meesha contended that statements made by Ali Zafar on a private Pakistani news channel on falsely stated that she was a “liar” and that she made sexual harassment allegations to obtain fame and Canadian immigration.
Ali also stated that Meesha wanted to “become another Malala Yousafzai”, implying that Malala fabricated her assassination attempt.
Meesha Shafi reacted to the news, thanking her legal team and all those who support her.
All those who have continued to support this cause against all odds are the reason I am celebrating today! IA this epic struggle will pave the way for a just and safe outcome for ALL SURVIVORS! Thank you to superwoman @Sabhamid for being my rock! This has not been easy for my
Coke Studio has announced its line-up for their 14th season. Music composer Xulfi and his team of musicians are all set to be coming up with a new age melody.
As per Express Tribune, there will be 12 songs this year with all different directors for each song.
This time Xulfi is working with a few ‘associate producers’: Abdullah Siddiqui of ‘Resistance’ and Peshawar Zalmi anthem fame, and Zain Ali, who has an extensive catalogue ranging from ‘Red Blood Cat’ to ‘Epiphany Productions’ and touring with Atif Aslam, along with the ‘EDM’ artist Talal Qureshi. Xulfi himself is completely producing only a handful of songs.
There will be rap, there will be qawwali, there will be EDM and no covers at all. Pakistani pop musician Hassan Raheem will be seen along with the music maestros Atif Aslam and Abida Parveen.
Meesha Shafi gets another season but her brother Faris Shafi will be with her this time. It will be the first time that the two siblings will perform on a song together, most likely produced by budding artist Abdullah Siddiqui.
Sajjad Ali and Bohemia were a part of the season initially but both will not be a part of the show, and neither are Shamoon Ismail and Natasha Noorani.
Meanwhile, Coke Studio and Xulfi have made some drastic changes in the show’s overall approach that was usually more Sufi and devotion-driven.
