After strongly criticising PTV’s decision to air the series, the actor in his latest social media post has praised the series and called it a “classic masterpiece”. He also thanked the creators, cast and technicians for making this “epic”.
To put things into perspective, it can be understood that Shaan is not against the series but is in fact against PTV’s decision to air the series as evident from the tweets below. The actor asserted that he is not against the drama but doesn’t understand why PTV charges a hefty amount to show foreign products.
Bhai mera etaraaz drama ya Turk sai nahee … ptv sai hai ..PTV hum sub sai 7 arab rs her saal laita hai… or banata kuch bhi nahee…
aap hamwatan hain hain is liyay phir bataa daita hoon. Etaraaz dramay per nahee ptv per dekhaanay sai hai.. is liyay kai woh 7 billion charge kerta hai hum sab sai or banaata ki has bhi nahee.. Aap Turkish state tv per Pakistani kuch bhi chala ker dikha dain plzzzz ..
I’m not against Turkish dramas plzzz for the last time understand that,I’m against the govt supporting imported content .. &giving local industry a thumbs down .. when pvt producers brought Turkish dramas the whole tv industry stood against it
Shaan had also appealed to Prime Minister Imran Khan to support the entertainment industry and stop cultural imports like these. It is pertinent to mention here that Shaan was also very critical of Bollywood films being released in Pakistan and had always voiced his dissent against them.
@ImranKhanPTI sir I believe in this economic crisis we were not supporting imports .then why cultural imports are open . Why Ptv showing imported dramas believe in your own talent and history .With your supportive policies we can bring on the entertainment map of the world
Diriliş: Ertuğrul is being aired on PTV on the recommendation of Prime Minister Imran Khan. Set in 13th century Anatolia and based on the struggle of Ertuğrul Gazi, father of Osman I – the founder of the Ottoman dynasty, Diriliş: Ertuğrul has been trending in the country ever since its first episode aired on the first of Ramzan. According to PTV, 133.38 million people have watched the drama series from April 25- May 14. PTV’s YouTube channel has also registered an exponential rise in its viewership with 5.65 million subscribers and episodes trending every day on the social media platform.
In an exclusive interview with The Current, Senator Faisal Javed Khan had revealed that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had gifted the drama series to Pakistan as a goodwill gesture.
Despite a blanket ban on Indian films in Pakistan, our love affair with Bollywood films continues. Because every time a new Bolly film releases on Netflix, it instantly starts trending. And I don’t understand that because as of late, Bollywood films have become trashy, for lack of a better word. I can’t remember the last time I saw a decent Bollywood film and thought to myself, ‘Oh this was nice’.
Nevertheless, this weekend, the top film on Netflix Pakistan is Aditya Roy Kapur and Disha Patani’s Malang – a story about love and revenge. Advait Thakur (Kapur) and Sara (Patani) are two free-spirited (read: aimless) souls who meet in Goa and instantly hit it off. They spend their days enjoying the beachside and their nights attending rave parties featuring a lot of drugs. From ecstasy to cocaine, the film has it all. When I initially saw the scenes involving drugs, I found them to be a bit strange because audiences across the world are calling filmmakers to be more careful about the message they give out to the world. However, the makers of Malang really don’t give a s*** about that because there are no warnings or disclaimers either.
Soon enough Disha gets pregnant, bringing an unexpected twist into the couple’s life. While Advait runs away, Sara chooses to stay in Goa and raise her child. However, Advait soon realises his mistake and comes back to Goa only to discover that a police officer Micheal (Kunal Khemu) is attempting to rape Sara, thinking she is someone else. After a lot of bloodshed and marr dhaar (fighting) – which also seems to be a central theme in the film – Advait is sent to jail while Sara is killed. The rest of the film follows Advait get revenge from the police officers who covered up their colleague’s crime and assisted Micheal in Sara’s murder.
Meanwhile, Anil Kapoor plays a crazy cop Agashte with a tragic past who only knows how to serve justice by killing criminals in encounters. Think the Bollywood version of Rao Anwar. Despite a solid performance, Kapoor’s character is poorly written and there is not much he can do with it except laugh creepily in an attempt to provide comic relief.
To be very honest, a lot of the scenes in Malang reminded me of Siddharth Malhotra and Shraddha Kapoor’s Ek Villian. The plot was not original and the film had nothing new to offer in terms of content. But to ensure that his audiences leave the cinema halls satisfied and forget about the nonsense the rest of the film was, the film’s makers added a twist in the end to give that shock and thriller factor.
Malang has been directed by Mohit Suri of Aashiqui 2 fame, which means that the music of the film is definitely satisfactory. The songs are soulful and melodious and you will catch yourself humming them long after the film ends. In case you missed it, our very own Asim Azhar composed one of the songs Humraah, though it does not feature in his voice in the film.
The only good thing the film had to offer was lots of eye candy and spectacular views of the beach. Aditya Roy Kapur has toned his abs to perfect and missed no opportunity to show them off. Add to that an incredibly good-looking face and that is probably what will get you through the almost three-hour-long film.
The Lovebirds
Similarly, The Lovebirds, starring Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani has nothing new to offer in terms of an original plot or storyline. However, it will keep you entertained throughout its 90-minute run-time.
Jibran (Nanjiani) and Leilani (Rae) are a couple, who are on the brink of a breakup when they are unintentionally embroiled in a murder mystery. The two spend the night dodging the police and trying to find evidence to prove their innocence. Along the way they get into hilarious messes, which can get a little lame and cliched, but Rae and Nanjiani’s comic timing, charm and chemistry more than makeup for that. This is the first time I’ve seen either of their work and I thoroughly enjoyed their performance.
The film is a light, mindless comedy, something you can watch with your family or on Netflix Party with your friends. It’s easy, doesn’t require much thinking and offers that break from reality we so need in these testing times. If you’ve enjoyed watching comic capers like Date Night or Game Night, chances are that you will enjoy this film as well. You might even catch yourself laughing out loud at some points.
Netflix has started censoring meat for its Indian audiences. Netflix users took to social media to highlight how meat is being censored in Vikings on Netflix India.
Netflix India has censored meat (among quite a few other things) from Vikings. Same scene from India and Italy. pic.twitter.com/NXCE9Kzmh4
People started debating on the issue on Twitter. Some people even turned this into a Hindu-Muslim debate.
Not at all. They’ll glorify in your face scenes about beef eating (incredibly unappetizing to the 80% Hindus in India). The fact that they’ve censored pork is not only insane, but plays on a deep divide by both imposing never before seen censoring and catering to Muslim community
Netflix India did issue a formal explanation when the debate heated up. Netflix is just trying to be respectful towards the Hindu religious sentiments of not eating meat.
However, it is unclear that this censorship was voluntary or demanded by the Indian government. This wouldn’t be the first time India went heavy-handed with censorships demands.
Previously there have been demands for the streaming platform’s original series Sacred Games and Leila to be censored for hurting political sentiments.
Leila on @Netflix is a Hindu Hate series, using Hindu sacred terminology and symbolism to create dystopian propaganda. Would India have allowed such a series attacking Islam?
India censor board blocks much more benign stuff, yet this is allowed? No FIRs for “outraging feelings”?
To make decision-making easier for their users, Netflix has recently started sharing a list of ‘Top 10’ movies or seasons which are trending in different countries. According to a blog post from the company, the Top 10 row will be updated every day with “the most popular titles within a subscriber’s country, and the position of the row will also change depending on how relevant the shows and movies in the list are to their interests.”
As of Friday (May 1) night, the top three things trending on Netflix are Diriliş: Ertuğrul, Love Aaj Kal and Extraction, while the two films are also the top two in the Movie Category. While we all know that Diriliş: Ertuğrul is a hit among Pakistani audiences, Extraction and Love Aaj Kal are new additions to the streaming service.
Like any other Pakistani who grew up on Bollywood films, I couldn’t resist watching Love Aaj Kal. I mean Imtiaz Ali, Sara Ali Khan and Kartik Aryan — bring it on. As for Extraction, because for the most part, my job does require me to keep up with the latest trends, I decided to step out of my usual romantic comedies/dramas zone and watch something different and see whether it was worth the Netflix hype.
Let’s start with Extraction. The Chris Hemsworth action-thriller has been creating a buzz since he went to India for its shoot. A day before its release, Hemsworth on social media had said that “making this film was one of the most exhausting but rewarding experiences I’ve ever had on a set.”
He further said: “We set out to make the most insane, intense action film and I couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve achieved.” Unfortunately, the film only made me insane with the amount of bloodshed it had it in. To be honest, I’m generally not a big fan of action films but I do enjoy them from time to time. The two-hour-long film, which I finished in three sittings, was just a Bollywood film on steroids given that a lot of actors [for example Randeep Hooda, Pankaj Tripathi] in the film were from India.
The film is focused around Tyler Rake (played by Hemsworth), a black-market mercenary and former Australian Special Air Service Regiment soldier with a troubled past. From Rake’s first scene in the film, one can tell that he is the sort of person who likes to challenge and see death in the eye. Except for a few glimpses from his past, Rake’s character isn’t adequately developed. Anyways, Rake is hired by a fellow mercenary Nik Khan (Golshifteh Farahani) to rescue Ovi Mahajan Jr. (Rudhraksh Jaiswal), the son of India’s biggest drug lord (Pankaj Tripathi), from Dhaka, Bangladesh who has been abducted by Bangladesh’s biggest drug lord, Amir Asif (Priyanshu Painyuli).
The film is just one, long and bloody action sequence. There are limited dialogues and the characters just run through the narrow streets of Dhaka as they try to escape Bangladesh’s most notorious drug lord. They jump from building to building, kill countless people on the way and lockdown an entire city. The ending is as abrupt as the beginning – there is no character development or plot development. So unless you want to see only action, I’d advice you to skip the film altogether.
Now onto Love Aaj Kal. If I had to sum up the film in one word, or two, I’d say half-baked. The story, the characters, the plot, everything about the film is half-baked. The film follows the same premise as Imtiaz Ali’s first Love Aaj Kal, which had two love stories running side by side.
Zoe (Sara Ali Khan) is a free-spirited but ambitious girl who wants to make a career. She is bold, speaks her mind and does what she feels like, which sometimes gets a bit over the top. Veer, on the other hand, is a sensitive guy who looks at life differently than Zoe. The two meet in a club and while Zoe just wants to have a one-night stand, Veer decides that it’s not right because Zoe is “special”. How he decided that within an hour is beyond my understanding. Zoe gets annoyed with this and leaves his house and goes back to her life. Except Veer starts stalking her, not in the 90s way by singing songs and all, but by getting a spot at the co-working space where she sits. Soon the two grow closer and get into a relationship but Zoe’s mother who wants her daughter to become independent first urges her to not give up on her career for marriage. This confuses Zoe who then breaks up with Veer. The breakup scene was so ridiculously cringed that you cannot help but wonder how Imtiaz Ali even came up with it. What follows afterwards is a typical Bollywood story of how two people who are meant to be together will find their way back to each other. In between all this, Raghuvendra “Raghu” Singh, who is the owner of the cafe where Zoe works, narrates his 20-year-old love story to Zoe to help her understand her own feelings and make her decisions.
What I did not like about the film was first Zoe’s character. It was highly irritating and Sara’s acting was also terrible. Especially the scenes in which she was drunk or crying. In fact, her own dialogue basically sums up her acting: “Tum mujhe tang karnay lagay ho“.
It appears that all the attention was paid to Zoe and Raj’s character because Veer’s character was highly underdeveloped. We don’t understand his profession, neither do we understand why he spends his days just buzzing around Sara – does he not have his own life. And to top it all, his insecurities deriving from his parent’s relationship are summed up in a rap song, which is more confusing than explanatory.
While the plot did have its heart in the right place, the film was not engaging enough. It lacked the humour [like in Jab We Met] or simplicity [Highway] which Imtiaz usually beautifully weaves into his films. Sorry, Imtiaz, I really did try my best to like the movie but it just wasn’t happening.
The Netflix series has been trending in Pakistan and was number one when part four came out. It was even bigger this time since this year it included invaluable help from Pakistanis for the rebellious gang. Every Pakistani fan was so excited to have Pakistan be a part of the revolution and the joy hasn’t died down yet.
So we had to ask? Doesn’t every single major character in the show look like a Pakistani actor? Don’t believe us? Here we go:
We have to begin with the Professor because we love him. And who better to play him than the distinguished Fawad Khan, who keeps his cool, deals with so many people and always looks like he has a plan. Moreover, with a beard and glasses, you can barely tell the two apart.
Monika is everyone’s hot favourite this season and there is literally no difference between her and Ayeza Khan; and after seeing her stellar, strong performance in Meray Paas Tum Ho we all know that Ayeza can totally pull the role off.
Rio’s innocence can only be replicated by Shehroz Sabzwari. He might not act well enough to be Rio but he’s definitely got the look.
As ‘La Casa De Papel [The House of Paper]’ aka ‘Money Heist’ fever continues to grip the world and Pakistan ever since Netflix dropped its fourth season, a Pakistani Facebook page has given characters of the hit Spanish series their own computerised national identity cards (CNICs).
Shaikh Parwaiz Imtiyaz (The Professor), Raheela Shaukat (Lisbon aka Raquel), Nadia Akhtar (Nairobi), Bilal Abbasi (Berlin), Taniya Khattak (Tokyo), Raja Zeeshan Ali (Rio), Delawar Khan Masood (Denver), Haji Maqsood Khan (Moscow), Sardar Hari Singh (Helsinki) and Omer Daraz Orakzai (Oslo) are on the list of CNICs by Laari Adda, which is going viral over the internet.
While the fan art by the Pakistani Facebook page is breaking the internet, it isn’t the only thing that connects the country to Money Heist.
Ever since the third season of the show, Pakistan has been playing an important part in the successful execution of The Professor and his team’s heist at the Bank of Spain.
An Islamabad-based team of 65 members, including hackers and surgeons, is helping the gang do wonders.
“We can activate their microphones, cameras and GPS. It took less than an hour to take over the defense staff’s telecommunications. The work Rio used to do was now done by 65 Pakistanis. They are geniuses, thanks to them, we had access to everything,” Tokyo had said in season 3 about the team that has also played an important part in the latest series of episodes.
The third and final installment of the Fifty Shades film trilogy 50 Shades Freed is trending at number one on Netflix Pakistan as citizens of the country practise social distancing and self-isolation amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
As of late, Netflix has started sharing a list of ‘Top 10’ movies or seasons which are trending in different countries. According to a blog post from the company, the Top 10 row will be updated every day with “the most popular titles within a subscriber’s country, and the position of the row will also change depending on how relevant the shows and movies in the list are to their interests.”
Subscribers can also get an even better sense of what’s trending by clicking on the individual movies and TV shows tabs to get top 10 lists for each respective category.
Fifty Shades Freed is a 2018 American erotic romantic drama film based on E. L. James’s 2012 novel of the same name. It is the third and final installment in the Fifty Shades film trilogy, following Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) and Fifty Shades Darker (2017). The film stars Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan as Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey, respectively, and follows the couple as they marry, and deal with Ana’s former boss, who begins to stalk them.
Omar Shahid Hamid’s best-selling debut novel The Prisoner is coming to Netflix, though it’s unclear whether as a movie or a series.
In an exclusive interview with The Current, when asked when his novel is being made into a movie, the officer responded, “Its production is underway and it is hoped that a deal will soon be made with Netflix or some streaming service.”
“And most likely, we’ll start shooting it in summers. So…fingers crossed,” he added.
Inspired by his experiences in the police service, Omar penned the novel, while on a sabbatical. The book is centred around an American journalist who is kidnapped.
A brief synopsis of the novel reads: “On an unusually cold December evening in Karachi, American journalist Jon Friedland is kidnapped from one of the city’s poshest neighbourhoods. His captors plan to post a video of his execution on Christmas Day. The kidnapping has come at a bad time, embarrassing the Pakistani government in front of their US allies. The clock is ticking. Will the police and Intelligence Agencies recover Friedman alive?”
“The story careens through the streets of Karachi, taking the reader into an all too real world of jihadis, corrupt police officers, and bloodthirsty political henchmen – all placed together in a city where no one is quite what they seem.”
Hamid is also the author of The Spinner’s Tale (2015), The Party Worker (2017), and The Fix (2019).
Prince Harry doesn’t want Netflix’s ‘The Crown’ to cover his life and has said that he will stop the production of the series before they cover his life. According to the Daily Express, Royal biographer Angela Levin revealed that Harry had told her about his plans when she had met him at Buckingham Palace.
“Well Harry, when I went to interview him at the palace, the first thing he said to me when he shook my hand was ‘Are you watching The Crown?’… “And I had been at the time and I felt very embarrassed,” she added.
“I got up and he said, ‘I’m going to make sure I stop it before they get to me,” she said.
Prince Harry and his wife Meghan and son Archie are no longer working members of the Royal Family
There are rumours that Netflix would be interested in working with Harry and Meghan. According to The Daily Mail, when Netflix’s chief content officer, Ted Sarando was asked if they would be interested in working with the couple, he said, “Who wouldn’t be interested?”
On the other hand, there are also reports that Netflix will not be covering present day royals. According to The Sun, Suzanne Mackie the executive producer of ‘The Crown’ said it’s unlikely it will ever cover today’s royals. She said: “To be honest, whatever the life of The Crown is after where we are now, I doubt we’ll ever go as far into the present day.”
The Crown is currently chronicling Prince Charles life, who is Harry’s father
‘The Crown’ is a Netflix series that chronicles the life of Queen Elizabeth II and is in it’s third season.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have given up their royal titles to live an independent life in Canada. Latest pictures show Meghan hiking with baby Archie and Harry recently attended an event where he said that he was ‘sad‘ about the way things turned out.
Meghan Markle, all smiles as she hikes in Canada with her son and dogs
Harry returns to Canada after two weeks of being in England for the last of his royal engagements
New Year parties are not for everyone. And if you’re one who would rather chill at home and not get out tonight, here are five things that will make this New Year’s Eve memorable… or at least, less boring.
1. Binge-watch that Show/Drama You’ve Been Meaning To Watch
The second season of You has been released by Netflix and is not to be missed. If you haven’t seen the first season, even better. Watch the first to get hooked to the second.
Meray Paas Tum ho
If Netflix isn’t your thing, watch the much-talked-about Meray Paas Tum Ho on ARY Digital’s YouTube. Will take you a few hours (or more) to catch up, but like the rest, you’ll be hooked.
2. Order In
The joy of having good food is unmatched even if you’re celebrating New Year alone. Order early so the food gets delivered on time (there are delays because many have the same idea as you). Karachi’s Famous Os pizza is a good choice for New Years Eve or Adobo (takeaway is fast and quick).
Lahoris, try the pizza from Italian Express. It’s homey and great comfort food.
3. Organize Family Game Night
Your family’s your best-friend? Call them all over and have game night. Charades and Taboo are two games that are great family fun. Taboo is available at many toy stores. Or make the parents happy and play some old school Tambola.
4. Sleep In
The joy of this. You might feel bad because you might be the only one not updating your Instagram stories, but nothing beats a good night’s sleep.
5. Plan a Photoshoot
Get dressed, get the kids ready and take a bunch of beautiful shots. Check out the landscape and portrait modes on your phone and get ready to have picture perfect memories of the last day of 2019, and the decade.
