Theater veteran Nimra Bucha has been on a roll since working in coveted projects like ‘Ms Marvel’, ‘Churails’ and ‘Polite Society’. Now, Variety reports that the Pakistani actress is set to work in the BBC drama adaption of the popular Agatha Christie novel ‘Murder Is Easy’.
The cast comprises of ‘Lord of the Rings’ lead Morfydd Clark and Downtown Abbey’s Penelope Wilton.
Filming for the adaptation is currently taking place in Scotland, with ‘Industry’ actor David Johnson set to play the lead as Fitzwilliam. Set in 1945 England, Fitzwilliam encounters an old woman, Ms Pinkerton, on the train, who tells him of a murderer on the loose in the quiet village of Wychwood under Ashe. While locals dismiss the murders, Miss Pinkerton remains unsure and seeks help from Scotland Yard, but is found mysteriously dead on her way. After this, Fitzwilliam takes matter in his own hands and investigates who the murderer is.
The two-part series is written by Siân Ejiwunmi-Le Berre while Meenu Gaur of Zinda Bhaag and World on Fire, will be directing.
After Churails and Ms. Marvel, Nimra Bucha is not done proving she is one powerhouse of an actor. The stage and television veteran will essay the role of an evil mother-in-law in the upcoming comedy film ‘Polite Society’. Directed and written by Nida Manzoor, the creator of ‘We Are Lady Parts’, the film revolves around teenager Ria Khan (Priya Kansara) a dreamer who wants to become a stunt woman. When her sister Lena (Ritu Arya) decides to get engaged to a man whom Ria finds suspicious, she decides to expose the evil mother in law (Nimra Bucha) with the help of her friends.
Nimra Bucha is all geared up to star in another international project, Me, My Mom & Sharmila, after impressing her fans with her performances in Ms. Marvel and Zee5 web series Churails.
Me, My Mom & Sharmila is an adaptation of Fawzia Mirza’s stage play of the same name and will also mark the writer’s directorial debut. It will star Nimra Bucha in the lead alongside Amrit Kaur (The Sex Lives of College Girls) and Hamza Haq (Transplant).
The film is produced by Jason Levangie and Marc Tetreault for Shut Up & Colour Pictures and Andria Wilson Mirza for Baby Daal Productions.
According to Variety, the film, set in 1999, follows Azra (Kaur) over 48 hours as she travels from her home in Canada to her parents’ homeland of Pakistan to bury her father (Haq). Azra struggles to connect with her conservative mother Mariam (Bucha), but her return to Pakistan launches her into memories both real and imagined that reveal their unexpected similarities.
The film is told with humor and deep insight, this journey of self-discovery follows Mirza from her childhood as a Pakistani Muslim in small-town Canada to her adulthood as an actress in the heart of Chicago. Through it all, the two women’s shared love for glamorous Bollywood film star Sharmila Tagore serves as a symbol of the familial love that ties them together forever.
Fawzia Mirza shared a post on her Instagram, thanking the whole team involved in the project:
Independent filmmaker, Saim Sadiq’s feature film, Joyland has become the first film from the subcontinent to win a jury prize at Cannes.
Pakistani film “Joyland”, written and directed by debutant Saim Sadiq, won the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section of the 75th Cannes Film Festival on Friday, becoming the first-ever film from the subcontinent to bag the award.
Joyland, a drama about a Lahore family in the firm grip of deep-rooted patriarchy, was pipped to the section’s top award.
The award for “Joyland” represents a global breakthrough of immeasurable proportions for the relatively small Pakistani movie industry.
Incidentally, Joyland also won the Prix Queer Palm, awarded by Jury chaired by filmmaker Catherine Corsini on Friday. One of the central characters in the film is a transwoman played by a real-life transwoman Alina Khan
Earlier it also became the first ever Pakistani feature film to get a nomination at the Cannes film festival. It will be screened at the 75th Anniversary of the annual Cannes film festival. This film has made history by getting selected among the 14 films in the feature film category.
Sana Jafri who starred in the film took to her Instagram to share the proud moment for Pakistan with a screenshot from Cannes official website. The film, Joyland was written in the category of Uncertain Regard.
Many celebrities congratulated the entire team of the film.
Mahira Khan wrote, “This is amaaaazin’G! Congratulations to the entire team. And to Pakistan.”
Actor, Osman Khalid Butt also congratulated on Twitter, “This is FANTASTIC. What a huge moment for Pakistani cinema. Congratulations, Saim and the entire team of Joyland!”
This is FANTASTIC. What a huge moment for Pakistani cinema. Congratulations, Saim and the entire team of Joyland! https://t.co/q79oopWz6y
Actor and model, Adnan Malik also shared the news on his Instagram story and congratulated to the whole team of the film, “This is some incredible news to wake up to.”
Oscar-Award winner, Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy also took to her Instagram story to share her pride in achieving a milestone by Saim Sadiq.
Ms Marvel actor, Nimra Bucha also celebrated the proud moment for Pakistan and Saim on her Instagram story
Nadia Afgan wrote, “So proud of you, Saim Sadiq! Mommy loves you” as she posted Cannes’ official tweet on her Instagram story.
Ms Marvel is an upcoming American television miniseries created by Bisha K Ali for the streaming platform Disney+, based on the Marvel Comics character Kamala Khan / Ms Marvel and Pakistan’s superstar Fawad Khan has confirmed his role in it.
Marvel’s first Pakistani Muslim woman superhero will be played by Iman Vellani. She will take on the role of Kamala Khan, a Pakistani-American teen based in New Jersey. Another talented Pakistani working on the project is filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, who will join Meera Menon, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fa.
Earlier, rumors were making rounds on social media that Fawad Khan will be the part of upcoming series. Recently, Fawad Khan has confirmed his role in the upcoming Ms Marvel series, laying to rest months of speculation around the same.
In a recent interview with Indian journalist Anupama Chopra, Fawad addressed questions about whether he was a part of the Marvel show to which he replied: “Yeah, I am.” He further reiterated, “I can’t deny that or lie about it because they have put out the news themselves.”
Fawad will be starring alongside acclaimed performer Nimra Bucha who is part of the cast of the show.
BBC journalist Haroon Rashid has also tweeted about Fawad’s role in the series.
Wow! Fawad Khan set to appear in Ms Marvel – the Disney+ series about Marvel’s first titular Muslim character. He’s listed on the show’s official IMDB page. Farhan Akhtar, Nimra Bucha and Samina Ahmad are reportedly part of the cast too. Marvel yet to comment. Amazing if true! pic.twitter.com/FFdvBHXRGO
The banning culture in Pakistan seems to be getting out of hand. The week started with calls to ban Mehwish Hayat’s latest biscuit commercial and now original Pakistani series Churails has been banned from streaming in Pakistan.
The director and creator of the show, Asim Abbasi took to social media to express his disappointment and hurt over the move.
“How strange for Churails to be lauded internationally, and now be shut down in its country of origin,” wrote Abbasi on social media. “In the very country where hundreds of artists came together to create something that could initiate dialogue and open doors for new narratives. Artistic freedom squashed because it is wrongly perceived by some as a moral threat. Predictable, and yet, still disappointing.”
He added: “For this is not just my loss. This is a loss for women and marginalised communities that this show meant to re-represent.”
How strange for #Churails to be lauded internationally, and now be shut down in its country of origin. In the very country where hundreds of artists came together to create something that could initiate dialogue and open doors for new narratives. (1)
This is a loss for all actors, writers, directors and technicians across Pakistan, who were hoping for digital/OTT to be their saviour. And it’s a home-run for all the misogynists who have once again proven that they are the only voice that matters. (3)
Sarwat Gilani, who plays one of the leads in the show, also posted a cryptic message on social media after the ban.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CGCXrW1jKMl/
Several Twitter users including Osman Khalid Butt and Sanam Saeed expressed their outrage over the ban.
Oh, you got Churails banned? Congratufuckinglations. Now please focus your outrage on the fact that police have failed to arrest the prime accused in the motorway rape incident.
Banning dancing ads, outspoken films and webseries will not end rape if that’s the agenda. Why are we riddled with such hypocrisy? Buss bandh darvaazon kay peechay ho sub. God forbid hamari bholi awaam influence na ho jai if we take creative liberty to be honest and open.
Honestly, banning #Churails just shows “maard ko dard” hogaya hai. I am happy a lot of people got to watch it as soon as it was released. It was bound to touch a nerve. Hopefully more of such shows to follow!
Pakistani Govt has its priorities sTraiGhT. They banned #churails, the content that engages in imp conversation but they won’t impose a rape emergency.
Though Churails released on August 11 and has already been streaming for almost two months, it is believed that the ban was imposed after a clip from the show went viral on social media. In the clip, Hina Khawaja Bayat’s character talks about giving a ‘hand job’ to a much older man for a promotion.
Featuring Sarwat, Yasra Rizvi, Nimra Bucha, Meher Bano and Omair Rana among others, Churailsis the story of four self-proclaimed ‘Churails’ who come together to open a covert detective agency to expose cheating husbands amongst the city’s elite. As their operations expand, they come to be saviours of abused, harassed and mistreated women. The 10-episode series covers a myriad of issues such as child abuse, sexism, the domination of class and race and aims to challenge the hypocrisy of patriarchal societies.
Step aside folks, Pakistan has truly arrived at the web series front with Churails. Though this is not the first original web series to come out of Pakistan, it is indeed the one that has put us on the map and from this point onwards, there is no looking back.
Created and directed by Cake director, Asim Abbasi, Churails features Sarwat Gilani, Yasra Rizvi, Nimra Bucha and Meharbano as the four churails (witches) who are here to shake things up. Bakhtawar Mazhar, Sameena Nazir, Zara Khan, Mareeha Safdar, Amtul Baweja, Meher Jaffri and Shabana Hassan play the chosen seven while the male leads include Omair Rana, Kashif Hussain, Fawad Khan and Sarmed Aftab. There are plenty of cameos in the series, some of which are bound to surprise you and keep you hooked even more.
The series is about four women from completely different backgrounds come together one rainy night and decide that they have suffered enough at the hands of the men in their life. They come up with the idea of setting up a detective agency under the guise of a hijab and burqa store with the aim to get justice their way. They then set up an army of baby churails – the Chosen Seven – and train them to carry out their spying and sleuthing missions. The interesting bit is that their team is not all women – their army also consists of two men, one of whom is a hacker. All is going well for the Churails until of their own goes missing and the women come face to face with the powerful men of the city.
Churails has been wonderfully directed and presented. I like how the director made sure to strike a balance. Contrary to popular belief, the series is not anti-men or ‘fahash (vulgar)’ from any angle – it aims to challenge the system of patriarchy and break stereotypes surrounding outspoken and confident women. While the series shows plenty of ‘bad’ men, on the other end it shows decent men also, who support the women around them. Similarly, while they show mazloom and oppressed women, they also show women who support the system and enable the men around them. At the same time, I also liked how Asim cleverly combined fiction with reality. While the concept of Churails and all-women superhero team is something we all wish for, it is unrealistic at the end of the day. However, the situations the Churails find themselves in are very much real and oftentimes uncomfortable.
Perhaps the strongest part of the whole series were the performances, cinematography and music. The performances were absolutely phenomenal – it was like each role was written with the actor in mind – whether it was Sarwat as Sara ‘the perfect wife’ or Yasra as the hippie wedding planner Jugnu or Meharbano as Zubaida the young girl aspiring to be a boxer, each actor put forward their best foot. As for Nimra Bucha, she was on another level as Batool. She spoke little and had limited dialogues but the way she communicated with her eyes and expressions was just brilliant. The male actors also deserve a round of applause, especially Hussain as Shams and Aftab as Dilbar. Not only were they great in their roles, but their characters were also likeable. Omair Rana was fantastic as the manipulative politician and Sara’s husband Jamil as were the Chosen Seven.
Mo Azmi is a master of his craft and with Churails, he did his thing with finesse. He shot each frame meticulously, paying attention to detail, because of which the entire show was so aesthetically pleasing. The way he shot the frames in which the faces weren’t showing was simply mind-blowing. I particularly liked how Azmi played with lights to create an impact. The music of the series was also well-thought-out and each track and sound perfectly complemented the mood of the scene and added depth and character. Kudos to the music director for using music so deftly.
Production value of the series was also high with beautiful sets and chic costumes. I particularly loved Sara’s wardrobe – so glamourous.
Churails HQ
While everything seems to be going right with the series otherwise, the one department which was I felt was a little weak was the editing, which would have been crisper. Each episode is approximately one hour long. Most web series have 45-minute episodes. Keeping that in mind, I do wish the episodes were a tad bit shorter. However, given how much I enjoyed the series, I’m willing to overlook this.
Shams
Overall the show is fun, fierce and full of sass. Asim attempted to shake things up with his series and I think he definitely did because these feisty and badass ‘Churails’ are here to stay. I would highly recommend everyone, especially all women to watch the series because I’m pretty sure you all will thoroughly enjoy it.
Churails is currently streaming on Zee5, which is accessible in Pakistan. The service operates similarly to Netflix and Amazon Prime and requires a subscription. While the subscription is usually Rs 2500/year, they are currently offering a deal through which you can get the subscription for Rs 1500 for the whole year. Payment can be done via a credit card.
The trailer of Cake director Asim Abbasi’s original web series Churails, featuring Sarwat Gilani, Nimra Bucha, Mehar Bano and Yasra Rizvi, has finally dropped and it is more than what we could have ever wished for. The trailer promises lots of action, drama and badass women taking on misogyny head-on. It is unlike anything Pakistan has ever seen before.
Churails “is the story of a lawyer(Gilani), wedding planner(Rizvi), convict (Bucha) and boxer (Meharbano), who come together to form a secret detective agency with the purpose to find and expose unfaithful husbands amongst Karachi’s elite, operating under the guise of a fashion store named ‘Halal Designs’. As their operations expand, they come to be saviours of abused, harassed and mistreated women.”
According to a press release, the show “aims to challenge the hypocrisy of patriarchal societies that vanquish women and their rights.”
“The gripping and fast-paced storyline covers myriad of issues such as child abuse, sexism, the domination of class and race and aims to challenge the hypocrisy of patriarchal societies that vanquish women and their rights,” it adds.
The makers of the show define churails as “she who takes ownership of her life and is unapologetic of her being. She who breaks the glass ceiling and every prejudice that society has created against women.”
“She who is strong, she who is fierce, she stands for what she believes in… she is a ‘churail’.”
Director Asim Abbasi, while speaking about the project said that the story is about “strong women, embarking on a journey of self-discovery, empowerment and sisterhood.”
The 10-episode series is expected to stream from August 11 on ZEE5 Global’s Zindagi channel. Omair Rana, Adnan Malik, Sania Saeed and Hina Bayat are also part of the ensemble cast.
The trailer has already made noise and has received praise from both sides of the border.
Cake director Asim Abbasi’s original web series Churails, featuring Sarwat Gilani, Nimra Bucha, Mehar Bano and Yasra Rizvi, is all set to stream from August 11 on ZEE5 Global’s Zindagi channel. Churails is the first of five original Pakistani web series expected to stream on the Indian platform.
According to a press release, the show “aims to challenge the hypocrisy of patriarchal societies that vanquish women and their rights” and will narrate the story of “four self-proclaimed Churails who come together to open a covert detective agency to expose cheating husbands amongst the city’s elite. As their operations expand, they come to be saviours of abused, harassed and mistreated women.”
“The gripping and fast-paced storyline covers myriad issues such as child abuse, sexism, the domination of class and race and aims to challenge the hypocrisy of patriarchal societies that vanquish women and their rights,” it adds.
The makers of the show define churails as “she who takes ownership of her life and is unapologetic of her being. She who breaks the glass ceiling and every prejudice that society has created against women.”
“She who is strong, she who is fierce, she stands for what she believes in… she is a ‘churail’.”
Director Asim Abbasi, while speaking about the project said that the story is about “strong women, embarking on a journey of self-discovery, empowerment and sisterhood. I believe Churails is a timely show with pertinent themes that will resonate with audiences globally.”
Meanwhile, the cast of the show expressed their excitement on social media and shared a preview of their characters. They even changed their handles on Instagram, adding the word ‘Churail‘ before their name.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CDMBmb5DUTk/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CDL_iQ9p0Hd/
ZEE5is the digital entertainment destination launched by Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited, a global media and entertainment platform. The platform launched across 190+ countries in October 2018 and has content across 18 languages. ZEE5 brings together the best of originals, movies and TV shows, music, cineplays, live TV and health and lifestyle content.
