Sci-fi series Black Mirror is all set to return for its fifth season on June 5, Netflix announced. The star-studded cast of the technology-fueled paranoia includes pop singer Miley Cyrus, Avengers actor Anthony Mackie, That 70s Show’s Topher Grace and Fleabag star Andrew Scott.
Creators Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones return with three new stories, six months after the release of Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, an interactive special edition of the show that offered viewers the chance to pick from a range of scenarios.
The streaming giant shared a trailer for the new series that opened with Scott’s character sitting in a car holding a gun while in a stand-off with police.
A bored-looking Mackie then appears in a domestic scene, while in a third story, a purple-wigged Cyrus takes to the stage to perform in front of an audience.
Black Mirror, whose stories look at the effects of advanced technology on modern society, debuted in the United Kingdom in 2011.
We are already a few days into Ramazan and while we’ve gotten better at fasting, the slow, sluggish afternoons counting down to aftari are still there. Here are some feel-good dramas you can watch on Youtube while you wait to break your fast.
Suno Chanda 2
Suno Chanda is more of a post-iftar fix than a pre-iftar one. It is the perfect end to a long day of fasting. The show, now in its second season (a first for a Pakistani drama) is a comedy-drama about a joint family with such relatable situations and dialogues that you have laughing fits by the end of the show. The first episode of the second season has almost 3 million hits in just two days, while the second one had more than 1 million.
If you haven’t watched the first season, now is the time to jump the bandwagon.
Dolly Darling
The sitcom which airs on Har Pal Geo is centred on the shenanigans of a married couple. Starring Nadia Khan and Aijaz Aslam in the lead, the show has tons of drama and overacting. Its a good show for time-pass.
Aunn Zaara
Though Aunn Zaara is several years old, the theme of the show is so relevant that one should definitely watch it if they haven’t and watch it again if they have. The show follows a young couple and the “privileged” problems they face while adjusting with each other and their families. Aunn Zaara is also a comedy-drama which will have you laughing throughout. Plus Osman Khalid Butt and Maya Ali’s chemistry is really lit. If you liked Suno Chanda, chances are you will love this too.
An afterthought: As I was searching for easy, feel-good shows to add to this list, I realised that the Pakistani drama industry really doesn’t have much to offer in this genre. Most of the shows are either romantic dramas or they have a social message attached to it. So basically if you’re in the mood to watch something light, Netflix will probably be your best bet. Or game shows, if reality TV is your thing.
A Lahore sessions court on Saturday recorded the statement
of a witness in Ali Zafar’s defamation case against Meesha Shafi, wherein it
was informed that Shafi’s “harassment claims were false”.
As per the details, the court rejected Shafi’s appeal for not
to record the witnesses’ statements as her request was pending in the Supreme
Court (SC). She asked the court to stop the process until the verdict of the
top court was issued.
However, the judge said the hearing would continue and
recorded the statement of one witness, Kanza Muneer.
In her statement, Muneer told the court that during the
rehearsal, at which 11 people were present and videos were made, Zafar and
Shafi maintained five to six feet distance from each other. She said that Shafi
left after saying bye and claimed that her allegations of harassment were
false.
The court then adjourned the hearing with the order that other
witnesses will record their statements on May 18.
Ali Zafar has filed a defamation case against Meesha Shafi
and demanded a public apology as well as Rs2 billion in damages for accusing
him of sexual harassment.
In April 2018, Shafi had taken to Twitter to accuse Zafar of physically harassing her on “more than one occasions”, as part of the #MeToo movement.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex welcomed a baby boy on May 6. The baby was born in the early hours of the day and Prince Harry was on his wife Meghan Markle’s side at the time of the birth. Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, was also present.
Buckingham Palace said the boy, seventh in line to the throne, was born at 0526 local time (0426 GMT), weighing seven pounds and three ounces (3.26 kilograms).
Two days after the birth, Meghan and Harry met with reporters at the St. George’s Hall in Windsor Castle (where they also had their royal wedding reception) and introduced their baby to the world.
They took a break from the royal tradition of the photo-op on the steps of the Lindo Wing at St. Mary’s Hospital in London. Both Princess Diana and Kate Middleton appeared outside the hospital with their newborns soon after they welcomed their children to the world.
The couple, who appeared to be relaxed, shared their happiness with the world and thanked everyone for their well-wishes.
Everyone is said to be overjoyed at the new arrival and the Queen is expected to meet the baby later in the day.
On May 6, a few hours after the birth, Harry met reporters in Windsor to formally announce the birth of his son.
“I am very excited to announce that Meghan and myself had a little boy early this morning – a very healthy boy,” he said. “Mother and baby are doing incredibly well. It’s been the most amazing experience I can ever possibly imagine.”
Body language experts shared that Harry was genuinely ecstatic and the way he spoke about the baby and his wife was proof of that.
It was earlier reported that Meghan would opt for a home birth, but The Daily Mail reported that the Duchess was actually taken to an unnamed London hospital by Harry and their security team, in a move so secretive that even the senior royals weren’t informed of it until later in the day. Meghan was really keen on a home-birth but given that the baby was almost a week overdue, medical intervention was necessary.
Have you spent the entire day watching and reading about Sham Idrees and Froggy being attacked by a mob in Karachi and can’t seem to figure who exactly they are? Well, we’re here to tell you.
To begin with, Sham Idrees, Queen Froggy and Ducky Bhaiare all Youtubers with massive followings. Sham, whose real name is Ehtesham Idrees, is married to Froggy (real name Seher) and both of them are based in Canada while Ducky Bhai, whose real name is Saad Ur Rehman, is based in Lahore.
Sham Idrees and Queen Froggy
Toh khair, dono apnay apnay kaam main khush thay until last year when Ducky Bhai decided to take a panga and posted a video in which he called out Sham and Froggy for producing fake content and being “click bait material”.
Ducky Bhai
This, of course, did not go down well with Sham and Froggy who retaliated by calling Ducky Bhai and other Pakistani content creators ‘tiny YouTubers’. Yahan say inka phadda shuru hua jo abhi tak chal raha hai. Other Youtubers, such as Zaid Ali T, Irfan Junejo and Mooroo, also got involved in the feud but most of them extended their support to Ducky Bhai because they all felt that Sham stole their idea at some point or another. For example, Mooroo said he had collaborated with another content creator and Sham stole that script, word for word.
In a video posted to Youtube three days ago, Ducky Bhai even alleged that Sham threatened him and his family after he refused to collaborate with him. This is what is supposed to have instigated the attack. Let me add here that Sham has been looking to collaborate with other Youtubers but unhon nay ziada lift nai karayi.
Khair, on Sunday night, Sham Idrees and Queen Froggy, who are currently touring Pakistan, had a meet and greet session at Ocean Mall in Karachi when things took an ugly turn and a mob of people chanting “Ducky Bhai” attacked the couple. The video which went viral on social media shows an angry Sham being shoved and pushed around by a mob right outside the mall premises. According to reports, someone even punched Froggy right in the face, though that wasn’t captured on camera.
Froggy Attack
In a series of videos and posts, both Sham and Froggy alleged that the attack was “organised” and pointed fingers at Ducky Bhai, who denied his involvement. In fact, he went out to condemn the incident on social media. Other Youtube content creators including Mooroo and Zaid Ali T also condemned the attack and said that hate and dislike should not be translated in such a manner.
In a further bizarre twist, users on Twitter and Facebook commented that Froggy and Sham staged the whole thing to “gain sympathy” and that they are liars and manipulators who will do anything to get views. They even went on to say that Froggy has amazing makeup skills and she made up the bruise. The video in which Froggy alleged that Ducky Bhai was behind the attack has now been removed from her Youtube channel.
It is also important to mention here that the Sham-Ducky feud had allegedly ended after everyone involved posted apology videos. Sham himself posted an apology on the day of the attack. In his apology video, he says that he came to Pakistan with a vision of peace, unity, and love and even though he’s also been hurt, he wants to apologise to everyone who might have been hurt by his actions.
Ab aagay kya hona hai, yeh humain nai pata. Magar hum yeh zarur kahen gay keh bhae Ramzan aagaya hai, muk muka aur sakoon karo.
Netflix India’s superhit series Sacred Games is returning with a second season and some new characters. While the streaming platform has not yet announced a release date, Indian media reports suggest that the series will be released around the end of July/first week of August.
The cast of the second season was revealed in a short video shared by Netflix. While Saif Ali Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui will be reprising their roles as cop Sartaj Singh and gangster Ganesh Gaitonde respectively, new members include Kalki Koechlin and Ranvir Shorey.
Pankaj Tripathi, the Guruji who was introduced in the first season as Gaitonde’s ‘third father’, will also have a bigger role in Season 2.
According to reports, the second season picks up with Sartaj pursuing his relentless quest to save the city, and Gaitonde facing bigger challenges to retain his position as the legendary kingpin of Mumbai.
In the latest turn of events, Meesha Shafi on Saturday filed an application of no confidence in the judge who is hearing the defamation case filed by Ali Zafar. Additional session judge Shakeel Ahmed is hearing the defamation case for the past six months.
Meesha in her petition said that she has no confidence in the judge hearing the defamation case against her and has claimed that the judge is biased, adding that he reprimanded her lawyers for no reason. She requested the case to be transferred to another court.
Her petition read, “Judge Ahmad has shown a clear and obvious bias in favour of the plaintiff which is apparent from the mode and manner in which he has so far conducted the proceedings.”
Meesha’s lawyers said that they felt the bias from the first day but their intuition was confirmed by the judge’s conduct during the cross examination of the first witness of the plaintiff.
The sessions judge will now hear Meesha’s plea seeking a new judge.
Meanwhile, Meesha’s lawyers have also filed a separate petition in the Supreme Court appealing that the court was “not giving a right to a fair trial to Meesha.” The hearing for the case has been scheduled for May 9. Meesha’s lawyer, Nighat Dad said that the trial court had not permitted delaying the cross-examination of witnesses and that sufficient time was needed to cross-examine the witnesses.
Ever since the teaser for The Legend of Maula Jatt was dropped, the film has had to face some issue or another. The film, which was initially scheduled to be released on Eid-ul-Fitr this year, has now been postponed and a new release date has not yet been announced.
The film was mired in controversy when Sarwar Bhatti came forward and claimed that Maula Jatt was his property. He then filed an application for a stay order to prevent the director from using the character, name and dialogues and asked for the film to be banned from releasing. However, the Lahore High Court, after listening to the hearing, forwarded the case to the Censorboard and asked them to determine whether copyright issues exist or not.
In the latest turn of events, it has emerged that the Punjabi classic was reportedly produced by six partners that made up the Bahu Films Corporation, of which Chaudhry Jamil and Sarwar Bhatti were the main investors. This means that Sarwar Bhatti does not solely own the copyrights to the film. Chaudhry Jamil’s son has come forward with the claim and accused Sarwar Bhatti of misrepresenting facts and concealing important information.
Meanwhile, Sarwar Bhatti has rubbished the claims saying that he separated his business from Chaudhry Jameel in 1984, ten years before he was murdered. He also accused the film’s director, Bilal Lashari, and producer Ammara Hikmat of using “cheap tricks to corner him.”
Qandeel Baloch, who was brutally murdered by her brother and cousins in July 2016, may finally get the justice she deserves.
According to lawyer and human rights activist, Nighat Dad, Qandeel’s elder brother Arif, who was nominated in the FIR under Section 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) for abetting and encouraging his brother to murder Qandeel has been arrested by the Interpol on Thursday night.
Arif has been living in Saudi Arabia for the last three years, avoiding arrest.
Qandeel’s other brother, the main accused, Waseem is under arrest and his bail has been cancelled by the High Court twice. However, Mufti Qavi, Haq Nawaz (cousin), Abdul Basit (relative) Zafar, (a relative of Haq Nawaz) and Aslam (brother) are all out on bail.
Parents can’t pardon any of their sons under Section 311 of the PPC, added on the request of the Prosecutor General after the amendment. Under this, the court may punish an offender against whom the right of Qisas has been waived. Under this amendment, relatives of the victim would only be able to pardon the killer if he is sentenced to capital punishment. However, the culprit would still face a mandatory life sentence of twelve-and-a-half years.
Qandeel was murdered by her family members for bringing “dishonour.”
Meesha Shafi and Ali Zafar’s legal battle does not seem to be easing up anytime soon.
On Wednesday, Meesha’s lawyer, Nighat Dad, in a tweet shared that Ali Zafar has been served a defamation notice for his comments he made to various media channels regarding his ongoing feud with Shafi.
The legal notice read, “In a statement aired on Hum News on 27th April 2019 (a link of which you have posted on your Twitter account also) you falsely claimed and published that our client is lying and has made false sexual harassment allegations against you just to get fame and recognition so as to get Canadian immigration. In addition to the same, you have also claimed that our client wants to become Malala, thereby implying that Malala also fabricated a false story like Meesha just to gain international recognition and immigration of a foreign country.”
It added, “You have also knowingly and falsely claimed/published that our client’s case against you has been dismissed by the ombudsperson against sexual harassment and that you have been exonerated from all charges of sexual harassment.”
The notice asks Zafar to tender a public apology within 15 days and pay Rs200 crore in “compensation for the loss and damage to our client’s reputation.”
In case you are still confused about the case(s), watch our explainer videos below:
