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			<title>Dhurandhar &amp; Company: Just Bollywood radicalising?</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2584260/dhurandhar-company-just-bollywood-radicalising</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2584260/dhurandhar-company-just-bollywood-radicalising#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 27 Dec 25 21:09:30 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Manzar Zaidi]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[T-Magazine]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[As mainstream Indian films align more closely with state ideology, entertainment becomes an instrument of persuasion]]>
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				<![CDATA[There was a time when Indian cinema argued with India.

It questioned authority, mocked power, mourned injustice, and&mdash;often clumsily, sometimes courageously&mdash;held up a mirror to the republic&rsquo;s contradictions. From Mother India to Garam Hawa, from Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro to Bombay, the screen was a site of contestation. It reflected the nation not as it wished to see itself, but also vented forth aspirations.

That Indian cinema is receding. In its place stands something more disciplined, more certain&mdash;and more insidious- propaganda, dressed as entertainment.

Contemporary mainstream Indian cinema, particularly since 2014, has begun to function less as cultural expression and more as political instrument. Not through crude censorship or overt diktat, but through something subtler: alignment. Alignment with power, with ideology, with a vision of the nation that is singular rather than plural, muscular rather than reflective, and majoritarian rather than democratic.

This is not a story about Dhurandhar or other similar films. It is about how an entire cultural industry learns&mdash;slowly, profitably, and often willingly&mdash;to speak the language of the state.

Entertainment Does Not Float Above Politics

Every society tells itself comforting myths about its cultural industries. One of India&rsquo;s most persistent myths is that Bollywood is &ldquo;just entertainment&rdquo;&mdash;loud, escapist, unserious. But cinema has never been politically innocent. It is a mass medium that reaches deeper and wider than most political speeches ever will. It works not through argument, but through emotion; not through facts, but through identification.

Scholars of propaganda have long understood this. Herman and Chomsky&rsquo;s famous model, developed to explain news media, applies with equal&mdash;perhaps greater&mdash;force to entertainment. When ownership structures, regulatory incentives, market pressures, and political climates align, culture does not merely reflect power. It amplifies it.

In India today, those alignments are unmistakable.

Financing increasingly flows toward narratives that flatter the ruling ideology. Regulatory institutions operate with strategic ambiguity, rewarding compliance and punishing dissent. Political leaders publicly endorse films, slogans migrate seamlessly from cinema halls to campaign rallies, and box-office success becomes indistinguishable from ideological validation; case in point being the biopic about premier Modi- but more of that later.

The result is not state censorship in the old authoritarian sense. It is something more modern and more effective: self-censorship lubricated by profit and protection.

The new nationalism on screen

The transformation is clearest in the stories Indian cinema now prefers to tell. Every ultra- nationalist project requires an adversary. Contemporary Indian cinema has grown increasingly adept at providing one, Pakistan.

The Indian cinema is no longer a complex civic idea, where ideas were sometimes negotiated among differences. It is a moral entity under siege. Enemies are everywhere&mdash;across borders, within minorities, among critics, dissenters, and sceptics. Conflict is simplified into binaries: loyal versus anti-national, patriotic versus treacherous, us versus them.

Films like Uri: The Surgical Strike did not merely dramatise military action; they aestheticised it. War became spectacle, masculinity became nationalism, and vengeance became virtue. The film&rsquo;s famous catchphrase&mdash;enthusiastically adopted by politicians&mdash;revealed how easily cinematic emotion can be converted into political mobilisation.

PM Narendra Modi went further still, collapsing the distance between cinema and campaign. Released on the eve of national elections (and briefly halted by electoral authorities for precisely that reason), it presented the prime minister not as a political actor subject to scrutiny, but as a messianic figure&mdash;untouched by ambiguity, error, or dissent. It was not biography. It was hagiography.

Then came The Kashmir Files, perhaps the most consequential cultural artifact of this era. The suffering it depicts&mdash;the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits&mdash;is real and deserves remembrance. But remembrance is not the same as instrumentalisation. By stripping history of context, complexity, and competing narratives, the film transformed trauma into accusation and memory into weapon. State governments declared it tax-free; officials organised screenings. A commercial film was repurposed into ideological curriculum.

This is how propaganda works in the twenty-first century. Not by inventing lies wholesale, but by selecting truths, amplifying them, and embedding them within narratives that serve present power.

Dhurandhar &amp; Company

Cinema is more than entertainment; it is a mirror, a megaphone, and, at its best, a bridge between worlds. When a film seizes the public imagination, topping box offices and generating oceans of commentary, it shows not just Box Office appeal but also reflection on what the audience are watching, or more critically, what they want to watch.

Dhurandhar&mdash;the latest high-octane offering from the Indian film industry is precisely such a work. Its commercial success is undeniable, its cinematic craft slick and crowd-pleasing, and its appeal is rooted in a lineage of bravura and high-energy storytelling.

And yet, nestled within this tapestry of action and spectacle lies a deeper conversation about representation, responsibility, and the narrative choices that shape how billions perceive each other across borders.

Every cultural product carries within it assumptions about the world and the people in it, and films with geopolitical subtext have an outsized influence on how audiences construct mental maps of &ldquo;the Other.&rdquo;

Much like others before it, Dhurandhar engages with Pakistan not as a nuanced neighbour across shared history, but as a flattened adversarial backdrop for the Indian hero&rsquo;s exploits.

Why does this matter? Because nations are not abstract entities; they are aggregations of people whose lives and identities are shaped by history, culture, and shared humanity. Stories that default to reductive portrayals contribute to a climate where understanding erodes and caricature deepens.

Imagine a viewer in Lahore or Karachi watching Dhurandhar or its trailers online. The film&rsquo;s action might be thrilling, its hero inspiring&mdash;but when it later folds into a narrative that casts Pakistan as convenient shorthand for malevolence or antagonism, that viewer&rsquo;s experience of Indian cinema becomes tinged with a sense of exclusion or misrepresentation. A viewer might love the action, but also say about the storyline- &ldquo; Yaar buhut lambi lambi chori hui hain.&rdquo;

Conversely, imagine audiences in India or elsewhere who may never have meaningful personal encounters with Pakistanis. Their only exposure through widely distributed cinematic products could become a distorting lens&mdash;less reality than fable spun from geopolitical anxieties.

This is not to advocate for shying away from conflict narratives. Conflict is real, and art should have the courage to approach it. But it should do so with complexity, empathy, and a willingness to present adversaries at least sometimes, as human rather than as tropes. When it doesn&rsquo;t, art reduces into merely propaganda.

Some might ask: &ldquo;Isn&rsquo;t this just a movie? Why read geopolitics into entertainment?&rdquo; This is a valid question&mdash;and the answer lies in understanding how narratives shape public imagination. Stories are not inert; they are formative.

When a blockbuster normalises certain portrayals of &ldquo;the Other,&rdquo; especially in regions where real tensions exist, it becomes part of a larger cultural ecosystem. Audiences carry these narratives into public discourse, into social media debates, into classrooms and dinner tables. Film influences empathy just as much as it influences fashion trends.

If Hollywood blockbusters of the late 20th century often shaped American views of &ldquo;the foreign,&rdquo; then Indian blockbusters have a similar cultural reach. Filmmakers hold immense power. They shape how we see heroes, villains, cities, and souls. Their choices reverberate beyond ticket sales into the realm of collective perception.

Pakistani characters in Indian cinema still greet each other with an exaggerated chorus of &ldquo;janab&rdquo; and &ldquo;aadab&rdquo;, as if these words are exchanged hourly on every street corner from Karachi to Peshawar. Pakistanis themselves often snigger at this&mdash;it is so obviously and theatrically outdated, that it barely merits offence. But accuracy is besides the point. What matters is perception.

This is not how Pakistanis see themselves; it is how Indian cinema has decided to see them. Repetition does the rest. Over time, these linguistic tics harden into shorthand, and shorthand hardens into belief.

In the same way, Muslims more broadly are now routinely coded as suspect: terrorists, fanatics, infiltrators, demographic threats. There is of the occasional &lsquo;good Muslim&rsquo; co-protagonist, thrown in to cater to Indian Muslims, but that theme is rarely now the pervasive, even important part in the storyline.

Lighting, background scores, accents, narrative arcs&mdash;all do their quiet work.

Cinema does not need to shout to persuade; it merely needs to repeat.

Edward Said once wrote that Orientalism operates not through what is said once, but through what is repeated until it feels natural. The same is true here. When audiences repeatedly see one community associated with violence and another with redemption, these associations harden into common sense.

The mastery of propaganda lies not in any single film, but in accumulation. Media scholars call this &ldquo;cultivation&rdquo;: the gradual shaping of worldviews through prolonged exposure. Over time, the line between cinematic fiction and social reality blurs. The screen does not merely depict prejudice; it normalises it.

Equally clear is Indian cinema&rsquo;s growing role in rewriting the past.

Historical films increasingly impose contemporary political identities onto periods that were far messier and far less communal than today&rsquo;s narratives by Bollywood. Medieval Muslim rulers are recast as modern villains; complex political struggles are reduced to religious binaries. Historians protest, but spectacle drowns out scholarship.

I am not the only one decrying this radicalisation of Indian cinema but there is a plethora of authoritative scholarly studies on this too (see below), many from Indian scholars themselves. The politics and mutual animosity of India Pakistan aside, as an avid movie watcher, it pains me just a bit to see the industry that produced the tear rendering, moving &lsquo;My name is Khan&rsquo;, swing so far to the right. That particular movie was a superb rebuttal of Islamophobia as ever can be, and would have won more hearts and minds for Bollywoood than Dhurnadhar ever can. It&rsquo;s a pity we wont be seeing too many of the former, as jingoism takes over.

Cinema&rsquo;s emotional authority gives it enormous power over collective memory. For millions, films function as history lessons. When those lessons are distorted, the consequences are not academic. They shape how citizens understand belonging, grievance, and entitlement in the present.

A democracy cannot survive long on mythic history alone. At some point, the stories it tells itself begin to demand political enforcement.

Why Bollywood goes along

It would be comforting to blame all this on coercion. The truth is less reassuring.

Bollywood&rsquo;s compliance is not merely the result of fear; it is the product of incentives. Nationalist films sell. They receive political amplification, institutional protection, and often spectacular commercial returns. Dissenting films face delays, protests, boycotts, and silence.

Over time, rational actors adapt. Scripts change. Risks are avoided. Certain characters quietly disappear. This is not conspiracy; it is market logic operating within an ideologically charged environment.

Preference falsification becomes routine. Some filmmakers may even privately disagree with dominant narratives, but public dissent carries costs few are willing to bear. Silence becomes safety. Alignment becomes success.

India is not alone in this trajectory. History offers many examples of regimes that discovered the political utility of culture&mdash;from fascist Europe to the Soviet Union. The aesthetics differ; the mechanics remain eerily similar.

When cinema ceases to argue with power and learns instead to ventriloquize it, something essential is lost. Not just artistic freedom, but democratic capacity itself. And the most dangerous moment for any nation is when its stories stop questioning power&mdash;and start teaching people how to love it uncritically.

The writer is a security analyst. His works including the paper on above, and can be accessed by following him on through his LinkedIn handle &lsquo;Manzar Zaidi PhD&rsquo;

All facts and information are the sole responsibility of the writer]]>
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			<title>The Conjuring: Last Rites teaser trailer released</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2544869/the-conjuring-last-rites-teaser-trailer-released</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2544869/the-conjuring-last-rites-teaser-trailer-released#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 09 May 25 04:58:04 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Pop Culture &amp; Art]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Entertainment]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[The Conjuring: Last Rites teaser hints at final case for the Warrens as the horror franchise prepares its conclusion.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Warner Bros. has released the first teaser trailer for The Conjuring: Last Rites, the final instalment in the long-running horror franchise.

Set for release on 5 September, the film promises to mark the end of an era for the fictionalised version of real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, portrayed once again by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga.

The teaser offers a familiar dose of supernatural thrills, including haunted dolls, shadowy spirits and a sink overflowing with blood &mdash; visual motifs that have become staples of the franchise.

The tone is dark, atmospheric and suggestive of closure, hinting that the Warrens&rsquo; latest case might also be their last.





While the Conjuring series has always taken creative liberties with the lives of the Warrens, Last Rites appears to lean further into the dramatic.

The trailer hints at a turning point that could mark the couple&rsquo;s final foray into the paranormal &mdash; despite the fact that Ed Warren passed away at 79 and Lorraine at 92, both well after the events typically depicted in the films.

The teaser also revives fan-favourite horror elements, including possessed artefacts and eerie silhouettes, while showcasing the emotional weight carried by Wilson and Farmiga, who have led the franchise since its debut in 2013.

Despite its fantastical premise, The Conjuring series has proven to be one of Hollywood&rsquo;s most commercially reliable horror properties.

With modest production budgets and strong box office returns, each entry has helped spawn a network of spin-offs, including Annabelle and The Nun.

While it remains to be seen if Last Rites will truly bring the Warrens&#39; story to a close, the trailer suggests a film intent on delivering both scares and a sense of finality.]]>
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			<title>Snow White box office struggles: Disney’s live-action film set for $45m opening weekend</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2535818/snow-white-box-office-struggles-disneys-live-action-film-set-for-45m-opening-weekend</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2535818/snow-white-box-office-struggles-disneys-live-action-film-set-for-45m-opening-weekend#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 22 Mar 25 08:54:00 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Pop Culture &amp; Art]]>
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				<![CDATA[Snow White opens to $3.5 million in previews, with projections pointing to a mid-$40 million debut.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Disney&rsquo;s highly anticipated live-action Snow White is opening with mixed results at the North American box office. Despite a star-studded cast featuring Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot, the movie is underperforming expectations, with preview earnings totaling $3.5 million. By midday Friday, the film is tracking for a three-day total in the mid-$40 million range.

Snow White was originally expected to gross more than $50 million during its opening weekend, but current projections suggest a debut closer to $45 million.

This performance mirrors the opening of Tim Burton&rsquo;s Dumbo, which earned just under $46 million in its first three days, albeit on a smaller production budget ($170 million vs. $270 million for Snow White).

&quot;Everybody that can&rsquo;t get to Colombia can now head to Atlanta for that billion-dollar smile,&quot; said Rick Ross about his new venture. Despite the similarities in opening numbers, the situation remains fluid, as the film&#39;s performance is highly dependent on Saturday and Sunday matinees.

Early reports indicate that young girls are a significant portion of the audience, with 84% of children attending being girls.

The film&rsquo;s critical reception has been lukewarm, with a 46% score on Rotten Tomatoes, mirroring some of Disney&#39;s past live-action adaptations. However, Snow White holds a strong awareness level of 94%, and its fate largely depends on the family audience, especially women under 35, who were expected to be a key demographic.

Early tracking shows that interest from this group has dropped in recent weeks, now sitting at 52%, down from 58% just a few weeks ago.

While some of the movie&rsquo;s initial buzz was overshadowed by controversies surrounding casting choices and reimagining beloved characters like the dwarfs, the film still carries a hefty $270 million price tag. However, critical reviews haven&rsquo;t always hurt Disney&#39;s live-action ventures in the past.

Both Maleficent and Aladdin opened strong despite mixed reviews, so it remains to be seen whether Snow White can overcome its current hurdles and perform well in the coming days.

The movie&#39;s international performance will also be key, though Snow White faces competition from other titles like The Alto Knights and Ash. The coming weekend could prove pivotal in determining if the film manages to exceed expectations or settles into a modest opening.]]>
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			<title>2025 best picture winner 'Anora' dominates Hulu charts after Oscar victory</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2535241/2025-best-picture-winner-anora-dominates-hulu-charts-after-oscar-victory</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2535241/2025-best-picture-winner-anora-dominates-hulu-charts-after-oscar-victory#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 19 Mar 25 09:49:46 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Pop Culture &amp; Art]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Entertainment]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Sean Baker’s acclaimed film surges in streaming rankings following its Academy Award win.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Sean Baker&rsquo;s &#39;Anora&#39;, the 2025 Best Picture Oscar winner, is making waves again&mdash;this time on Hulu. The high-stakes screwball comedy, which won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Editing, along with Mikey Madison&rsquo;s Best Actress win, has quickly risen through the streaming platform&rsquo;s charts.

Baker, known for his raw, neorealist filmmaking, has long been celebrated for highlighting America&rsquo;s overlooked and underprivileged. While &#39;Tangerine&#39; (2015), &#39;The Florida Project&#39; (2017), and &#39;Red Rocket&#39; (2021) cemented his status as an indie powerhouse, &#39;Anora&#39; marked his mainstream breakthrough.

The film follows Mikey Madison&rsquo;s Ani, an erotic dancer and sex worker in New York City who becomes entangled in a whirlwind romance with Ivan Zakharov (Mark Eydelshteyn), the son of Russian billionaires. Their dynamic takes a turn when Ivan&rsquo;s oligarch parents attempt to annul the marriage, sparking a tense and chaotic chase&mdash;one that plays out with Safdie brothers-style energy.

A box office success, &#39;Anora&#39; grossed $52 million against a $6 million budget after its theatrical release in October 2024. It later topped iTunes charts in multiple countries before making its Hulu debut on March 17, 2025. According to FlixPatrol, the film entered Hulu&rsquo;s streaming rankings at No. 4, with projections suggesting it will climb even higher.

To claim the top spot, &#39;Anora&#39; will need to surpass Bill Burr&rsquo;s standup special &#39;Drop Dead Years&#39; and &#39;Force of Nature: The Dry 2&#39;, but its Oscar prestige and strong audience interest give it a clear advantage.

With Hulu&rsquo;s viewership surge, &#39;Anora&#39; solidifies Baker&rsquo;s rise in Hollywood, proving that his unique storytelling and focus on marginalized voices continue to resonate with audiences worldwide.]]>
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			<title>The Princess Diaries 3 is Officially Happening! What We Know About Anne Hathaway's Return to Genovia</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2507640/the-princess-diaries-3-is-officially-happening-what-we-know-about-anne-hathaways-return-to-genovia</link>
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			<pubDate>Tue, 05 Nov 24 12:40:56 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Magazine Desk]]>
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				<![CDATA[Get ready to return to Genovia—Anne Hathaway is back to make princess dreams come true!]]>
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				<![CDATA[It&#39;s been nearly two years since the announcement of The Princess Diaries 3, and updates are finally coming in!

Fans have been yearning for a third installment since The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement hit theaters in 2004. However, as time passed, the prospect seemed dim&mdash;especially following the passing of director Garry Marshall in 2016.



IMDb

Hope was reignited in 2019 when Anne Hathaway revealed that she and Julie Andrews were eager to revive the beloved relationship between the awkward teen princess Mia Thermopolis and her regal grandmother, Clarisse Marie Grimaldi Renaldo. &ldquo;I want to do it; Julie wants to do it; Debra Martin Chase, our producer, wants to do it,&rdquo; Hathaway shared during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live. &ldquo;We all really want it to happen. It&rsquo;s just we don&rsquo;t want to do it unless it&rsquo;s perfect because we love it just as much as you guys love it.&rdquo;

When The Hollywood Reporter revealed in November 2022 that a third film was in development at Disney+, Hathaway&#39;s return was not immediately confirmed. Yet, it&rsquo;s hard to picture the sequel without the true princess of Genovia&mdash;now, we can put those worries to rest. Here&rsquo;s everything we know about The Princess Diaries 3.

Anne Hathaway is Returning to Genovia

On October 4, Hathaway shared the exciting news on her social media accounts. Using the song &ldquo;Miracles Happen (When You Believe),&rdquo; she posted clips from the original movie, adding her own enthusiastic &ldquo;shut up!&rdquo;

In her post, she wrote, &ldquo;Miracles happen ✨👑 Back to Genovia with @Disney Studios &amp; @Somewhere Pictures. The fairy tale continues ❤️&zwj;🔥.&rdquo; This shouldn&rsquo;t come as a surprise, as she hinted at her participation back in April, stating in an interview with V Magazine, &ldquo;We&rsquo;re in a good place. There&rsquo;s nothing to announce yet. But we&rsquo;re in a good place.&rdquo;



@annehathaway

Miracles happen ✨👑 Back to Genovia with @Disney Studios &amp; @Somewhere Pictures. The fairy tale continues ❤️&zwj;🔥
♬ original sound - Anne Hathaway




Who Else Is Involved?

When the announcement of the threequel was made, it was disclosed that Debra Martin Chase would return as producer. Although initial reports suggested Aadrita Mukerji (known for Scorpion, Supergirl, Reacher) had written the script, Variety has now confirmed that Flora Greeson (The High Note) will be penning The Princess Diaries 3.

Additionally, on October 4, Variety announced that Adele Lim has been chosen to direct. Lim, known for her work on Joy Ride, Crazy Rich Asians, and Raya and the Last Dragon, expressed her excitement: &ldquo;As a diehard fan of the original Princess Diaries, I&rsquo;m beyond excited to be a part of bringing the third iteration of this beloved franchise to life. We look forward to celebrating its core tenets of female power, joy, and mentorship with audiences worldwide.&rdquo;

Is Chris Pine Returning?



Buena Vista Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

That&rsquo;s a great question! At the end of Princess Diaries 2, we saw Mia share a kiss with Genovian aristocrat Nicholas, portrayed by Chris Pine. When the threequel was still in its early development phase in May 2024, Pine expressed his curiosity, telling Entertainment Weekly, &ldquo;&lsquo;Princess Diaries 3, where is it?&rsquo; Have you been reading my diary? I don&rsquo;t know. I haven&rsquo;t heard anything about it.&rdquo; He added, &ldquo;You know, like, what it would be? It would be like a Luca Guadagnino film, [he] directs Princess Diaries 3. Now that is f---ing fire.&rdquo;

Following the official announcement of TPD3, Pine reiterated his lack of information. During an appearance on The Today Show, he said, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know anything,&rdquo; according to Variety, and added, &ldquo;Call Disney! Call Bob Iger!&rdquo; When asked about his potential return, he avoided giving a clear answer, stating, &ldquo;The answer is I&rsquo;ve gotta see&hellip;I don&rsquo;t know anything about it. I think it&rsquo;s fantastic.&rdquo;

Oh, come on. He knows more than he&rsquo;s letting on!

What About Julie Andrews?



Walt Disney Productions/Alamy Stock Photo

The status of Julie Andrews remains uncertain. Although Andrews lends her voice to Lady Whistledown in Bridgerton, she hasn&rsquo;t appeared on screen since 2017. In December 2022, she remarked, &ldquo;I think we know that it&rsquo;s probably not going to be possible.&rdquo; She added, &ldquo;It was talked about very shortly after [the second sequel] came out, but it&rsquo;s now how many years since then? And I am that much older and Annie, the princess or queen, is so much older. And I am not sure where it would float or run.&rdquo;

Andrews also mentioned to Entertainment Weekly in 2022 that she was hesitant to return to the franchise due to Marshall&rsquo;s absence.]]>
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			<title>20 Must-Watch Girls' Night Movies to Stream With Your Besties</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2501265/20-must-watch-girls-night-movies-to-stream-with-your-besties</link>
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			<pubDate>Mon, 07 Oct 24 11:10:10 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Magazine Desk]]>
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				<![CDATA[Because every girls' night deserves the perfect movie—grab the popcorn and let the fun begin.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Girls&#39; night is a sacred ritual, and nothing makes it better than a lineup of great movies. It&#39;s that perfect time to gather with your best friends, indulge in snacks, sip on some wine, and laugh or cry over shared memories. Whether you&#39;re rehashing old gossip or enjoying inside jokes, a fantastic movie can take your night to the next level. But what movie should make the cut for your epic girls&rsquo; night?

The great thing about girls&#39; night movies is that they can be whatever you want&mdash;action-packed films like Hustlers or Oceans 8, feel-good feminist vibes like Barbie, or teen revenge classics like John Tucker Must Die. You can also go for light-hearted fun with classics like Clueless or Bring It On. Whether you&#39;re in the mood for rom-coms or friendship-focused flicks, we&#39;ve got you covered. Check out these 20 must-watch girls&#39; night movies that are sure to be a hit.


1. Romy and Michele&rsquo;s High School Reunion (1997)



Hulton Archive

Still a Halloween costume inspiration, Romy and Michele&rsquo;s trip back to their high school reunion delivers laughs and fun. The duo (played by Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow) fakes success to impress old classmates, making for a nostalgic, hilarious film perfect for a night with your girls.

2. Barbie (2023)



Greta Gerwig&rsquo;s Barbie has taken the world by storm, offering a fresh take on girlhood, empowerment, and self-discovery. From the Dream House to America Ferrera&rsquo;s unforgettable monologue, Barbie is the ultimate feel-good movie. And remember, &ldquo;Every night is girls&rsquo; night.&rdquo;

3. Bring It On (2000)



Mastering the opening cheer from Bring It On should be on your girls&rsquo; night to-do list. This movie is a nostalgic trip to the early 2000s and features rival cheerleading squads competing for national glory. It&#39;s a must-watch for the laughs and fierce routines.

4. Hustlers (2019)



Inspired by a true story, Hustlers follows a group of savvy strippers&mdash;led by Jennifer Lopez&rsquo;s Ramona&mdash;who scam their wealthy Wall Street clients. A mix of bold performances and empowerment, it&#39;s the perfect movie for those who want a wild yet thrilling ride with their besties.

5. Pitch Perfect (2012)



If a singalong is what you&rsquo;re after, Pitch Perfect is the go-to movie. The Barden Bellas compete in the cutthroat world of college a cappella with quirky humor and catchy tunes. Whether you&rsquo;re harmonizing to &ldquo;Cups&rdquo; or enjoying the absurd antics, this movie guarantees fun.

6. Legally Blonde (2001)



Relive the inspiring journey of Elle Woods as she navigates Harvard Law and proves herself as more than just a sorority girl. From the iconic &ldquo;bend and snap&rdquo; to her fierce courtroom moments, Legally Blonde is an empowering watch for any girls&rsquo; night.

7. Mean Girls (2004)



No girls&#39; night is complete without Mean Girls. Revisit Cady Heron&rsquo;s transition from homeschooled outcast to full-on Plastic, all while dishing out unforgettable quotes like &ldquo;That&rsquo;s so fetch.&rdquo; Gather your friends, put on some pink, and settle in for this timeless teen comedy.

8. Crazy Rich Asians (2018)



Crazy Rich Asians offers glitz, glam, and heartfelt romance. As Rachel Chu enters the world of ultra-wealthy Singapore, she faces challenges with her boyfriend&rsquo;s family, leading to a vibrant, visually stunning movie filled with love, culture, and comedy.

9. Clueless (1995)



Cher Horowitz (played by Alicia Silverstone) is the ultimate fashion icon, and Clueless continues to be one of the most beloved coming-of-age films. Filled with fun, romance, and a dash of drama, it&#39;s the perfect feel-good movie to watch with your squad.

10. Girls Trip (2017)



Universal Pictures

Girls Trip is all about letting loose and reconnecting with your best friends. This comedy follows the Flossy Posse on a wild journey to the Essence Music Festival, offering plenty of laughs, unforgettable moments, and a reminder of the importance of friendship.

11. 13 Going on 30 (2004)



Jenna Rink (Jennifer Garner) wakes up one day living her dream life at 30&mdash;but realizes adulthood isn&#39;t as glamorous as she thought. A charming mix of rom-com and life lessons, this movie is perfect for reminiscing with your besties about the dreams of growing up.

12. Bridesmaids (2011)



Universal Studios

What&rsquo;s better than watching Bridesmaids with your bridal squad? Follow Annie as she tries to outdo the bride&rsquo;s other bridesmaids and spirals into hilarious chaos. The bachelorette party and dress fitting scenes are bound to leave everyone laughing.

13. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005)



Follow four best friends as they share one magical pair of jeans during a summer apart. Full of heartwarming moments, this coming-of-age movie is all about the strength of friendship&mdash;even from a distance. Don&rsquo;t forget to watch the sequel for even more feel-good vibes.

14. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003)



Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey&#39;s on-screen chemistry makes How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days a rom-com classic. As they each try to outwit the other with conflicting agendas, their hilarious antics make for the perfect girls&#39; night watch.

15. John Tucker Must Die (2006)



When three girls from different high school cliques discover they&rsquo;re all dating the same guy, they join forces for revenge. John Tucker Must Die is a witty take on teen rivalry and girl power, perfect for a night of fun and laughter.

16. Coyote Ugly (2000)



This cult classic follows Violet as she moves to NYC to pursue her dreams, only to end up working at the iconic Coyote Ugly bar. With fun dance numbers and a dose of drama, this movie is a feel-good, wild ride with plenty of girl-power moments.

17. 27 Dresses (2008)



Always the bridesmaid, never the bride&mdash;until now. Watch Katherine Heigl&rsquo;s journey from wedding party pro to potential bride in this charming rom-com. It&rsquo;s heartfelt, funny, and perfect for bonding with your besties.

18. Freaky Friday (2003)



What happens when a rebellious teen and her mom wake up in each other&rsquo;s bodies? Chaos ensues, and so does plenty of comedy. Freaky Friday is a fun film about understanding each other&rsquo;s worlds and finding common ground.

19. Ocean&rsquo;s 8 (2018)



If you want action with a dose of style, Ocean&rsquo;s 8 is the ultimate girls&#39; night pick. Watch this all-female crew pull off a heist at the glamorous Met Gala. From Sandra Bullock to Rihanna, this star-studded cast keeps you hooked with every twist.

20. The Princess Diaries (2001)



Mia Thermopolis&#39;s life gets turned upside down when she discovers she&#39;s the heir to a royal throne. Full of heart and humor, The Princess Diaries is the perfect reminder that being yourself is the ultimate royal trait. Plus, a sequel is finally in the works!]]>
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			<title>The Best Movies of 2024 (So Far)</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2492958/the-best-movies-of-2024-so-far</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2492958/the-best-movies-of-2024-so-far#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 02 Sep 24 11:43:55 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Magazine Desk]]>
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				<![CDATA[Before the awards season heats up, these films have already left their mark on 2024.]]>
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				<![CDATA[What does the cinematic landscape look like in the aftermath of the Barbenheimer phenomenon? While we haven&rsquo;t yet witnessed a cultural juggernaut of similar proportions (though we&rsquo;re holding out hope for Glicked&nbsp;(Gladiator II and Wicked) this autumn, the past several months have delivered some outstanding films. From international masterpieces and poignant indie creations to blockbuster hits, 2024 has already offered plenty of memorable moments. Sequels like Dune: Part Two and Inside Out 2 have proven to be satisfying follow-ups, while original films like Sing Sing and Challengers have shown that fresh ideas still thrive in Hollywood.

As we await the heavyweights of awards season, here&rsquo;s a rundown of the standout films of 2024 so far. Keep an eye out for future additions as the year progresses.

Challengers



&quot;Challengers,&quot; the love-triangle-tennis drama, has dominated the cultural conversation this year. It not only sparked the tenniscore fashion trend, inspired by Zendaya&rsquo;s press-tour outfits, but also filled our playlists with its techno-infused soundtrack. And let&rsquo;s not forget the endless memes revolving around Mike Faist, Josh O&rsquo;Connor, and that infamous churro scene.

Sing Sing



Colman Domingo delivers a powerful performance in &quot;Sing Sing,&quot; a film about the Rehabilitation Through Arts program at Sing Sing Maximum Security Prison. Domingo plays John Whitfield, a man wrongfully convicted, who, along with other inmates, puts on a comedy play. The film is elevated by the participation of real-life actors who have been through the RTA program, with Clarence &lsquo;Divine Eye&rsquo; Maclin standing out in his portrayal of himself.

Dune: Part Two



The saga continues in &quot;Dune: Part Two,&quot; where Timoth&eacute;e Chalamet&rsquo;s Paul Atreides teams up with Zendaya&rsquo;s Chani to avenge his father&rsquo;s death. This sci-fi epic has it all: romance, villains, prophecies, and, of course, those legendary sandworms.

Origin



Ava DuVernay takes on an ambitious adaptation with &quot;Origin,&quot; bringing Isabel Wilkerson&rsquo;s Pulitzer Prize-winning book &quot;Caste: The Origin of Our Discontents&quot; to the big screen. Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor stars as the author, navigating personal tragedy and global travels as she crafts her groundbreaking work.

La Chimera



If you&rsquo;re craving more Josh O&rsquo;Connor after &quot;Challengers,&quot; &quot;La Chimera&quot; should be next on your list. O&rsquo;Connor plays an Englishman in Italy with a supernatural gift that aids his grave-robbing friends. Alice Rohrwacher&rsquo;s film is a quietly magical exploration of love, loss, and the search for what&rsquo;s unattainable.

Longlegs



&quot;Longlegs&quot; might just be the creepiest film of the year, featuring Nicolas Cage in a chilling performance that will keep you on edge until the final scene. Maika Monroe shines as Agent Lee Harker in this psychological thriller that&rsquo;s as unsettling as it is engrossing.

Thelma



Move over, Tom Cruise&mdash;94-year-old June Squibb is the new action hero in &quot;Thelma,&quot; a charming indie comedy about a grandmother seeking revenge on scammers who swindled her out of $10k. With a scooter chase and some tense computer moments, this film is as heartwarming as it is entertaining, with Richard Roundtree delivering one of his final performances.

Love Lies Bleeding



Kristen Stewart stars in &quot;Love Lies Bleeding,&quot; an A24 thriller that pairs her with Katy O&rsquo;Brian as they navigate a deadly romance set against the backdrop of bodybuilding. The film features a strong supporting cast, including Dave Franco, Ed Harris, and Jena Malone, adding layers to this bloody tale of love gone wrong.

D&igrave;di (弟弟)



Sean Wang&rsquo;s feature debut &quot;D&igrave;di&quot; is a nostalgic coming-of-age story set in the summer of 2008. The film captures the essence of adolescence through the lens of Chris Wang, a Taiwanese American teen navigating the early days of YouTube and Facebook while forming an emotional bond with his mother, played by Joan Chen.

Inside Out 2



As a devoted fan of the original, I had high hopes for &quot;Inside Out 2,&quot; and it didn&rsquo;t disappoint. Pixar introduces new emotions&mdash;Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, and Ennui&mdash;creating an imaginative exploration of puberty&rsquo;s challenges. The sequel not only matches but surpasses the magic of the first film, leaving us eager for more of Riley&rsquo;s journey.

I Saw the TV Glow



Jane Schoenbrun&rsquo;s &quot;I Saw the TV Glow&quot; is a surreal exploration of identity and obsession, following two teens whose lives become intertwined with a cult sci-fi TV series. With neon-soaked visuals and a deeply resonant story, this film has struck a chord, particularly with queer and trans audiences, as it delves into the emotional impact of media on formative experiences.

Janet Planet



&quot;Janet Planet&quot; is the embodiment of a summer day, seen through the eyes of Lacy, an 11-year-old living with her single mother in 1991 Massachusetts. Annie Baker&rsquo;s debut film is a tender, tactile experience that blends humor with the bittersweetness of growing up.

Hit Man



Glen Powell proves his star power in &quot;Hit Man,&quot; where he plays a professor moonlighting as a fake hitman for the police. This action-comedy is full of disguises, chemistry, and psychological insights, with Powell co-writing the script alongside Richard Linklater, making it one of the most fun films of the year.]]>
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			<title>‘A Quiet Place: Day One’ Review: The new Quiet Place is not much different to the old one</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2475662/a-quiet-place-day-one-review-the-new-quiet-place-is-not-much-different-to-the-old-one</link>
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			<pubDate>Mon, 01 Jul 24 13:21:14 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Magazine Desk]]>
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			<description>
				<![CDATA[Silence meets suspense in a not-so-quiet New York.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Silence is more than golden&mdash;it&#39;s rare at the multiplex, where the noise can be overwhelming both on and off-screen.

That&#39;s why the Quiet Place series, with its spine-tingling hush, stands out. John Krasinski&#39;s 2018 sci-fi thriller brought a refreshing quiet to cinemas, forcing audiences to engage differently with its visual storytelling and wordless performances. Although the film had its loud moments, these were carefully crafted to follow long stretches of silence, creating a unique sensory experience.



Stills of the film. Courtesy: Paramount

A Quiet Place Part II, released in the middle of the pandemic, continued this trend by turning down the volume to ramp up the thrills. The latest instalment, A Quiet Place: Day One, follows suit. The 100 minute prequel rewinds to the start of the alien invasion, shifting from the rural heartland to the bustling streets of New York City. Despite the change in scenery, the formula remains the same: characters tiptoe around, trying to avoid making a sound, lest they attract the deadly creatures with hypersensitive hearing.

This time, the story doesn&#39;t follow the Abbott family. Instead, we meet Sam (Lupita Nyong&rsquo;o), a terminally ill writer who finds herself in New York when the aliens arrive. Nyong&rsquo;o&rsquo;s performance is compelling, bringing emotional depth to a character who, despite her illness, shows incredible resilience. Alongside her, a small ensemble of survivors&mdash;played by Alex Wolff, Djimon Hounsou, and Joseph Quinn&mdash;whisper and scurry through the city, their fear palpable in every scene.

Day One adds a touch of visual variety by setting the action in New York, with its claustrophobic subway tunnels and fragile glass buildings. The film also evokes strong 9/11 imagery, with scenes of characters stumbling through smoke and ash, screams echoing around them. However, despite this fresh backdrop, the movie often falls into the same patterns as its predecessors. The anticipated fall of civilization feels underwhelming, and the suspense isn&#39;t as tight as in the earlier films.

Director Michael Sarnoski, known for the moody drama Pig, brings a therapeutic arc to the story. Sam&rsquo;s journey across a ravaged New York to a beloved pizza parlour in Harlem feels personal and poignant, but sometimes edges into clich&eacute;. The film maintains the series&#39; signature mix of silent tension and sudden, loud attacks, though it doesn&#39;t always hit the mark with its set pieces. The monsters, once terrifying, now feel a bit too familiar.

While Day One is marketed as an expansion of the Quiet Place universe, it often feels like a reiteration. The shift to a new location and characters doesn&#39;t transform the franchise&#39;s formula: a blend of silent brooding and CGI-heavy chases. Yet, the film&#39;s quieter moments, beautifully expressed by Nyong&rsquo;o, are still a welcome change in a Hollywood landscape dominated by noise. If repeated too often, though, even a bold approach can become just another routine.

A Quiet Place: Day One claims to reveal why the world went quiet, but it doesn&#39;t delve deeply into this promise. We already know from previous films that the alien invasion forced humanity into silence. Moreover, the practical questions, like what these creatures actually eat, remain unanswered, adding a layer of inefficiency to their lethal efficiency.



Stills of the film. Courtesy Paramount.

Comparing this series to the best zombie films of this century, A Quiet Place ranks alongside 28 Days Later in its immersive horror. Part II, like 28 Weeks Later, amplified the fear factor. Day One, intended as the origin story, unfortunately feels more like a Hallmark movie where everyone&mdash;including the remarkably chill house cat&mdash;seems to have nine lives.

As this latest entry into the Quiet Place series hits theatres, it raises intriguing questions about the balance between innovation and repetition in horror storytelling.

Do you think Day One lived up to its promise? Share your thoughts and let&#39;s discuss how this franchise continues to evolve.]]>
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			<title>'Inside Out 2' Review: Pixar's Sequel to the 2015 Hit tells us It's Okay Not be Okay</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2474823/inside-out-2-review-pixars-sequel-to-the-2015-hit-tells-us-its-okay-not-be-okay</link>
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			<pubDate>Fri, 28 Jun 24 08:04:52 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Magazine Desk]]>
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				<![CDATA[Now at 13, Riley experiences new emotions like Anxiety that toy with what she thought was her 'sense of self.']]>
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				<![CDATA[Here&rsquo;s why you should definitely watch Inside Out 2 with your kids: it&rsquo;s a heartfelt and funny exploration of the daunting phenomenon of growing up that both you and your children can relate to.

It tackles the inevitable poignantly and brilliantly portrays the emotional chaos of adolescence with characters like Anxiety, Embarrassment, and Ennui (Boredom) joining the familiar faces of Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust.



Recurring emotions Sadness, Joy, Envy, Fear &amp; Anger. Image: Disney/Pixar

Watching the protagonist - Riley, navigate her teen years with these emotions in tow offers a great opportunity for you to discuss your own feelings and experiences with your children. Plus, the film&rsquo;s rich animation and witty dialogue will keep you entertained while being perfectly suitable for younger viewers.

Bonus! - The film features scenes, although brief, into the emotions in the mind of the parents! It&rsquo;s a comic take on what parents feel and will surely get laughs out of you.

Take it as a touching reminder that everyone, no matter their age, has their own inner emotional world.

Now, onto the review itself.

Pixar&rsquo;s latest, Inside Out 2, released on June 14th, returns us to the colourful, chaotic and relatable mind of Riley Andersen, now a 13-year-old dealing with the throes of adolescence.

Directed by Kelsey Mann, this sequel cleverly blends family, fantasy, comedy, adventure, and drama into an animated delight that&rsquo;s both fun and poignant.

Amy Poehler is back as Joy, the ever-optimistic yellow sprite trying to keep things bright. But puberty throws a wrench into Joy&#39;s plans, and new emotions take over the control console. Maya Hawke, known for her role in Netflix show Stranger Things takes on  Anxiety, a jittery orange character that steals the spotlight, perfectly capturing the essence of teenage nerves. Anxiety&rsquo;s introduction brings a refreshing, yet relatable, energy to the film. Her takeover of Riley&rsquo;s mind is visualised in a stunning scene where Riley&rsquo;s inner turmoil is depicted as a spinning orange whirlpool&mdash;one of the film&rsquo;s standout moments.

While the original Inside Out focused on the upheaval of moving to a new city, Inside Out 2 dives into the universal, terribly awkward experience of growing up. This sequel shines in its portrayal of the emotional rollercoaster that is adolescence. The addition of new emotions like Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser), and Ennui (Ad&egrave;le Exarchopoulos) broaden the emotional spectrum in a more complex way that&rsquo;s both amusing and insightful.



The new emotions introduced in the film. Pictured from left to right; Embarrassment, Anxiety, Envy and Boredom. Image: Disney/Pixar.

One of the film&rsquo;s strengths is its ability to make these new emotions feel both fresh and necessary. Embarrassment, for example, is depicted as a big, pink character who&rsquo;s constantly trying to disappear into his hoodie&mdash;something any parent of a teenager will recognise immediately. Ennui, with her perpetual boredom and French accent, adds a humorous touch while also highlighting the more nuanced feelings of adolescence. It&rsquo;s a pretty clever symbol of the impending doom every parent will face - when your kids are more interested in what&rsquo;s going on in their phones rather than you!

However, I could not help but feel that not all the new emotions get the screen time or development they deserve. Envy, though visually distinctive, feels more like a colourful addition rather than an integral part of the story. This slight imbalance makes some parts of the film feel more cluttered than cohesive.

Joy and Anxiety were given the most screen time, understandably, since the two polar emotions tend to reign supreme in the minds of most teenagers. However teenagers feel angry often, they are always complaining about being bored and &lsquo;having nothing to do&rsquo; once they are off from school. Somehow, Pixar got lost in the plot of their storyboard rather than allowing all emotions to take centre stage in Riley&rsquo;s mind.



Joy &amp; Anxiety pictured together. Image: Disney/Pixar

Despite this, Inside Out 2 excels in its animation and voice acting. The film&rsquo;s vibrant visuals are as stunning as ever, capturing the chaos and beauty of the teenage mind. The voice cast, particularly Poehler and Hawke, deliver performances that are both entertaining and emotionally resonant. The dynamic between the emotions is as delightful as in the first film, with plenty of humorous and heartfelt interactions.

The movie avoids delving into more mature themes like crushes or rebellion, making it perfect for younger viewers while still resonating with parents.

If you haven&rsquo;t been able to have these conversations with your children, younger siblings or cousin, this is a good place to start. If there&rsquo;s anything you take away from this movie, it should be the encouragement to have a discussion about feelings and growing up. Don&rsquo;t run away from it because you think they might not understand and are &lsquo;too young&rsquo;, children are emotive and responsive, give them some credit too!

Maybe Inside Out 2 might not hit the same emotional highs as the original for me, but I do think it offers plenty of laughs, heartfelt moments, and insightful glimpses into the teenage psyche (Riley&rsquo;s panic attack is a critical scene in the movie).



Riley pictured with her friends, Grace and Bree at Hockey Camp. Image: Disney/Pixar

It&rsquo;s a must-watch for families and basically anyone who&rsquo;s ever navigated the rocky road of adolescence. Finally out of their slump, Pixar has crafted a film that&rsquo;s both entertaining and meaningful, a reminder that everyone, no matter their age, has an intricate inner emotional world worth exploring.]]>
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			<title>Scandi noir for everyone</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2453880/scandi-noir-for-everyone</link>
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			<pubDate>Sat, 20 Jan 24 18:52:27 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Fouzia Nasir Ahmad]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Life &amp; Style]]></category>
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			<description>
				<![CDATA[A Swedish series on family’s test &amp; trial not only pushes boundaries but resonates with cultural fabric of our society]]>
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				<![CDATA[This is the first time I watched Swedish content, even though I&rsquo;m not a big fan of dubbed stuff, but previously I quite enjoyed Cable Girls, Lupin, Money Heist and Call My Agent because European shows have a unique way of story-telling. Although The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Snowman, The Killing are English-language adaptations of tremendously popular Nordic works.

What initially attracted me to A Nearly Normal Family (ANNF), originally titled &#39;En Helt Vanlig Familj&#39; was the title which suggested that most-likely, the story is about a dysfunctional family. I enjoy watching shows and films about dysfunctional families such as Shameless or As Good As It Gets or A Man Called Otto because the characters are often quirky and eccentric so their stories tend to be off-beat.

Having watched enough shows and films to know when a show is setting me up, I usually know in the first 15 minutes, if I&rsquo;m going to watch the rest of it or not. I&rsquo;m not inflexible about what genre the show or film might be categorised as, but I do have zero tolerance for predictability. If I get an inkling of a somewhat familiar character in a half-known situation, I flick over to watch something else. While watching shows, I can usually suss out that information is purposely being withheld from the viewers/audience in order to prolong the central mystery. Sometimes I go along for the ride, especially for a favourite actor, to see how he/she will lend himself/herself to the build-up, but if ride involves a lot of misdirection, and scenes go into long-winded elaboration with storytelling gimmicks being used, I flick over.



I love to be tied up in shackles, to be chained, imprisoned and frozen by shows that do not allow me to reach out for the remote. I find myself watching open-mouthed, as my breathing following the exact breathing pattern of the actor in the scene. I forget everything else in the world and I get into the scene myself. This is exactly the kind of soul-grabbing show I enjoy watching &mdash; where the story is structured in such a way that I actually forget where the remote control is, and there is no need for popcorn. So with minimal expectation, this is how ANNF turned out to be.

Directed by Per Hanefjord and with a script by Anna Platt and Hans J&ouml;rnlind, the show is unpretentious, it doesn&rsquo;t take you for a ride and delivers more than your expectation. Think about flicking over, naah, you actually lose the remote.

The first scene begins with a close shot of a woman in a one-on-one conversation, perhaps a psychiatrist, rubbing her hands saying, &ldquo;Sounds like you have a complicated relationship with your parents. Has it always been this way?&rdquo; The young woman being asked [who is also in the promo poster] has a pained expression on her face. This is Stella Sandell played by Alexandra Karlsson Tyrefors, a 22-year-old Swedish actress and the mini-series is a story about her and her family.

In the next scene a younger Stella is off to a handball training camp and her parents &mdash; Adam (Bj&ouml;rn Bengtsson), a priest, and Ulrika (Lo Kauppi), a lawyer &mdash;have come to see her off as she gets into the bus. Stella sits next to her best friend Amina Besic (Melisa Ferhatovic), and excited and happy to be at camp together, they spot and ogle at the new young coach Robin (Christoffer Will&eacute;n) with fun and banter. You can pin this moment in your head.

At camp, Stella feels attracted to Robin and vice versa. She suggests they go for a swim after the first practice session. After they splash around in the cold water, some intimacy develops and they go inside an empty cottage nearby, where Robin rapes Stella, who protests but becomes frozen in fright. Pin this too.

When the two of them are discovered in the cottage by whoever it belongs to, Stella is sent home. Shocked, she tells her parents about the assault. Her father insists they report it, but her mother disagrees, especially as the medical exam doesn&rsquo;t show physical evidence. She believes Stella, but as an experienced lawyer she feels that pressing charges will lead to an invasive investigation that will be even more traumatic for her daughter. From here onwards the lives of the Sandell family will never be the same.

This was the point in the film where I felt that this situation set faraway in Lund, Stockholm, in Swedan, strangely resonated with our culture where rape and assault on young women and men are not reported for the same reason, in addition to torturous social pressure the the victim and families have to go through.

The characters in ANNF reflect shades of grey, but you feel empathic and forgiving towards them because they strive towards their greater goal to make sure true justice is served in a horrific situation that is not only difficult but almost impossible to explain in court, where everything is intimidating, cold and impersonal.

Life goes on and four years later, Stella who works at a bakery to save money for travel, runs into a fellow called Christoffer Olsen (Christian Fandango Sundgren) and they start seeing each other.

While the book ANNF by Mattias Edvardsson on which the series is based [and which I&rsquo;m now dying to read] is divided into three sections, each comprising the perspective of Adam, Stella, and Ulrika, respectively &mdash; the miniseries darts back and forth between the three perspectives of the Sandell family members.

Hence it is six weeks gone by, and the story develops from the parents&rsquo; perspectives. On an regular weeknight with, Adam is home alone, making dinner, Stella is out and Ulrika suddenly wants to step out saying it&rsquo;s an emergency at work, but she forgets her employee card behind which Adam discovers. Later on, the same night, Adam wakes up in the middle of the night, while his wife is asleep next to him, he finds Stella downstairs, clutching bloodstained clothes.

To pile on tension for the audience, here the director cleverly positions a scene where on his way to the church, Adam passes by a small building where someone has been murdered.



It turns out that Ulrika is cheating on her Adam with her fellow lawyer Mikael Blomberg (H&aring;kan Bengtsson) who calls her to break news that Stella has been arrested and accused of murdering a man named Christoffer Olsen. He also warns her that the police are on their way over to search the Sandells&rsquo; house.

Searching for some tell-tale sign, Ulrika finds a bag of Stella&rsquo;s blood-stained clothes under the bed which she puts in her handbag. The following scene absolutely kills with suspense because Ulrika takes the handbag full of evidence to the police station where she is being interrogated.

Interestingly, ANNF is not about dysfunctional families. It is about something that could go wrong with any ordinary family in the world that would make it somewhat dysfunctional because the traumatic event that happened remained unresolved because it was not processed in the way that it should have been. The trauma not only stayed with the victim, but also the near and dear ones. Stella&rsquo;s assault experience at camp at 15 had created a rift among the Sandells, and it is played out much later in the series.

Right till the end of the series, we don&rsquo;t really know if Stella really murdered Christoffer or is she falsely accused. We don&rsquo;t know what the dodgy and mysterious Ulrika knows or doesn&rsquo;t know and I will spare you this spoiler.

There is no eye candy in the series, and there are no stars, yet the cast could n&rsquo;t be more suited to their characters who are supposed to be just some ordinary people in ordinary lives.

Another beautiful aspect of the series is that experiences of each member of the Sandell family regarding this turn of events are portrayed in depth. The outcome of the investigation or the verdict affects the whole family and what each character takes home from the verdict is portrayed through subtle but powerful nuances. You can relate to the feelings of all three characters who experience a variety of emotions as each family member attempts to react and resolve the tragic event that occurs along with its multiple repercussions. For a little bit, you become Adam and experience what he feels, then you become Ulrika and feel what she went through and then you feel what Stella is experiencing.

Sundgren&rsquo;s role as Chris, the horrible controlling young man who drugs girls to take their advantage and forces them for inappropriate pictures, while maintaining the fa&ccedil;ade of a besotted lover was not an easy one and he delivered it fabulously.

The series is so raw and real with flawless voice work so that not once does the dub distract from the substance of the show. The side plot at the end with Amina&rsquo;s character gaining momentum was unpredictable. The six-part series does not falter at any of the turns, twists and right till the end, it keeps you hooked.

This Swedish series is excellent and thought provoking. The plot moves seamlessly from one episode to the next from the beginning to the end.

The flawed, dysfunctional and at times even unhappy characters in the Sandell family are so relatable and credible because of the story-writer&rsquo;s empathy towards violence against women, and the universal and thought-provoking theme about a fractured family unit and their struggle to heal and become stronger and closer to each other.

Also, I must mention here that this may have been the first time that I watched Swedish content, but it is certainly not the last.

&nbsp;]]>
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			<title>‘Filmi Yaadein’ invokes nostalgia of cinema</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2441903/filmi-yaadein-invokes-nostalgia-of-cinema</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2441903/filmi-yaadein-invokes-nostalgia-of-cinema#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 19 Oct 23 12:13:13 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[aftab.khan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Sindh]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2441903</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Over 40 paintings of eight artists put on display at the exhibition]]>
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				<![CDATA[A popular art gallery in the metropolitan city has burst into life with a unique 15-day painting exhibition titled &ldquo;Filmi Yaadein&rdquo;. The gallery is adorned with full-size film boards and posters, invoking the nostalgia of Pakistani and Indian cinema from the 1960s to the 1980s.

Eight talented artists have crafted over 40 paintings, paying homage to iconic films such as &ldquo;Armaan&rdquo; starring Waheed Murad and Zeba; &ldquo;Heer Ranjha&rdquo; featuring Ejaz and Firdous; and &ldquo;Baazi&rdquo; with Nadeem and Nasho.



PHOTO: EXPRESS

Moreover, the exhibition showcases artistic tributes to Indian classics like &ldquo;Mother India,&rdquo; &ldquo;Mughal-e-Azam,&rdquo; &ldquo;Mera Naam Joker,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Taj Mahal,&rdquo; alongside iconic Hollywood productions like &ldquo;Doctor No,&rdquo; &ldquo;The Godfather,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Titanic.&rdquo;



PHOTO: EXPRESS

The renowned digest cover designer, Zafar Siddiqui, has contributed to the exhibition by creating artistic renditions of iconic Pakistani film posters, including &ldquo;Anjuman,&rdquo; &ldquo;Ansoo Bahaye Patthar Ne,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Tum Hi Ho Mehboob Mere.&rdquo;

Painter Zahid Hussain has breathed a new life into images from Pakistani cinema, using cigarette filters to create striking artworks for films like &quot;Insan Aur Gadha.&quot;

Read also:&nbsp;Three-day art film festival to open at NAPA from Oct 20

The exhibition, hosted by the Art One 62 Gallery in Clifton, is not only a celebration of art but also a communal experience. Participants from diverse artistic and professional backgrounds have joined in, enriching the event&#39;s cultural diversity.

Eight talented artists, including Abbas Kamangar, Mehtab Ali, Nisar Bashir, Rustam Khan, Professor Rehmat Khan, Saeed Naqvi, Zafar Siddiqui, and Zahid Hussain, have skilfully recreated the magic of legendary films using various painting styles, including digital on paper, oil on canvas, watercolour on paper, acrylic on paper, and digital on canvas.



PHOTO: EXPRESS

This exhibition, a testament to the creativity of the past, transports visitors to a time when movie posters were painstakingly handcrafted, often spanning lengths of 30 to 40 feet. It offers a unique opportunity for the younger generation to witness the artistic heritage of cinema in the digital age.



PHOTO: EXPRESS

Mehtab Ali, a senior artist, paid tribute to the artists for reviving memories of Pakistani cinema, Hollywood, and Bollywood, acknowledging the monumental posters and boards that used to adorn cinema houses.

&quot;Filmi Yaadein&quot; is set to captivate audiences until October 30.]]>
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			<title>Film, Culture Policy 2018 revived to uplift industry: Marriyum</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2358786/film-culture-policy-2018-revived-to-uplift-industry-marriyum</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2358786/film-culture-policy-2018-revived-to-uplift-industry-marriyum#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 28 May 22 15:17:40 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[APP]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Life &amp; Style]]></category><category><![CDATA[MOVIES]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2358786</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Film sector being given the status of industry to offer it maximum incentives, says info minister]]>
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				<![CDATA[Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb on Saturday said that the Film and Culture Policy 2018 has been revived to uplift the industry through multiple incentives.

Marriyum made the announcement in a meeting with the delegation of the Film Producers Association. She also informed them about the steps being taken by the government for the revival of the film industry.

&ldquo;Recommendations for the revival of industry would soon be formulated after consulting the stakeholders of film and culture sectors,&rdquo; she said, assuring the delegation that those recommendations would soon be presented before Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and made part of the next budget.

The minister said Punjabi movies were the country&rsquo;s asset and their production would be increased under the new policy. Special incentives would be given for the preparation of the content related to children especially movies, cartoons, plays, stories and educational programmes.

Read more: Govt believes in freedom of press, Marriyum assures CPNE

She said that the film sector was being given the status of industry to offer it maximum incentives. The new policy was aimed at improving the quality, story and technology of movies.

Marriyum said that the policy would not only ensure the revival of cinemas through the construction of new facilities but would also include incentives for the artists.

She said that the price of tickets for movies in cinemas would be reduced to provide maximum recreational opportunities to the people. The process for giving the permits of film shooting would also be eased.

Marriyum said the government would encourage the export of Pakistani movies and create opportunities for promoting joint productions.

She said there was a dire need of improving the standard of Pakistani movies and underlined the importance of equipping this sector with modern technologies.

Also read: Imran trying to &#39;kill&#39; political opponents: Marriyum

She said that the government would cooperate with the industry for importing the film-making equipment and machinery. The delegation was assured that the demand for abolishing the withholding tax on the film industry would be considered and taken up at the relevant forum.

Film, drama, theatre and fine arts could play a critical role in improving the country&rsquo;s image at international level, she remarked, adding that the unrest and intolerance were never acceptable traits in Pakistani society.

She said that film, drama and fine arts were akin to the literary, moral and traditional life of the society. &ldquo;The soul of our society would be revived,&rdquo; the minister assured the association of full support for resolving their problems.

Sayed Noor, Sheikh Amjad Rashid, Pir Saad and others were also part of the delegation which called on the minister.]]>
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			<title>Is Netflix better than Amazon Prime?</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2334745/is-netflix-better-than-amazon-prime</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2334745/is-netflix-better-than-amazon-prime#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 20 Dec 21 06:02:54 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2334745</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[An evaluation of online streaming sites, Netflix and Amazon Prime, in their content, price, and audio/video quality.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Amazon Prime and Netflix launched their services together in Pakistan in 2016.&nbsp;However&nbsp;Netflix amassed a following while Amazon Prime is struggling. While the two competitive sites are unique in the content available for streaming, Netflix has somehow captured greater audiences in comparison to Amazon Prime.

Here we evaluate both the streaming sites, in terms of content available, subscription, services, and features available for users, to decide if Netflix really is the best of the two.

Content

Netflix has a range of Hollywood, Bollywood, and Lollywood movies, documentaries, and TV shows available for streaming. Their Netflix Originals have become quite popular with people, especially, Stranger Things, Queen&#39;s Gambit, Squid Game, Money Heist, Sacred Games, and House of Secrets: The Burari deaths. Such content is anticipated by viewers and has compelled many non-users to subscribe to the site and binge-watch all the popular content. The content quality of Netflix has only ever been beaten by HBO, which released the popular show Game of Thrones. Unfortunately, HBO Max has yet to launch in Pakistan. Netflix is also a bit slow in licensing content of new season releases and is usually a season behind.

While Netflix may have content in every genre, Amazon Prime has a much greater library of more than 24000 movies and 2100 TV shows. Most of Amazon&#39;s content is recognizable but older Hollywood films. Recently, however, the streaming site has acquired the franchise of other popular content like James Bond, Rocky, and the famous The Handmaid&#39;s Tale. Its Orignal production content is unique and has caught the eye of many audiences most notably, Fleabag, The Man in the High Castle, and Jack Ryan. Amazon lets you buy new episodes of shows right after its initial broadcast, a feature that Netflix clearly lacks. The site also provides access to some HBO content like The Wire, The Sopranos, and Succession.

Subscription Cost

Netflix reduced its monthly subscription charges in October this year by PKR&nbsp;400. The standard plan is PKR&nbsp;800 and the Premium plan is now Rs. 1100. The site&#39;s Mobile and the Basic plan is also PKR&nbsp;250 and PKR&nbsp;450. The standard plan allows two streaming screens, two devices to download content, unlimited access to movies and TV shows, streaming in HD, and access on all devices. The Premium plan has an addition of letting users access four screens at the same time, with four devices to download content and streaming in ultra HD, HDR, and Dolby Atmos.

Amazon Prime has a basic simple subscription fee of $5.99 which is around Rs. 1075 ($1=179.47), which is slightly pricey than Netflix. To subscribe you will need a Master or Visa card, but the plan will give you access to stream on three different devices. You can download your favorite content and stream offline on any device as well. Prime supports videos in 4K, Ultra HD, HDR, and Dolby Atmos. If you get an Amazon Prime membership, you can get access to Amazon Prime Video, access Amazon Music service, and earn some shopping benefits as well.

Device Support

Netflix allows support to most of all devices for streaming content including, web browsers on Mac or PC, Apple TV, Amazon&#39;s Fire TV, and its devices, iOS, Android, Windows phone, Xbox One, and Series X, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii U, Nintendo 3DS Blue-ray players, smart TV, and Google&#39;s Chromecast.

Amazon Prime is supported on all of the devices like Netflix, except Windows phone and Nintendo 3DS.

Audio and Video experience

Netflix has a consistent interface with minor changes varying in different devices, while users get their own different profiles each with its own tailored recommendations, while the Kids profile, ensures all PG-rated content is not displayed. The video streaming site also adjusts the level of video compression according to user&#39;s internet connection speed.

Amazon Prime&#39;s interface is a bit difficult to navigate, different in each device in style and usability. If using the web, the site is presented as a section of the Amazon store. On Prime, users can add up to six profiles, though the recommendation window isn&#39;t as sophisticated as Netflix. Video quality is quite remarkable, allowing content to be streamed in 4K with HDR, and Dolby Atmos, when available and without an additional fee. Soundtracks are offered in Dolby 5.1 surround.

In terms of ease price and content, there is no doubt that Netflix has emerged as the winner. Amazon Prime will need to offer better content and provide much ease in the navigation of the app and better pricing plans, to be seen as a threat to Netflix.]]>
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			<title>Five best torrent sites of 2021</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2334517/five-best-torrent-sites-of-2021</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2334517/five-best-torrent-sites-of-2021#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 18 Dec 21 09:27:18 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Tech Desk]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2334517</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Looking for the best Torrent sites? Here is a list of the most popular ones of this year.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[While not everyone prefers a Netflix subscription, torrent sites are the go-to places&nbsp;download and stream the content you want to watch. To find the best safe Torrent sites made for you, here is a compilation&nbsp;of the most popular ones this year.

The Pirate Bay

This Torrent site has been online for 17 years and is still one of the best for Torrent downloads with over 60 million users a month. The website is available in 35 different languages and has held the title of being the best Torrent site since 2018. With a wide range in variety, Pirate Bay&#39;s database is uploaded by trusted users, identified using a skull system. Green skulls are the VIP members, pink skulls are trusted and verified users, and lastly, blue skull users who help to keep the site safe from spam and malware. Most torrents here have a few seeders for faster downloads, with filtered searches according to format, quality, and gaming console.

YTS.mx

This site is an unofficial successor of YTS and YIFY group, which had closed down a few years ago. Faced with several lawsuits, the operator signed a consent judgment and agreed to hand over user data. Consequently, YTS users received settlement requests or were sued. The site offers the latest premium quality movies for download and has around 75 million users worldwide. The site has 30,000 titles, most with subtitles included and available in 1080p. Music, software, and games are not available on this site.

1337x

1337x is a well-known site with 53 million monthly users and high-quality torrents, including movies, TV shows, music, and some games. The website interface is simple and provides all the essential technical information about the torrent video. The active community of the platform updates the torrents every few hours. The site has few ads and shows some effort in protecting user privacy, however that doesn&#39;t eliminate the risk of third parties spying on user activity online.

Torrentz2

This site is a torrent search engine that uses your keywords to give you an index of all the torrent sites that will have them available. Torrentz2 is a great place to find content that may not be available on other sites. Once the search engine provides results, you can click on the site and begin downloading by clicking on the magnetic link again. The site has an extensive music library collection across different genres. However, it has a lot of pop-up ads with fake misleading links and content, while the site has tried to fix a lot of bugs to make the site safer.

Lime Torrents

Lime Torrents has around 10 million torrents media on its website, attracting 20 million users every month. Its library is larger than that of Pirate Bay, with music, movies, TV shows, games, apps, with a feature to view the top 100 for each category. The top 100 are a list of new releases, most of them under copyright. You can use the public domain to download torrents safely, allowing torrents to be filtered according to their health and verification status. However, most of these are fake, and the site is crowded with annoying pop-up ads as well.

&nbsp;]]>
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			<title>Netflix rolls out mobile games to subscribers on Android</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2327601/netflix-rolls-out-mobile-games-to-subscribers-on-android</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2327601/netflix-rolls-out-mobile-games-to-subscribers-on-android#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 03 Nov 21 05:26:41 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Reuters]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2327601</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Netflix has rolled out mobile games to android devices, which are accessible only through a Netflix subscription.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[Netflix Inc&nbsp;(NFLX.O)&nbsp;on Tuesday rolled out its mobile games globally to members with Android devices, exploring new ground as competition stiffens on the video streaming pioneer&#39;s home turf.

Users will only require a Netflix subscription to play those games and there will be no additional fees or in-app purchases, the company said. (https://bit.ly/3GJCBwp)

Offering games for free to current subscribers echoes the strategy Netflix used when moving from a business of DVDs-by-mail to streaming movies.

Its move into gaming was announced in July, as the company faced a sharp slowdown in new customers after years of rapid expansion, a pandemic-fueled boom in 2020 and searing competition from the likes of Disney+ and HBO Max.&nbsp;https://reut.rs/3mEjBY6

Netflix has already introduced its games like &quot;Stranger Things: 1984&quot;, &quot;Stranger Things 3: The Game&quot;, &quot;Card Blast&quot;, &quot;Teeter Up&quot; and &quot;Shooting Hoops&quot; titles on Android to Netflix members in Spain, Italy and Poland.

The streaming giant also bought video game creator Night School Studio in September and rolled out five mobile gaming titles in select European markets. (https://reut.rs/2Yd1X4q)]]>
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			<title>Riz Ahmed leads bid to change the way Muslims are seen in films</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2304665/riz-ahmed-leads-bid-to-change-the-way-muslims-are-seen-in-films</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2304665/riz-ahmed-leads-bid-to-change-the-way-muslims-are-seen-in-films#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 11 Jun 21 05:21:15 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Reuters]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Film]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2304665</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Actor cites study proving Muslims barely appear in top-grossing films and when shown, they are represented negatively]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[British actor Riz Ahmed on Thursday launched an effort to improve the way Muslims are depicted in films after a study showed that they are barely seen and shown in a negative light when they do appear.

Ahmed, the Sound of Metal star and the first Muslim to get a best actor Oscar nomination, said the Blueprint for Muslim Inclusion would include funding and mentoring for Muslim story tellers in the early stages of their careers.

&quot;The representation of Muslims on screen feeds the policies that get enacted, the people that get killed, the countries that get invaded,&quot; Ahmed said in a statement.

&quot;The data doesn&#39;t lie. This study shows us the scale of the problem in popular film, and its cost is measured in lost potential and lost lives,&quot; he added.

Titled Missing and Maligned, the study by the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative found that less than 10% of top-grossing films released from 2017-2019 from the US, the UK, Australia and New Zealand featured at least one speaking Muslim character.

When they did, they were shown as outsiders, or threatening, or subservient, the study showed. About one-third of Muslim characters were perpetrators of violence and more than half were targets of violence.

&quot;Muslims live all over the world, but film audiences only see a narrow portrait of this community, rather than viewing Muslims as they are: business owners, friends and neighbors whose presence is part of modern life,&quot; said Al-Baab Khan, one of the report&#39;s authors.

Ahmed, 38, who was born in London to Pakistani parents, said that offering funding would be game changing in getting more Muslim actors, writer and producers into the film and TV business.

&quot;Had I not received a scholarship and also a private donation, I wouldn&#39;t have been able to attend drama school,&quot; he said.

The $25,000 fellowships for young Muslim artists will be decided by an advisory committee that includes actors Mahershala Ali and Ramy Youssef and comedian Hasan Minhaj.

Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below.]]>
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			<title>I have to keep acting: Sheheryar Munawar</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2283253/i-have-to-keep-acting-sheheryar-munawar</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2283253/i-have-to-keep-acting-sheheryar-munawar#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 09 Feb 21 11:03:38 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Entertainment Desk]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[TV]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2283253</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Superstar gets candid on his career with ‘BBC’ journalist Haroon Rashid]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[After films like 7 Din Muhabbat In, Project Ghazi and Parey Hut Love, Sheheryar Munawar has finally reverted to television with the drama serial Pehli Si Muhabbat. Returning to the small screen after six years, the actor unquestionably has fans and critics enraptured. However, he does not consider television to be the &lsquo;smaller&rsquo; screen as paralleled to cinema, a thought he shared in recent, all-inclusive confab with BBC Asian Network&rsquo;s Haroon Rashid.

Speaking of his return to dramas, Munawar underlined the dissimilarities between projects made for television and the ones for cinemas. He also spoke about what it was like for him to return and how he initially struggled on set, as well as the ultimatums of a TV play in contrast to that of a film.

The sudden shift from films to TV

&ldquo;In Pakistan, television is the strongest medium that we have. For an actor, it is a different medium so the kind of acting that you are supposed to do, the pace that you could have with your character, and a lot of other things, are completely different. That has a certain kind of excitement to it as well,&rdquo; Munawar said of his career trajectory. &ldquo;The thing with films is that when you pick up a project, it takes an entire year because you have pre-production, then shooting, then dubbing and promotions. I didn&rsquo;t get to do it for a long time. When Covid happened and cinemas shut down, I was supposed to do two film projects and I turned around and said, you know it&rsquo;s better to wait it out.&rdquo;

During the interview, host Rashid grilled the Ho Mann Jahan star about this sudden transition and why he selected Pehli Si Muhabbat for his big return. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m an actor; I have to keep acting,&rdquo; replied Munawar. &ldquo;I have to make content. I have to be in front of the camera or behind the camera but I have to be working. Part of being an actor is being able to adapt, adapting to situations. And the situation was such that for the next year, I knew it was going to be tougher for me thinking, &lsquo;Okay, when is my film going to release&rsquo;?&rdquo; he said about the ongoing pandemic and the uncertainty that came along with it.

&ldquo;Honestly, I don&rsquo;t see it like this is a smaller screen that is a bigger screen. The way I see it, it&rsquo;s a different format of work. So why not? I wanted to keep working; I didn&rsquo;t want to sit around.&rdquo;

&lsquo;Pehli Si Mohabbat&rsquo;

&ldquo;You know obviously when I came on set, it wasn&rsquo;t the frills and thrills that got me worried. It was more to do with the kind of acting,&rdquo; Munawar began on how he initially struggled to catch the rhythm on the sets of his on-air drama, Pehli Si Mohabbat. The show also stars Maya Ali and fashion designer, Hassan Sheheryar Yasin (HSY).

&ldquo;I realised there is a slower pace on television. In films, we follow a different pace in terms of our delivery, even if it&rsquo;s dialogue delivery. It needs to have that energy when you say the line and it has to be thak thak (on point),&rdquo; the star said. &ldquo;You have to keep moving. You only slow down when you actually want to slow down the story. With drama, I&rsquo;ve seen a lot of the actors have a slower way of moving about things. Obviously, it&rsquo;s a longer format so people like to elongate moments.&rdquo;

The 32-year-old actor, upon being questioned about this, mentioned how dramas differ around the world. Internationally, series are filmed for the OTT platforms ruling the digital industry. Whereas in Pakistan, they are made for people who sit in front of their TVs at certain times.

&ldquo;I feel like I&rsquo;m sticking out because there&rsquo;s a certain kind of rhythm that everybody is delivering their lines, there is a singsong-ness to the dialogue delivery. And you know, I&rsquo;m not used to that. So with me and Maya&rsquo;s character&hellip; both of us have brought in that kind of film training that we had. Let&rsquo;s see. Fingers crossed!&rdquo;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFRGbOvC1ks&amp;t=57s]]>
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			<title>Pakistan's cinema industry in dire straits before Eid</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2228157/pakistans-cinema-industry-dire-straits-eid</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2228157/pakistans-cinema-industry-dire-straits-eid#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 24 May 20 03:38:29 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[zulfiqar.baig]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Film]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2228157</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Delayed releases and closed movie theatres amid pandemic lead to huge losses for film screening industry]]>
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				<![CDATA[With some of the most awaited releases of the year being shelved worldwide in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the year 2020 has been absolutely devastating for the international cinema industry. However, for a country like Pakistan which manically slates its biggest releases for Eidul Fitr, hoping to bank on the holiday crowd’s eagerness to splurge on movie tickets, the timing couldn’t have been worse.

According to a leading film distributor Nadeem Mandviwala, the last two months in lockdown have broken the local cinema industry’s back and left little to be hopeful for.

“Eid days are usually the most sought after dates for film releases in Pakistan, which is also when the local cinema industry makes most business. However, this year, the global coronavirus pandemic has postponed all releases slated for Eid, be it from Hollywood, Bollywood or Lollywood, which has left the cinema industry in dire straits,” he shared.

Whereas on the other hand, the pandemic has also put a damper on the spirits of film enthusiasts and cinemagoers and left many feeling apprehensive about the big screen. “I am a huge Marvel fan and had been counting days till the release of the movie Black Widow, until it was postponed to November.

However, I doubt the virus is going away anytime soon and I am not sure if it will be safe to go to a cinema in the coming months,” expressed Saira, a resident of Rawalpindi. Similarly, Ibrahim, a third-year engineering student from Islamabad believes that the government’s decision to close cinemas during the pandemic was a wise call to make amid current scenario. “I was actually quite looking forward to watching The Legend of Maula Jatt with my siblings this Eid, but even if the cinemas were open and the release wasn’t postponed I would have never gone considering how contagious the virus is. I think we should be responsible citizens and avoid all public gatherings until the government has found a way to deal with the disease.”

However, speaking to The Express Tribune Mandviwala shared that shutting cinemas completely is not the logical answer to the pandemic. According to the distributor, cinemas in the country pay as much as Rs4, 000,000 in rent every month, for which expenses have to be met and movie tickets have to be sold. “Developing a digital computerized cinema costs between Rs20 million to Rs30 million and there is a lot of advanced machinery involved. If cinemas continue to remain shut over a prolonged period, there is a risk that lot of expensive equipment will be damaged due to non-usage.

Who will cover our losses if something like that happens?” he questioned. “Even if the government allows screening films to a limited audience under its SOPs, the cinemas will still be incurring losses on account of utility payments, electricity charges and employee salaries. This is a huge industry and something better needs to be planned for it if it is to survive the age of coronavirus,” he asserted.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 24th, 2020.]]>
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			<title>Hollywood is estimated to incur $2 billion loss from Asia alone: Experts</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2171290/hollywood-estimated-incur-2-billion-loss-asia-alone-experts</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2171290/hollywood-estimated-incur-2-billion-loss-asia-alone-experts#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 07 Mar 20 09:39:24 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Life &amp; Style]]></category><category><![CDATA[Film]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2171290</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The coronavirus has caused a massive blow to the film industry in the west]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[The new James Bond movie delayed. Studios scrapping film festivals. Blockbuster productions shut down. Hollywood is being rocked by the unprecedented challenge of the new coronavirus, insiders revealed this week.

"I have never seen anything where this many films are going to be affected all at once," said Jeff Bock, senior analyst at Exhibitor Relations. "There are isolated incidents or tragedies that happen that might affect a certain film. But this really does infect all the industry from top to bottom."

Industry estimates put the financial loss from Asian theatres already shuttered this year around $2 billion. Major Hollywood titles including Mulan, Disney's China-set live-action blockbuster, have been placed on hold in China. The last-minute global delay of 007 adventure No Time To Die, including its US and European releases, highlights the borderless impact of the virus.

For now, US theatre attendances are holding steady despite fears of spreading infection and Mulan remains penned in for launch this month in North America. But new coronavirus outbreaks in California and New York, and multiple deaths in Washington state, could impact receipts. "We'll see a little bit of downturn this week, by the time Mulan comes out. If this breaks as big as it did in China, it's going to change the entire landscape," said Bock.

Meanwhile, massive buyers including Netflix, Amazon and Apple have pulled out of the SXSW festival in Texas - an important marketplace for films. But the impact will not be restricted to major studios. Stephen Nemeth, who produced Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) starring Jonny Depp, has another Hunter S Thompson-themed film set to make its world premiere at the Austin festival. "We are forging ahead," he said. "We have a 1,100 seat theatre... that's a lot of seats to fill if there's only 25% capacity at the festival."

'Caution' 

More than 50,000 people have signed an online petition calling for SXSW to be cancelled. While organisers insist it is still going ahead, reports of further high-profile dropouts including Warner Bros and CNN have sown doubts.

"I'm not anticipating a buyer because I think the buyers will be few and far between," said Nemeth, who thinks his film Freak Power is now more likely to sell via private screenings back in Hollywood. "I'm not certain that SXSW is still gonna happen," he added.

Other film gatherings, including CinemaCon in Las Vegas and the Cannes Film Festival, are under scrutiny.

Production has also been hit. A scheduled three-week shoot for the new Tom Cruise-starring Mission Impossible in Italy - one of the worst-affected countries - was stopped last month. Paramount moved the filming out of "an abundance of caution for the safety and well-being of our cast and crew."

Netflix is looking for alternative locations to shoot a part of new Dwayne Johnson’s Red Notice that had been due to film in Italy. "What it's doing is testing location managers on being super nimble problem solvers," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior Comscore analyst, pointing out that production workers "are a tenacious and inventive bunch."

'Cripple'

But the logistics of filming anywhere - especially productions that require hundreds of actors and extras - make it appear a risky proposition right now, said Nemeth. "I do not begrudge actors for not wanting to continue with a film," he said. "Every film is its own little village. Those are people all dining together, waiting in the same line at the same lunch truck. You have many, many, many people in a confined area."

Any blockage in the relentless pipeline of film production could leave a dearth of films further ahead. "The longer that goes on, the fewer films that we get in the pipeline for 2021, 2022," said Bock. "This has the potential to really cripple the theatrical industry the longer it goes on."

&nbsp;]]>
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			<title>Apple does not let bad guys use iPhones in movies</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2165280/apple-not-let-bad-guys-use-iphones-movies</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2165280/apple-not-let-bad-guys-use-iphones-movies#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 27 Feb 20 09:48:35 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Tech Desk]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2165280</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Apple wants its products to only be seen in a positive manner]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[Having a good brand image is what every company strives for, Apple has been equally cautious of how its products are perceived on and off camera.

According to Rian Johnson, director of Knives Out and The Last Jedi, the smartphone giant is against villains using iPhones.

Apple mulls developing its own 5G antenna for 2020 iPhones

“Apple... they let you use iPhones in movies but and this is very pivotal if you’re ever watching a mystery movie bad guys cannot have iPhones on camera,” the director said in a video interview with Vanity Fair.

“Every single filmmaker that has a bad guy in their movie that’s supposed to be a secret wants to murder me right now,” said Johnson.

This is not the first time that Apple has been rumoured to have controlled how its products are shown on TV and movies.

Apple rolls out free repair for iPhone 6S devices

A report by MacRumors, suggests that the company wants its products to only be seen in a positive manner “in the best light, in a manner or context that reflects favourably on the Apple products and on Apple Inc.”

The company has also been hands-on with how its devices are depicted in its own streaming service.

This article originally published on The Verge.]]>
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			<title>Sonali Bendre shares her journey with cancer in emotional video</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2150055/sonali-bendre-shares-journey-cancer-emotional-video</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2150055/sonali-bendre-shares-journey-cancer-emotional-video#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 04 Feb 20 11:43:27 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2150055</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The actor posted a video on Instagram in wake of World Cancer day]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[Veteran actor Sonali Bendre traced her emotional journey as a cancer patient in a video post, reported Hindustan Times.

"Change is the only constant in life and how life has changed. It’s been almost two years. These two years have taught me many lessons. Gave me the patience to look for the light at the end of the tunnel. In this, I found my new normal and the strength to switch on the sunshine every day" she said.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8InQa5JMw2/?utm_source=ig_embed

The actor concluded the message with a heartfelt message to cancer patients across the world. "The journey of knowing who I am reminds me that I am much more than this. For all of us going through this, let’s remind us that cancer doesn’t define us,” she said.

Additionally, her video post was accompanied by a caption that urged the importance of early detection. “Note to self. P.S. For the rest of you, listen to your body and go for regular check ups, early detection helps! #WorldCancerDay,” the caption read.

Have something to add to the story? Share in the comments below.

&nbsp;]]>
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			<title>Deepika Padukone silences reports of using Ranveer Singh's money for 'Chhapaak'</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2130252/deepika-padukone-silences-reports-using-ranveer-singhs-money-chhapaaak</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2130252/deepika-padukone-silences-reports-using-ranveer-singhs-money-chhapaaak#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 04 Jan 20 07:28:25 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Entertainment Desk]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Life &amp; Style]]></category><category><![CDATA[Film]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2130252</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Deepika has opened up countless times to express just how close Chhapaak is to her heart]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[Deepika Padukone's next release Chhapaak is really close to her heart, as she's said time and again, so hearing baseless rumours is sure to rile her up.

As it so happened, at the title track launch of her first home production, the starlet was hit by a speculation that the money invested in the film is actually her husband, Ranveer Singh's - implying how it shouldn't be a big deal since the both are married now.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B62ZHf7D6PZ/

Deepika swiftly shut down the reports, instantly replying to the query with, "Excuse me, yeh mere khud ke paise hain. Kisne bola yeh? (Excuse me, It is my own money. Who said this?)"

Her response elicited a cacophony of laughter and claps from the audience, applauding her for the way she handled the incriminating question.

'Chhapaak' is the most precious film of my career: Deepika Padukone

Seems like Deepika is serious about her role as a producer apart from portraying the lead role in the film as well. The Padmaavat star has much reason to be proud of her involvement in the film, which is based on the story of an acid-attack survivor.

Deepika has opened up countless times to express just how close Chhapaak is to her heart. “Whenever I see the trailer, I get emotional. It is not usually in the first few minutes of meeting that you decide on committing to something, and Chhapaak was this for me. It has been an incredible journey," she shared at the movie's trailer launch earlier in December 2019.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B60DT0QDfJc/

Deepika Padukone's 'Chhapaak' accused of plagiarism

She went on to label it the 'most special film of my career.' “Irrespective of how it will be received, I feel it is the most special film of my career. The film is supposed to impact all of us, and that’s the reason why we did his movie. We made it with a lot of responsibility,” she said.

Judging from the trailers, Deepika delivers a performance that has the potential to be one of her strongest till date. She plays the role of Malti, a character that is based on Laxmi Agarwal, an acid attack survivor who went on to conquer her life despite her ordeal.

The Meghna Gulzar directorial is all set to hit theaters on 10 January, 2020.

Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below.]]>
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			<title>Govt suspends Samjhauta Express; bans Bollywood movies</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2030935/samjhauta-express-shut-railways-minister</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2030935/samjhauta-express-shut-railways-minister#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 08 Aug 19 09:51:05 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[our.correspondent]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2030935</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Rasheed says Samjhauta Express not to operate as  long as he is railways minister]]>
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				<![CDATA[The government decided to shut the Samjhauta Express rail service between Lahore and New Delhi and placed a complete ban on the screening of Bollywood movies in the country, as tension between the neighbours continue to rise following India’s revocation of special status of Kashmir.

Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid told a news conference on Thursday the train service between Pakistan and India had been stopped immediately and the passengers, who were scheduled to depart from Lahore on Thursday, had been shifted to Wagah border for their onward journey.

“Pakistani nation cannot sit idle when India is committing massive human rights violations in Kashmir,” Rashid said, making a formal announcement of the suspension of the train service. “So being the railways minister, today I announce to close down the Samjhauta Express forever. As long as I am the railways minister, it will not operate."

The minister assured that people who had bought tickets will be reimbursed. He advised the passengers to get their tickets refunded from the Office of Divisional Superintendent in Lahore. He directed the authorities to detach bogies of Samjhauta Express and use them to accommodate passengers' influx on Eidul Azha.

Answering a question, the minister said whatever was happening in Indian-occupied Kashmir (IoK) was part of a well-planned conspiracy against the people of Kashmir. He predicted that the next three to 12 months were crucial. "There can be a war," he said, adding Pakistan did not want war, but peace.”

The minister recalled that whenever tension mounted between Pakistan and India, extremist Hindus targeted Pakistani passengers in India, referring to the burning incident of Samjhauta train in 2007. "They (Hindus) burnt alive Pakistanis in 1947 and 2007 in trains."

The Indian government rushed through a presidential decree on Monday to revoke the special status of occupied Kashmir. In response Pakistan on Wednesday expelled Indian envoy and downgraded the diplomatic ties. The government also announced that Pakistan would revisit the bilateral arrangements.

Rashid said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took an unwise decision of revoking Article 370 and expressed confidence that people of Kashmir would bury Modi's politics in Srinagar that started from the Babri Masjid episode. “People of Kashmir and Pakistan are enjoying common values, culture and religion, so they were integral part of each other,” he added.

Also on Thursday, Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said in a tweet that screening of Indian films in the country’s cinemas would be banned. “No Indian movie will be screened in any Pakistani cinema. Drama, films and Indian content of this kind will be completely banned in Pakistan.”]]>
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			<title>'Parey Hut Love' trailer explores typical boy-meets-girl love story</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1997852/paray-hut-love-trailer-explores-typical-boy-meets-girl-love-story</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1997852/paray-hut-love-trailer-explores-typical-boy-meets-girl-love-story#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 22 Jun 19 08:16:22 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Haddiqua Siddiqui]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Life &amp; Style]]></category><category><![CDATA[Film]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=1997852</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The film is said to be the biggest production of the year!]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[From 2013's Behadd to Ho Mann Jahan in 2016, Asim Raza has always ensured audiences get a dose of romance, family drama, good visuals and music in his films.

After a three year hiatus, he is back with a new directorial venture, Parey Hut Love (PHL).

https://www.instagram.com/p/By5GsKBBSab/

From the first official trailer that released yesterday, the film looks grand. Not only in terms of the various majestic settings but also the star-studded cast that features in the rom-com.

The trailer opens with vibrant colours and beautiful wedding decor, reminding fans of the shaadi scenes from Ho Mann Jahan.

https://www.instagram.com/p/By_KM3wH0la/

Sheheryar, played by Sheheryar Munawar Siddiqui, is introduced as a struggling actor to the viewers who is engrossed in conversation with Nadeem Baig's character. He is later seen rehearsing a scene with Zara Noor Abbas Siddiqui who is paired opposite Mr Funny Bones, Ahmed Ali Butt in the love story. We also see the famous Momo aka Hina Dilpazir in this bit of the trailer.

https://www.instagram.com/p/By8UDeVBhEb/

Munawar's character is no different from men his age who fear the idea of marriage until they meet the 'perfect one'. For Munawar it is Saniya played by Maya Ali who will change his perception as she plays his love interest in the film.

The flick looks promising in terms of production, cinematography, direction and music. However, it is too soon to say if the story-line will impress audiences in the same way.

https://www.instagram.com/p/By4zPLPB2XT/

A lot is happening in this trailer, leaving one with conflicting feelings about the story-line: boy meets girl, girl is already engaged to someone else, boy falls in love with girl, girl warns him to not fall in love with her and the rest is a typical desi love story with different musical scores and fancy set-up.

Apart from Ali and Munawar's on-screen chemistry, there are cameo's that will definitely pull audiences to cinema houses this Eidul Azha. A sneak peek of Mahira Khan's look will leave you awe-struck and wanting more.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BwJdFLCnEkx/

The Raees actor will be doing a special dance performance, the teaser of which she shared in April, creating a stir among netizens on Instagram.

Parisheh James - Frieha Altaf's daughter - plays Natasha in the film. Even though she is seen for a few seconds, this newbie is hard to go unnoticed.

https://www.instagram.com/p/By7W4wyh0Sh/

Jimmy Khan and Rachel Viccaji are spotted playing a Parsi couple. The trailer ends with Fawad Khan sharing some wisdom on being successful. The film has been written by Imran Aslam and is based on the popular 1994 British film, Four Weddings and a Funeral. 

It will play in cinemas in August, 2019.

You can watch the full trailer here:

https://youtu.be/EJ2J07ca18w

Have something to add to the story? Share in the comments below.]]>
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			<title>Danish Taimoor says he was offered a role opposite Kareena Kapoor Khan</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1994925/danish-taimoor-says-offered-role-opposite-kareena-kapoor-khan</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1994925/danish-taimoor-says-offered-role-opposite-kareena-kapoor-khan#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 18 Jun 19 10:03:08 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Haddiqua Siddiqui]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=1994925</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The actor was reportedly offered a role in Veere Di Wedding]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Danish Taimoor is one of the finest stars in the country who has managed to vow audiences with both, his acting skills and never-ending charm.

These days he has been hosting a game show on a local TV channel. Taimoor was invited with his wife and actor Ayeza Khan on a chat show where the couple discussed future projects and more.

[caption id="attachment_498581" align="alignnone" width="640"] PHOTO: ALEE ASLAM[/caption]

During the show, the Mehrunisa V Lub U actor disclosed that he was approached for a lead role opposite Kareena Kapoor Khan in the star-studded Bollywood movie Veere Di Wedding which played in cinemas in 2018. According to him, the dates were finalised but then tensions between the two countries escalated in 2016 and he could not go to India to start shooting for the film.

The actor bowled his fans with his last released Wajood, a Pakistani revenge thriller released in 2018, which also featured the gorgeous Indian actor Aditi Singh.

Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below.]]>
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			<title>Bleep! Indian censors cut swear words from ‘Gully Boy’</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1909636/bleep-indian-censors-cut-swear-words-gully-boy</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1909636/bleep-indian-censors-cut-swear-words-gully-boy#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 13 Feb 19 12:06:00 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category><category><![CDATA[Life &amp; Style]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[The film is about a young couple yearning to break out of their traditional Muslim families to realise their dreams]]>
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				<![CDATA[Cinemagoers might expect a few swear words in a movie about rapping but not in India, where censors have cut several profanities from a taboo-breaking blockbuster, while also toning down a screen kiss.

India's Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has ordered filmmakers to remove every mention of three expletives from ‘Gully Boy’, a drama about an aspiring hip-hop star from a Mumbai slum.

The body has a long history of cutting scenes and barring movies, including those deemed too racy or may cause religious offence, with filmmakers accusing censors of intolerance.

‘Gully Boy’ stars Bollywood icons Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt and is about a young couple yearning to break out of their traditional Muslim families to realise their dreams.

The female-directed movie premiered to great acclaim at the Berlin film festival at the weekend and hits screens across India on Thursday.

According to a filing on its website, the CBFC granted ‘Gully Boy’ a UA rating on the condition it replaced an English-language expletive and two Hindi slang terms "wherever (they) occurred".

Bollywood superstars test taboos with hip-hop blockbuster ‘Gully Boy’

UA stands for an unrestricted adult rating, which means parental guidance is required for children under 12 years old. Only films with that rating reach a mass audience.

The CBFC also told the filmmakers to reduce the length of a "passionate kissing scene" and replace it with a wider shot.

"We made some minor changes," Ritesh Sidhwani, the film's producer, said, adding that the songs in the movie were "intact".

Singh, 33, stars as Murad who is turning the squalor and tension of his home life into poetry until a popular local rapper convinces him to try hip-hop.

Bhatt, 25, plays Safeena, who wears a traditional Muslim headscarf but resists her family's attempts to arrange her marriage and wants to become a surgeon.

The pair has loved each other since childhood but has to keep their relationship secret from their parents so they meet for illicit trysts.

The movie is inspired in part by Mumbai hip-hop stars Divine and Naezy and sees Singh doing his own rapping.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfbxcD6biOk]]>
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			<title>'Roma' and 'The Favourite' lead Oscar nominees</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1894252/roma-favourite-lead-oscar-nominees</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1894252/roma-favourite-lead-oscar-nominees#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 22 Jan 19 14:33:11 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[reuters]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Life &amp; Style]]></category><category><![CDATA[Film]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=1894252</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Oscars will be handed out in Hollywood on February 24]]>
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				<![CDATA[Netflix movie ‘Roma’ and British historical romp ‘The Favourite’ led nominations for the Oscars on Tuesday with 10 nods apiece.

They will compete for the top prize of best picture with ‘A Star is Born,’ ‘Black Panther’, ‘Green Book’ ‘BlacKkKlansman’ ‘Vice’ and rock musical ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’.

https://twitter.com/TheAcademy/status/1087706572220915713

Oscars: the show must go on...

Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron's semiautobiographical tale ‘Roma’ was the first for streaming service Netflix Inc.

Shot entirely in Spanish and an indigenous Mexican dialect, it will also compete in the foreign language field.

‘Roma’ also won nominations for best director, lead actress Yalitza Aparicio, screenplay, and multiple editing nominations.

The Oscars, the highest awards in the movie industry, will be handed out in Hollywood on February 24.

https://twitter.com/TheAcademy/status/1087700927568584707]]>
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			<title>19 films to look out for in 2019</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1884399/19-films-look-2019</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1884399/19-films-look-2019#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 09 Jan 19 06:17:26 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Rida Lodhi]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Life &amp; Style]]></category><category><![CDATA[Film]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=1884399</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[A new year is upon us, as are a bunch of releases we’ve got to get you ready for!]]>
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				<![CDATA[Last year proved to be a good year for film at large. While some of us might still be recovering from Thanos wiping out half of the humanity (Spider-Man, I hope you’re in a better place now), others were overwhelmed by the diversity offered through cinema during 2018.

But now that the New Year has dawned upon us, it’s time to look ahead. Soon enough, 2019 will be presenting a plethora of much-awaited and much talked-about new films that we must be on the lookout for.  Here are our picks for 19 Lollywood, Bollywood and Hollywood releases we’re anxiously waiting for in 2019.

1. ‘The Legend of Maula Jatt’

[caption id="attachment_1872306" align="alignnone" width="625"] SCREENGRAB[/caption]

Bilal Lashari’s multi-starrer The Legend of Maula Jatt tops our list of the most awaited film this year. If it is half as good as the trailers then suffice it to say that the Pakistani film industry is definitely going to outdo itself with this one. With stellar graphics, cinematography and editing, the Mahira Khan, Fawad Khan, Hamza Ali Abbasi and Humaima Malick-starrer looks promising to say the least. Can’t wait for Eidul Fitr!

2. ‘Baaji’

[caption id="attachment_1884410" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: PUBLICITY[/caption]

The Legend of Maula Jatt isn’t the only upcoming Pakistani release with a star-studded cast. Veteran star Meera is making a comeback with the Saqib Malik-directorial Baaji. And what’s more, the cast includes Osman Khalid Butt, Amna Ilyas, Ali Kazmi, Mohsin Abbas Haider and some others in titular roles. Malik had confirmed the film isn’t a biopic on Meera but it surely revolves around her.

‘Laal Kabootar’



We have never seen anything like this! Mansha Pasha and Ahmed Ali Akbar are looking fierce in the teaser for Kamal Khan’s Laal Kabootar and making us want more! Based in Karachi, the film promises to depict the metropolis in all its raw glory.

‘Paray Hut Love’

[caption id="attachment_1884416" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: FILE[/caption]

Asim Raza is making a big comeback with Sheheryar Munawar and Maya Ali in Paray Hut Love. The Ho Mann Jahaan director announced Mahira to be the leading lady of the upcoming film. However, due to scheduling conflicts, the Raees starlet was replaced by Ali. But rumour has it that the famed Humsafar duo Fawad and Mahira will be doing cameos in the film.

‘Superstar’

[caption id="attachment_1884419" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: FILE[/caption]

Mahira will apparently be working on another film with the Janaan star Bilal Ashraf. While not much has been revealed about the film yet, reports suggest that it will indeed be released this year and we’re excited to see the chemistry of the duo onscreen.

‘Captain Marvel’

[caption id="attachment_1884420" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: FILE[/caption]

Marvel fans are probably still recovering from the ending of last year’s Avengers: Infinity War. However, while the world deliberates on whether the disintegrated Avengers will come back or not, another comic book film is on its way! The strongest Avenger, Captain Marvel is all set to make her first appearance in the Marvel universe on March 8 with Brie Larson playing the titular role. Talk about girl power!

‘Avengers: End Game’

[caption id="attachment_1862215" align="alignnone" width="640"] PHOTO: MARVEL STUDIOS[/caption]

Arguably the most highly-anticipated film of 2019 is the last installment of the Avengers franchise, Avengers: End Game. The film picks up from where Infinity War left off and is slated to hit the screens across the world in April this year.

‘The Lion King’

[caption id="attachment_1854339" align="alignnone" width="640"] SCREENGRAB[/caption]

The 1994 animated masterpiece is coming back in 3D and we’ve got the tissues ready! With a star-studded cast, The Lion King live action film will certainly be one blast from the past that we will not be able to get over for a long, long time.

‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’

[caption id="attachment_1884423" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: IMDB[/caption]

You know there’s some epic cinema in the making when you combine Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Al Pacino in one film. Set in 1969, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood tells the story of two actors who are struggling to make it big in the film industry.

‘The Irishman’

[caption id="attachment_1884429" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: FILE[/caption]

Martin Scorsese is returning to the director’s chair with perhaps one of the biggest films Hollywood has ever seen. The Irishman stars Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci. It is a biographical crime drama written by Steven Zaillian, based on the book I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt. De Niro stars as Frank Sheeran, a labor union leader and alleged hit man for the Bufalino crime family, while Pacino plays Jimmy Hoffa.

‘Aladdin’

[caption id="attachment_1884425" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY[/caption]

Live action films seem to be all the rage nowadays. This new version of Aladdin, directed by Guy Ritchie, promises a "bigger and brighter" take on this classic. We will see Will Smith as the Genie, Naomi Scott as Princess Jasmine and Mena Massoud as Aladdin. The film has a May 24, 2019 release date in the United States and will be distributed by Walt Disney Studios and Motion Pictures.

‘Spiderman: Far from Home’

[caption id="attachment_1884434" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: MARVEL[/caption]

We already knew that Far From Home would release soon after Endgame and that’s proof Spidey will be resurrected! But apparently, Spider-Man will now be famous, likely after something that happens in the upcoming Avengers film.

‘The Joker’

[caption id="attachment_1884430" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: DC[/caption]

Now, this we have our eyes peeled for! Joaquin Phoenix is all set to take on the coveted role of the Joker. While the first look of the film looks incredible, the audience is yet to see if Phoenix will be able to nail playing Gotham’s favourite villain or actually, if he will be able to live up to the late Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the DC baddie.

‘Brahmastra’

[caption id="attachment_1884427" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: FILE[/caption]

Seen together onscreen for the first time, real life couple Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt are the key selling point of Ayan Mukerji’s upcoming directorial Brahmastra. The film is currently under production and also stars megastar Amitabh Bachchan in a pivotal role. Talk about bringing three powerhouses performers together!

‘Manikarnika – The Queen of Jhansi’

[caption id="attachment_1884432" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: FILE[/caption]

After Simran, Kangana Ranaut will be making a comeback as the warrior queen in Rani Laxmi Bai’s in this biopic. And from the looks of it, she seems to have nailed portraying the fierce 18th century queen. We did get some strong Deepika Padukone in Padmaavat vibes from the trailer but oh well, can’t complain!

‘Bharat’

[caption id="attachment_1884426" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: FILE[/caption]

Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif will reunite for the 11th time for film-maker Ali Abbas Zafar’s upcoming project Bharat. We already know that the superstar duo shares a sizzling chemistry on and off-screen and that is always a recipe for success.

‘Kalank’

[caption id="attachment_1884431" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: FILE[/caption]

Madhuri Dixit. Enough said. The living legend is gracing up with her presence once again in Abhishek Varma’s Kalank – an upcoming Hindi-language period drama produced by Karan Johar, Sajid Nadiadwala and Fox Star Studios. It also stars Sonakshi Sinha, Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, Kunal Khemu, Aditya Roy Kapur and Sanjay Dutt in lead roles.

‘Gully Boy’

[caption id="attachment_1884428" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: FILE[/caption]

After making it big with Padmaavat and Simmba last year, Ranveer Singh is all set to make our hearts race again with Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy. The film recounts the journey of an underground rapper in Mumbai and also has Alia and Kalki Koechlin amongst its cast. Another powerhouse trio, ladies and gentleman!

‘Mental Hai Kya’

[caption id="attachment_1884433" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: FILE[/caption]

Apart from Manikarnika, Kangana will be seen in the relatively light-hearted Mental Hai Kya opposite rising star Rajkumar Rao. The actors will star together for the first time, letting loose and showing their wacky side. The film releases on March 29 and we’re looking forward to taking this mad ride with Kangana.

Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below. ]]>
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			<title>2018 has been great for Pakistani films, says director Nabeel Qureshi</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1880618/2018-great-pakistani-films-says-director-nabeel-qureshi</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1880618/2018-great-pakistani-films-says-director-nabeel-qureshi#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 03 Jan 19 09:07:00 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Entertainment Desk]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Life &amp; Style]]></category><category><![CDATA[Film]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=1880618</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Local film-makers are already hoping for a better 2019]]>
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				<![CDATA[While the Pakistani film industry saw some big releases through 2018, local film-makers are already hoping for a better 2019.

"The year 2018 has been great for Pakistani films altogether," Load Wedding director Nabeel Qureshi tweeted. "Cinema has earned more from Pakistani films than Bollywood or Hollywood imports this time! It's a big achievement. May it do great in 2019 as well."

https://twitter.com/nabeelqureshi/status/1080578682912194561

Ali Zafar, Maya Ali-starrer Teefa In Trouble also made it big at the box-office and emerged as one of the biggest hits of the year. Then there were Jawani Phir Nahi Ani 2 and Parwaaz Hai Junoon as well.

Previously, Hamza Ali Abbasi lauded the multiple releases of 2018. Abbasi wrote, “Anxiously looking forward to Teefa In Trouble, JPNA 2, Load Wedding and Parwaaz Hai Junoon releasing this year. Because of these films, I can happily and confidently say that 2018 will be a great year for the Pakistani film industry.”

[caption id="attachment_1874876" align="alignnone" width="640"] PHOTO: MAWRA HOCANE/TWITTER[/caption]

Throughout 2018, local distributors enjoyed ample revenue from the local films. They are more than satisfied and no longer see the presence of Indian releases as a threat. Pakistani film business is booming and has done pretty well throughout the year.


Super Cinemas general manager Khorem Gultasab told The Express Tribune, “All movies attracted reasonable crowd, except Na Band Na Baraati.”

“The local audience has started believing in our films and realised that we can also produce good ones,” a senior official of Distribution Club stated. “Those who still don’t believe in Pakistani’s film industry should really start watching our films. After such a long time, we have managed to do so well."

Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below. ]]>
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			<title>Golden Globes 2019: And the nominees are...</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1862063/golden-globes-2019-nominees</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1862063/golden-globes-2019-nominees#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 07 Dec 18 07:09:38 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Life &amp; Style]]></category><category><![CDATA[Film]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=1862063</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Christian Bale, Amy Adam's 'Vice' leads the pack with six nominations]]>
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				<![CDATA[Vice, a biopic about Dick Cheney starring Christian Bale as the former US vice president, on Thursday earned the most Golden Globe nominations with six including best comedy film, as the race to the Oscars ramps up.

The nominations, announced in the pre-dawn hours in California, are the first major bellwether of momentum going into the Academy Awards, which take place in February.

Vice - which only opens in US theaters on Christmas Day - bucked some predictions, earning one more nod than popular music romance reboot A Star Is Born, but both are now well placed for Tinseltown awards glory.

"I did not know which way Vice would land... But I think it just got a major push for the Oscar race," wrote Sasha Stone, the founder of specialised industry website Awards Daily.

Tied with Star - a hit both with critics and at the box office, starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper - at five nominations were bawdy royal tale The Favourite and offbeat civil rights dramedy Green Book.

Right behind them were Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman, the true story of a black police officer who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan with the help of a white partner, and hotly-anticipated Disney sequel Mary Poppins Returns.

Beyond its best comedy film nod, Vice - a searing look at George W Bush's powerful vice president - picked up a trio of acting nominations for a nearly unrecognisable Bale, co-star Amy Adams as Cheney's wife Lynne and Sam Rockwell as Bush.

Film-maker Adam McKay picked up a pair of nominations for best director and screenplay.

Also winning double nominations were Cooper - for acting and directing in Star - and Lady Gaga, for acting and best original song (Shallow).

But co-star Sam Elliott, who plays the brother of Cooper's aging rocker, was notably snubbed.

Vying with Star for best drama film are BlacKkKlansman, Marvel blockbuster Black Panther, Bohemian Rhapsody about Queen frontman Freddie Mercury and black love story If Beale Street Could Talk.

The Black Panther nomination marked the first best picture nod for Marvel, and the first ever in the drama category for a superhero flick.

"I love comic book movies - I always have, I'm a big fan. So I'm thrilled that it made it in and I hope that more are coming," said Meher Tatna, the president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which chooses the winners.

Competing in the best musical/comedy film are Vice, The Favourite, Mary Poppins Returns, Green Book and summer rom-com success Crazy Rich Asians.

The Golden Globes feature separate awards for dramas and musicals/comedies - meaning more nominations, and a chance for Oscar voters to consider a wider range of performances before they get their ballots.

A Star Is Born is competing in the drama categories, while Vice is - strangely - in the comedy race.

"Looking to the Golden Globes to guide you towards Oscar's Best Picture, follow Best Director. That is the best category to predict which way that will go," wrote Stone, celebrating in particular Lee's nomination.

Roma earned three nominations - best foreign film, best director and best screenplay.

The Globes also honor the best in television - it can feel a bit redundant after the Emmys in September, with many of the nominees mimicking the Television Academy field.

To wit, Emmy winner The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story topped the nominations with four.

But the Globes also look ahead at programs that aired too late for Emmys contention.

Dark HBO mini-series Sharp Objects, Amazon drama Homecoming starring Julia Roberts, and Netflix comedy The Kominsky Method all earned nominations.

The 76th Golden Globes take place on January 6 in Beverly Hills. The Oscar nominations come after the Globes this year, on January 22.

Hosting the Globes gala will be actress Sandra Oh, who scored a nomination herself for acclaimed TV drama Killing Eve, and comedian Andy Samberg.

Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below. ]]>
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			<title>Christopher Lee: The man behind ‘Jinnah’</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1800353/christopher-lee-man-behind-jinnah</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1800353/christopher-lee-man-behind-jinnah#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 11 Sep 18 11:11:00 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Entertainment Desk]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Life &amp; Style]]></category><category><![CDATA[Film]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=1800353</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Can any Pakistani actor match the Hollywood Legend’s portrayal of late founder of the nation?]]>
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				<![CDATA[Everything about Christopher Lee was outsize: his 6-foot 5-inch frame, his 70-year-long film career and the wonderfully wicked characters he played.

Having starred in more than 200 films in his lifetime, his stellar performances in Dracula, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and numerous others were impossible to go unnoticed by audiences.

The best work

However, there was one character of Lee's that he held very close to his heart: His portrayal of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the 1998 biopic. His apt depiction of the late founder of Pakistan, made it difficult to comprehend how a British actor could play such a renowned personality - that too of a brown man - with such brilliance.

[caption id="attachment_1800439" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: FILE[/caption]

Maybe it was his acting prowess. “I think that the film Jinnah, is an extremely important film for many reasons and it should be seen now," Lee once said in an interview. "The reasons, and there are quite a few of them: One, it shows the true meaning of Islam. Islam means submission to the will of God, it does not mean terrorism or fundamentalism."

He added, “Secondly it shows the creation of a Muslim state and how it came into being. How the founder of that nation achieved this and again, it has nothing to do with all the dreadful things that are happening recently."

While Lee was always full of praises for the Father of the Nation, for him it was the most important role he ever played.

[caption id="attachment_1800438" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: FILE[/caption]

“It is a story of a true Muslim and the people around him who decided that the Muslims of India need a country of their own,” Lee said earlier. “They say there are still seven million Muslims living in India but of course Pakistan was created in 1947. The man responsible for this was Muhammad Ali Jinnah, known of course to Pakistanis as Quaid-e-Azam which means ‘the great leader’.”

The actor who was knighted in 2009 for his services to drama and charity mentioned, “For me as an actor, it is certainly the most important role I have ever played, because the responsibility on my shoulders was immense. I went to the country he founded. I was there for ten weeks playing the leader of the nation, the creator of the nation in the country he created in front of his own people."

An honest portrayal

For Jinnah's director, Jamil Dehlavi of Pakistani-French descent, getting his work recognised was no easy feat. While viewers lauded him for Jinnah, he faced ample criticism for his other works. His famous project, The Blood of Hussain did not see the light of day in Pakistan. In 2015, it was reported that Jinnah would be re-released across cinema houses in the country. However, that never happened.

With the current instability in the political landscape of Pakistan, Dehlavi feels now is the time to recollect Jinnah’s ideology in peoples' minds.

[caption id="attachment_1800444" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: FILE[/caption]

“The Jinnah film has had a chequered history for reasons too complex to deal with here. But after a protracted legal battle I have acquired the rights and so, as you suggest, the time has come for us in our country to review the story of its Founding Father,” the film-maker said in an interview with The National.

"I began this process in 2015 when the film was re-mastered and shown to 4,500 students in cinemas across Karachi. This new version was subsequently re-released on Blu-ray by Eureka Classics in the UK and is now widely available. As far as a commercial release in cinemas, that’s more complicated as it’s in the hands of distributors and exhibitors who generally have less altruistic agendas.”

Today's Jinnah

We've always wondered if there's any Pakistani actor in today's day and age who can match Lee's tremendous rendition of our Founding Father's suave character. And, we haven't quite reached a conclusion.

A few names, however, have popped in our minds. Or more like specific traits of certain actors that might convince us of them being worthy enough to portray the late leader. These include Mohib Mirza's lean physique, Sarmad Khoosat's mind-blowing acting, Riz Ahmed's intensity, or the fact that Mohsin Abbas Haider could rock a sherwani just as good as Jinnah.

But we're still trying to figure out that if Dehlavi was to helm a remake of his 1998 master piece, who would he really cast?

Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below. ]]>
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			<title>Hollywood legend Burt Reynolds passes away at 82</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1797409/hollywood-legend-burt-reynolds-passes-away-82</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1797409/hollywood-legend-burt-reynolds-passes-away-82#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 07 Sep 18 06:12:31 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[afp]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Life &amp; Style]]></category><category><![CDATA[Film]]></category>
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			<description>
				<![CDATA[Actor reportedly suffered a heart attack and died at a hospital in Florida]]>
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				<![CDATA[Burt Reynolds, the mustachioed heart-throb of 1970s cinema who won acclaim in Deliverance and a host of awards later in his career for Boogie Nights, died on Thursday, his family announced.

The famously suave 82-year-old, a huge box office draw at his peak who had a reputation as a hard-drinking playboy, reportedly suffered a heart attack and died at a hospital in Florida.


"It is with a broken heart that I said goodbye to my uncle today," the actor's niece Nancy Lee Hess, said in a statement sent to AFP. "My uncle was not just a movie icon; he was a generous, passionate and sensitive man, who was dedicated to his family, friends, fans and acting students."

&nbsp;

[caption id="attachment_1797428" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: ABC[/caption]

Reynolds, whose career spanned six decades, earned a Golden Globe, Oscar nomination and several critics' awards for his portrayal of porn director Jack Horner in the 1997 film Boogie Nights.

Last year, he also drew critical acclaim for his performance in the indie movie The Last Movie Star.

The actor was considered box office gold in the 1970s and early 80s with such hits as Smokey and the Bandit, Starting Over, and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, films that were popular at the box office and often less popular with critics.

It was his breakout role in the 1972 thriller Deliverance, in which he plays macho survivalist Lewis Medlock, that cemented his status as one of Hollywood's leading men in the 1970s and 80s.

[caption id="attachment_1797431" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: ABC[/caption]

The film - infamous for its hillbilly male rape scene - earned three Oscar nominations for best picture, best director and best editing. But Reynolds failed to get an Oscar nod and he would later say that his nude spread that year in Cosmopolitan probably cost him a chance at the golden statuette.

During his career, he would also become known as much for the hit movies he racked up as the big roles he turned down.

Reynolds notably walked away from playing the space scoundrel Han Solo in the first Star Wars, turned down the role of James Bond and declined the leading role played by Richard Gere in Pretty Woman.

He also rejected an offer to play retired astronaut Garrett Breedlove in the 1983 hit movie Terms of Endearment.

The role was taken up by Jack Nicholson, who took home an Oscar.

[caption id="attachment_1797430" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: ABC[/caption]

'Missed opportunities'

"I didn't open myself to new writers or risky parts because I wasn't interested in challenging myself as an actor. I was interested in having a good time," Reynolds wrote in his 2015 memoir, But Enough About Me.

"As a result, I missed a lot of opportunities to show I could play serious roles," he added. "By the time I finally woke up and tried to get it right, nobody would give me a chance."

On the personal front, the actor was married and divorced twice, the first time to British star Judy Carne and the second to American actor Loni Anderson, with whom he adopted a son, Quinton. His divorce with Anderson would go down as one of the nastiest in Hollywood history.

He also had a high-profile romance with actor Sally Field, described by Reynolds as "the love affair of my life."

[caption id="attachment_1797429" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: ABC[/caption]

'Last icons of Hollywood' 

Tributes poured in for the late star on news of his death, including from fellow actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and other celebrities.

"Burt Reynolds was one of my heroes. He was a trailblazer," Schwarzenegger said in a tweet. "He showed the way to transition from being an athlete to being the highest paid actor, and he always inspired me. He also had a great sense of humor - check out his Tonight Show clips. My thoughts are with his family."

Tennis great Boris Becker described Reynolds in a tweet as "one of the last icons in Hollywood," while "Lord of the Rings" star Elijah Wood lamented the "passing of a legend."

"RIP Burt Reynolds. Seems his whole career was tongue in cheek. Always warm and funny," tweeted comedian Ricky Gervais.

Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below. ]]>
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			<title>London Film Festival to honour world’s female directors</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1792168/london-film-festival-honour-worlds-female-directors</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1792168/london-film-festival-honour-worlds-female-directors#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 31 Aug 18 10:54:11 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[afp]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Life &amp; Style]]></category><category><![CDATA[Film]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=1792168</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Around 38% of films screened at event are by women, up from 24% last year]]>
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				<![CDATA[The London Film Festival said on Thursday it was championing female directors, as half of the official competition films were made by women. Around 38% of the films screened across the whole festival are directed by women, up from 24% last year.

The 62nd London Film Festival, which runs from October 10 to 21, features 225 film from 77 different countries. It will showcase films including the world premiere of Peter Jackson's They Shall Not Grow Old, marking the centenary of the end of World War I.

Women protest at Cannes Film Festival red carpet

The film features restored and hand-coloured archive footage, bringing to life the realities of death and survival in the trenches.

The festival kicks off on the red carpet with the European premiere of Oscar-winning director Steve McQueen's Widows, starring Viola Davis, Liam Neeson and Colin Farrell.

[caption id="attachment_1792188" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: THE GUARDIAN[/caption]

Can You Ever Forgive Me? by director Marielle Heller, a darkly humourous biopic about an audacious literary forger, starring Melissa McCarthy and Richard E Grant, gets a headline gala screening.

Capernaum by Lebanese film-maker Nadine Labaki, the Cannes Film Festival's Jury Prize winner which depicts a journey into subterranean areas of Beirut, gets the Debate Gala screening slot.

Female stars to dominate Cannes Film Festival jury

The world premiere of Stan and Ollie, about the Laurel and Hardy double-act's 1953 UK tour, closes the festival, which is run by the British Film Institute (BFI).

Ten films are in the official competition, including Chinese director Zhang Yimou's thriller Shadow and The Old Man and the Gun starring Robert Redford, Sissy Spacek and Casey Affleck.

Five of the 10 films have female directors or co-directors, with films by Cristina Gallego, Karyn Kusama, Alice Rohrwacher, Sudabeh Mortezai and Dominga Sotomayor.

[caption id="attachment_1792189" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: AFP[/caption]

"Of all the films in the world, we have selected a very small number to be in the competition because we see something special in these directors' work and 50% of them are women. I think that speaks volumes," said the BFI's chief executive Amanda Nevill.

The festival also features restored classics, including Some Like It Hot (1959) and The Great Victorian Moving Picture Show, which features fragments of some of the earliest surviving British films from 1897 to 1901. Terry Gilliam will show the British premiere of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, which has been two decades in the making.

Venice Film Festival slammed for ‘toxic masculinity’

London differs from many other European film festivals in focusing on bringing world films to cinema-goers. Red-carpet glamour mixes with innovation and experimentation, and many of the films would not otherwise get a British screening.

This year, the festival will host 21 world premieres, nine international premieres and 29 European premieres.

Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below. ]]>
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			<title>Will the real Ranveer Singh please stand up?</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1756877/will-real-ranveer-singh-please-stand</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1756877/will-real-ranveer-singh-please-stand#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 13 Jul 18 10:23:48 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Entertainment Desk]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Life &amp; Style]]></category><category><![CDATA[Gossip]]></category>
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			<description>
				<![CDATA[An Indian publication claims Ranveer's badass front is exactly what that is; a front]]>
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				<![CDATA[Firecracker.

That's most likely what comes to mind when there's talk about Bollywood's heartthrob Ranveer Singh. His I-don't-give-a-damn attitude, his uproarious personality, his loving relationship with ladylove Deepika Padukone and lastly, his claim of being a complete outsider in the Indian film industry definitely made him the talk of the town.

But is his quirky personality, his self-made image, all a facade?

[caption id="attachment_1632791" align="alignnone" width="640"] PHOTO: INDIA TODAY[/caption]

An article claims that Ranveer's badass front is exactly what that is. A front. Through a number of points, the article has presented varying arguments, backing on the Padmaavat star's contradicting interviews, controversies and statements.

- His 'rising star' image -

Bollywood has always been home to nepotism. While Bollywood royal families, such as the Kapoors (Raj and Anil) and the Bachchans rule Indian cinema, it has always been quite hard for any newcomer to make a mark in the industry.

However, Ranveer has always disregarded the fact that he was ever close to the Kapoors. He also claimed that he only became close to Anil Kapoor while they were filming Dil Dhadakne Do in 2015.

[caption id="attachment_1660804" align="alignnone" width="640"] PHOTO: MENS XP[/caption]

But here's the fun part; a picture of Sonam Kapoor's seventh birthday surfaced online, where she was pictured with her cousin Arjun Kapoor. And guess who else was pictured with the two? You guessed it. A young Ranveer Singh.

Arjun in an episode of Koffee With Karan confirmed that he met his Gunday co-star well before either of them became an actor. "We met at these mutual friends' parties. We had the same enthusiasm for Bollywood. It was amazing," Arjun had said.

Again, Ranveer had the same circle as Bollywood star kids - so was no stranger to B-Town!

However, it is a well known fact that Ranveer is related to Anil's family via Sunita Kapoor (Anil's wife) from his maternal side of the family.

[caption id="attachment_1621089" align="alignnone" width="625"] SCREENGRAB[/caption]

In a 2015 interview with Hindustan Times, the Befikre actor stated that he most definitely did not have a filmi background and had only became an actor because of Anil.

"I have no filmi background," Ranveer had said. "I loved watching films and used to enjoy them so much that I decided to become an actor. I always observed these guys, and they inspired me. Now, I’m working with my idol, Anil Kapoor."

Which again, is contradicting since Anil and Ranveer are practially family.

[caption id="attachment_1379687" align="alignnone" width="640"] PHOTO: THE INDIAN EXPRESS[/caption]

Before marking his Bollywood debut with Yash Raj Films helmed Band Bajaa Baraat, which also starred his then girlfriend, Anushka Sharma, Ranveer was assisting Shaad Ali (who happened to be a Yash Raj Films director, who helmed films such as Bunty Aur Babli and Saathiya).

Now, how did Ranveer's and Shaad's paths cross?

The actor says it happened when a 16-year-old Ranveer gatecrashed a high-end Bollywood party.

[caption id="attachment_1505371" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: THE INDIAN EXPRESS[/caption]

“I was 16-years-old, in junior college when my friend Sikander suggested we go to a party. The party turned out to be Shaad Ali’s party and had a Ram Lakhan theme. As I entered the house, I see Shanoo Sharma (YRF’s casting director) dancing on the movie’s iconic tunes. So we went inside and I met Shanoo there for the first time. And then we got along like a house on fire,” Bollywood Life quoted him as saying.

- Family's Financial Crisis -

In an interview with Filmfare, the Ram Leela star stated that his father, Jagjit Singh Bhavani, had a breakthrough in his business, and that's when things turned around.

[caption id="attachment_1370699" align="alignnone" width="640"] PHOTO: TWITTER/RANVEER SINGH[/caption]

"The other day I was cleaning my shoe closet, which has some 100 pairs now. It was a staggering sight. Dad walked past the room and he stared crying. He said I remember once you had just two pairs – one for everyday wear and one while going out. Tell me, how can I not be thankful to God?" Ranveer had said.

However, in another interview, the Lootera actor, 'who grew up in an affluent family in Khar, Mumbai', said they provide for everything, leaving his money untouched. “I have all the comfort that I need and it is mostly provided to me by my father and my family.... Whatever I am making is pretty much there and ready to be invested.”

Only Ranveer knows which statement is true.


Ranveer also commented on the financial issues in an interview with Conde Naste Traveller, “We didn’t have a lot of money when I was growing up. So, my parents would save up and save up for that one big summer holiday abroad; I remember going to Indonesia, Singapore, Italy, but most often it was the US – we had a lot of family there. And December was always Goa with my grandparents.”
Hmm.
- The Perfect Boyfriend -
Ranveer and Deepika's whirlwind romance has always made headlines. While it is almost certain that the alleged couple is all set to tie the knot in November whether in Mumbai or a destination wedding, the 33-year-old actor has always been extremely efficient towards his ladylove.


[caption id="attachment_1366577" align="alignnone" width="640"] Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone. PHOTO: MID-DAY[/caption]
In his own words, Ranveer had declared that he, indeed, is the best boyfriend. And it melts our heart. It really does. But then there are statements by the same actor, which go by; "See the thing is, I am smarter than all the chicks I have met till date. Their EQ (emotional quotient) is much higher than mine, but IQ (intelligence quotient), I am yet to be taken by surprise,” he said.
Umm, misogynist much?
We wonder what Ranveer might have to say about this? So, our main query is: Will the real Ranveer Singh please stand up?
Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below. ]]>
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			<title>Scarlett Johansson caught in casting tussle</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1749570/scarlett-johansson-caught-casting-tussle</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1749570/scarlett-johansson-caught-casting-tussle#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 04 Jul 18 09:37:23 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Entertainment Desk]]>
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			<description>
				<![CDATA[Actor criticised for playing transgender man in upcoming Rupert Sander project]]>
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				<![CDATA[Scarlett Johansson is once again at the center of what is shaping up to be another casting controversy.

Re-teaming with her Ghost in the Shell director Rupert Sanders, Johansson is set to star in a feature called Rub &amp; Tug – a true-life story of Jean Marie Gill who was assigned female at birth. She later assumed the identity of a man, Dante “Tex” Gill and operated a massage parlour and prostitution business in Pittsburgh in the 1970s and 1980s, reported The Hollywood Reporter.

[caption id="attachment_1440369" align="alignnone" width="640"] PHOTO: FILE[/caption]

When news of the project broke this week, online commentators began to criticise Johansson for choosing to play a transgender man, arguing that the role should have gone to a transgender actor in the first place. Johansson said in a statement, “Tell them they can be directed to Jeffrey Tambor, Jared Leto, and Felicity Huffman’s reps for comment.”

Her reported response references other cisgender actors who have played transgender characters — and while their performances have all won awards, they have not all been without controversy.

[caption id="attachment_1551942" align="alignnone" width="640"] PHOTO: MARIE CLAIRE[/caption]

Huffman was Oscar-nominated for playing a transgender woman in 2005’s Transamerica and Leto won a supporting actor Oscar for playing another transgender woman in 2013’s Dallas Buyers Club. Tambor was awarded two Emmys for playing a transgender woman in the series Transparent but has left that show after being accused of sexual harassment, which he has denied.

Giving voice to some of the criticism of the casting that has begun to appear on Twitter, #OscarsSoWhite creator April Reign called for Johansson to step away from the role, tweeting, “Scarlett Johansson is not hurting for money.

[caption id="attachment_1615002" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: ENEWS[/caption]

She is in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is about to get her own film Black Widow. She is also a well-established actress so she doesn't need the increased profile. So why would she take work away from a trans actor? #OscarsSoWhite."

Johansson’s critics are also pointing to the fact that she received similar hatred and was accused of “whitewashing” when she took the lead role in 2017’s Ghost in the Shell, playing a character who was Japanese in the original manga series.

Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below. ]]>
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			<title>Mahira Khan hopes to reunite with Humayun Saeed once again</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1738229/mahira-khan-hopes-reunite-humayun-saeed</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1738229/mahira-khan-hopes-reunite-humayun-saeed#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 20 Jun 18 08:19:53 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Entertainment Desk]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Life &amp; Style]]></category><category><![CDATA[Film]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Needless to say, we've got our fingers crossed!]]>
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				<![CDATA[Mahira Khan is quite active on social media and frequently does #AskMahira sessions on Twitter to interact with her fans. And this time, it was long overdue!

After a long gap, the Raees actor took to Twitter to keep good on her promise as she chatted with fans and opened up about her recent venture 7 Din Mohabbat In, which released on Eid.

Mahira Khan and Humayun Saeed's Bin Roye likely to steal your hearts

Other than that, Mahira also said she hoped to work with Humayun Saeed some time soon!

A Twitter user asked if the starlet is planning to star in a project with her Bin Roye co-star:

https://twitter.com/raunaqeaashiqui/status/1009098406504157185

To this, Mahira responded, "Yes, Insha Allah."

https://twitter.com/TheMahiraKhan/status/1009099287228243968

Mahira and Humayun last starred in Bin Roye, which was later adapted into a TV drama.

The film was shot at multiple locations, including Karachi, Dubai and the scenic Santa Barbara and San Francisco over a period of two years.

Mahira Khan and Humayun Saeed-starrer Bin Roye will release on Eid

Bin Roye revolved around a love-hate relationship between Humayun and Mahira, who is forced to marry him after the death of his first wife — Mahira’s sister — played by Armeena Khan.

Co-directed by Momina Duraid, alongside Shahzad Kashmiri, the film was proved a huge box-office hit. Therefore, needless to say we can't wait to see the duo light up the screen together again!

Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below. ]]>
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			<title>How ‘Jurassic Park’ changed cinema forever</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1733267/jurassic-park-changed-cinema-forever</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1733267/jurassic-park-changed-cinema-forever#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 12 Jun 18 04:21:16 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Entertainment Desk]]>
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			<description>
				<![CDATA[Steven Spielberg’s iconic 1993 became a trailblazer in terms of CGI, transformed human notion of dinosaurs...]]>
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				<![CDATA[Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park released in June 1993 and changed Hollywood forever. Adapted from Michael Crichton’s best-selling book from 1990, the film starred Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Richard Attenborough in the lead roles and proved to be a true-blue blockbuster in every sense of the word: An entertaining popcorn flick with eye-popping visuals and a gripping soundtrack.

How much are these Hollywood celebs really making?

But Jurassic Park was also a film with a lot more to say than the usual summer flick, putting out high-concept ideas and questions Crichton’s book had raised, reported The Indian Express.

The dinosaurs didn’t appear on screen as much as one would expect from a film about dinosaurs but when they did, it was magnificent! It was the classic rule of hiding more than revealing.

[caption id="attachment_1733271" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: THE INDEPENDENT[/caption]

And of course, there was the cutting-edge technology. The prehistoric beasts that are as fantastical as dragons, except they actually existed, suddenly came alive thanks to an inventive use of computer-generated imagery (CGI) and animatronics. Even today, the CGI in Jurassic Park does not feel dated, even 25 year after its release.

Needless to say, the film changed cinema forever. Use of CGI increased as film-makers realised the endless possibilities it offered. And voila, CGI is ubiquitous now.

Goerge Clooney receives Lifetime Achievement Award in Hollywood

Also, the way Jurassic Park was marketed, especially the dinosaur and merchandise and an actual theme park built by Universal Studios has become rather common now.

Almost all recent summer blockbusters such as the Avengers series, Avatar and The Lord of the Rings trilogy used CGI extensively and so, in a way, owe a big chunk of their success to Jurassic Park.

[caption id="attachment_1733272" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: THE INDEPENDENT[/caption]

But cinema wasn’t the only thing affected: Jurassic Park also changed dinosaurs. No, not the ones that existed hundreds of millions of years ago obviously but the film surely altered how most humans envisioned the extinct creatures.

Hollywood actors, TV networks committed to curb casting couch

Anyone who was not a paleontologist then held but a vague notion of how dinosaurs may have looked and behaved. Sure, there had been dinosaur movies before (the first one was a silent film in 1914, believe it or not) but none had the scale, budget, talent and realism that Jurassic Park offered.

It marked the first time we had a concrete idea of the ferocious beasts that once ruled the earth, thanks to palaeontologist Jack Horner whom Spielberg consulted for accurate representation.

[caption id="attachment_1733274" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: THE INDEPENDENT[/caption]

Jurassic Park eventually became such a monumental success that it inspired countless young moviegoers to become palaeontologists themselves.

In all honesty, digging up fossils in far-off excavation sites and painstakingly analysing them in a largely unrewarding and thankless job is not something many would voluntarily do for the rest of their lives.

Screaming fans flood Hollywood as NSYNC reunites for Walk of Fame honour

But Neill and Dern’s characters (Dern played a paleobotanist) gave the career option a certain glamour that the wide-eyed teenagers watching the film found unable to resist.

[caption id="attachment_1733273" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: THE INDEPENDENT[/caption]

In fact, reports indicated that many even changed their careers about watching Jurassic Park, such was the pull of this magnificent film. And while there have been numerous sequels and spin-offs of the original installment, none came close to the magic of Jurassic Park.

Salma Hayek calls for male Hollywood stars to get pay cut

With Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom releasing in Pakistan come June 15, it remains yet to be seen whether the Chris Pratt-starrer will come up to the mark or not.

Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below. ]]>
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			<title>Has Saba Qamar signed her first Hollywood film with Ben Affleck?</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1704119/saba-qamar-signed-first-hollywood-film-ben-affleck</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1704119/saba-qamar-signed-first-hollywood-film-ben-affleck#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 07 May 18 05:55:31 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Entertainment Desk]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Life &amp; Style]]></category><category><![CDATA[Film]]></category>
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			<description>
				<![CDATA[Rumour has it...]]>
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				<![CDATA[After the soaring success of her first Bollywood project, Hindi Medium, opposite acclaimed actor Irrfan Khan, Saba Qamar's career knows no bounds.

Saba Qamar's 'Hindi Medium' opens big in China

She aced her role as Fouzia Batool and Kanwal Baloch in slain social media star Qandeel Baloch's biopic Baaghi, for which she received several accolades and hefty praises, and has walked the runway for many known designers, proving that she is a force to be reckoned with.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfdcEuvnlFQ/?taken-by=sabaqamarzaman

However, there is one rumour that has been doing rounds social media for some time that we desperately need it to be true.

Rumour has it that the starlet has signed her first Hollywood project, that too with none other than A-lister Ben Affleck!

Saba Qamar's 'Hindi Medium' beats Mahira Khan's 'Raees,' with global earnings of INR3 billion

A source revealed to The Express Tribune, "Saba knows of the rumours that are circling and will be addressing them soon."

We are yet to know if this is indeed true but here's a secret: we can't contain our excitement!

[tvideo url="//content.jwplatform.com/players/cvxTYn1D-VpHe0zu5.html"]

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			<title>'Annabelle' to return with third film next year</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1698729/annabelle-return-third-film-next-year</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1698729/annabelle-return-third-film-next-year#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 30 Apr 18 06:16:38 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[ians]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Life &amp; Style]]></category><category><![CDATA[Film]]></category>
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			<description>
				<![CDATA[Here's a haunting fact; the latest installment will be directed by the writer of 'It']]>
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				<![CDATA[The raggedy doll will be back to haunt people as the third part of Annabelle movie is in the works.
New Line is expanding the profitable The Conjuring universe with a third Annabelle movie that will open on July 3, 2019, reports Variety.

[caption id="attachment_1698771" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: HOLLYWOOD REPORTER[/caption]

Gary Dauberman, who has written the scripts for two demon doll movies, will make his directorial debut on the untitled Annabelle project. He is also writing its script.

From Chucky to Annabelle...the children’s toys making a killing at the box office

James Wan's Atomic Monster and the Peter Safran Company will produce the project. The four movies in the Conjuring universe - which includes the two Annabelle titles - have generated more than $1.1 billlion worldwide. The fifth Conjuring universe film The Nun will open on September 7.

[caption id="attachment_1698782" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: HOLLYWOOD REPORTER[/caption]

Dauberman also wrote the script for The Nun with Wan and is one of the three writers with screenplay credits on horror blockbuster It and next year's sequel It: Chapter 2.

After the letdowns that were ‘The Conjuring 2’ and ‘Annabelle’, will ‘Annabelle: Creation’ be any different?

The porcelain doll was a key component of The Conjuring, inspired by a story told by paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. The Warrens were portrayed by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga.

Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below. ]]>
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			<title>Bollywood shudders at Salman Khan's arrest, with projects over INR6 billion at stake</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1679066/bollywood-shudders-salman-khans-arrest-projects-inr6-billion-stake</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1679066/bollywood-shudders-salman-khans-arrest-projects-inr6-billion-stake#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 06 Apr 18 11:24:57 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[ians]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Life &amp; Style]]></category><category><![CDATA[Film]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=1679066</guid>
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				<![CDATA[Currently, he was shooting for Race 3, directed by Remo D'Souza]]>
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				<![CDATA[With an upwards of INR6 billion tied up in future film projects, Bollywood is practically shuddering at the possibility that Salman Khan might end up spending five years in jail for being found guilty in a 1998 blackbuck poaching case on Thursday. Needless to say, film-makers across India are waiting with bated breath for the verdict of the actors' bail hearing on Saturday morning, which will be announced at 1 30pm, local time.

A popular, high net-worth superstar, the 52-year-old Salman is either acting in or producing several major upcoming films with the potential to be blockbusters, Bollywood insiders claim.

[caption id="attachment_1678064" align="alignnone" width="640"] PHOTO: HINDUSTAN TIMES[/caption]

In the past decade or so, Salman himself has delivered mega hits like Ek Tha Tiger and its sequel Tiger Zinda Hai and Dabangg and its sequel Dabangg 2, besides Sultan and Bajrangi Bhaijaan.

Currently, there are around half a dozen big-budget Salman Khan films on the floor or at advanced planning stages, including Race 3, which is almost complete, Dabangg 3, Partner 2, Kick 2, Bharat, No Entry Mein Entry, Sher Khan and Loveratri, said K Ramji of Krishnamurthy Films.

Produced by his brother Arbaaz Khan, Dabangg 3 is being directed by Prabhudheva, with Arbaaz and Sonakshi Sinha, besides Salman, in the main roles. Loveratri is also an in-house family production wherein Salman will launch his brother-in-law Aayush Sharma.

Indian Bollywood actor Salman Khan, one of the Indian movie industry's most bankable stars, has been convicted by a court in Rajasthan state of poaching the rare antelopes known as black bucks in 1998 PHOTO: AFP

Many of the major titles, like Kick 2, Dabangg 3 and Bharat, are budgeted between INR1 billion to INR2 billion, Ramji further revealed.

Bollywood's worries stem from the fact that most of Salman's films gross more than INR2 billion, making him one of the "most bankable stars" presently active in Bollywood.

Trade analyst Atul Mohan shared, "Salman's Race 3, which is 90% done with its shooting, will get affected badly if things go wrong. There's also his television show Dus Ka Dum, which is supposed to go on air in June."

Bharat is being produced by Salman's brother-in-law Atul Agnihotri and directed by Ali Abbas Zafar of Tiger Zinda Hai fame, with plans for an Eid 2019 release. Sajid Nadiadwala's Kick 2 is scheduled for 2019 as well.

Bollywood's bhai is also expected to make a guest appearance for a song in Yamla Pagla Deewana 3, a possible third film in the Tiger series, and Remo D'Souza's next big-screen venture.

[caption id="attachment_1678228" align="alignnone" width="640"] PHOTO: IBTIMES[/caption]

The actor's lawyers have appealed to the Jodhpur session court for bail. "If the verdict goes against him, as a film industry we might lose around INR5 billion every year because his movies do earn that amount of money. I think he might make some arrangement to finish these two assignments in between because even he does not want his projects and producers to suffer," Mohan said.

&nbsp;

[caption id="attachment_1664033" align="alignnone" width="640"] PHOTO: INDIA.COM[/caption]

As for the small screen, it won't be just Dus Ka Dum that suffers: the possibility of Salman not hosting Bigg Boss 12 is being discussed in television circles.

However, a few years ago, the superstar chose to opt out of mega-brand endorsements as a result of which his net worth in the advertising industry fell quite a bit. Salman is reportedly very choosy about what he prefers to endorse.

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			<title>Ajay Devgn’s ‘Raid’ cleared for release in Pakistan</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1658757/ajay-devgns-raid-cleared-release-pakistan</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1658757/ajay-devgns-raid-cleared-release-pakistan#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 13 Mar 18 10:26:25 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[ADNAN LODHI]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Life &amp; Style]]></category><category><![CDATA[Film]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Upcoming tax fraud drama will hit theatres March 16, after ample deliberation by censor boards]]>
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				<![CDATA[The Central Board of Film Censors (CBFC) of Pakistan and Punjab Film Censor Board (PFCB) held full board meetings on Monday regarding the release of upcoming Indian film Raid.

The Sindh Film Censor Board (SFCB) has cleared the film already and Distribution Club, a film distribution company, has purchased the rights for Raid as well.

Preparations for the release have been in full swing and promotional adverts have hit malls and billboards alike. Raid is an action-thriller written by Ritesh Shah and directed by Raj Kumar Gupta.

Anushka Sharma's 'Pari' banned in Pakistan

It features Bollywood stars Ajay Devgn, lleana D Cruz in the lead, with Sannanad Verma and Saurabh Shukla also among the cast. Bhushan Kumar and Company has produced this film with a mega budget of around INR35 million.

Legendary singer Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s song Sanu Ek Pal Chain Na Aaye is also a part of the film but the one featured in Raid is a remake of the original, sung by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan.

As the Pakistan Super League (PSL) is currently roaring, no local films have been scheduled for release until it ends. Nonetheless, this month saw the release of Anushka Sharma’s Pari but the film did not hit local cinema screens due to a ban.

“Pari’s script, dialogues and storyline go against our Islamic values. The concepts within Islam have different ideologies about magic. This film stimulates the viewers in favour of black magic and promotes thoughts that are contradictory to our religion,” a senior member of CBFC told The Express Tribune earlier.

Ban on Padman

Indian film Padmaavat was also heading towards a ban within Pakistan. “It is sad that the appropriate action was taken when the film had already done well in the country. I think it is useless now as the public has already watched it and seen the inappropriate portrayal of Allauddin Khliji. It’s sad that our censor boards allowed its release but it should have been banned if the nation thinks it was wrong,” said Chaudhary Ejaz Kamran, Chairman Pakistan Film Distributors Associations and senior member Pakistan Film Producers Association.

The Indian films distributors within Pakistan are optimistic and hope to see Raid release soon though. CBFC and PFCB members provided their verdict regarding the release after a full screening of the film. According to SFCB, there seems to be nothing controversial within the film.

Shocking: ‘PadMan’ banned in Pakistan

“Raid revolves around the issue of tax theft and therefore, according to us, there are no objectionable elements within it. The dialogues and ideologies portrayed within the film do not go against our Islamic values,” said a senior official from PFCB.

Both boards have cleared the film for release under a Universal rating on March 16, 2018. A premiere of Raid will be held in Lahore and according to the Distributions Club officials, preparations are being carried out in this regard.

Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below. ]]>
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			<title>Varun Dhawan's 'October' is not your quintessential love story</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1658448/varun-dhawans-october-not-quintessential-love-story</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1658448/varun-dhawans-october-not-quintessential-love-story#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 13 Mar 18 05:05:27 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[ians]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Life &amp; Style]]></category><category><![CDATA[Film]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=1658448</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Varun plays a housekeeper at a hotel, in love with the idea of love]]>
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				<![CDATA[In Shakti Samanta's 1971 romantic classic "Amar Prem", the lead pair Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila Tagore never get a chance to get intimate in the way men and women get in real and reel life.
No songs, no exchange of affection. And yet the on-screen pair in the movie were an epitome of romanticism.

Bollywood celebs' vacation snaps go viral

There's a similar sublimity in Varun Dhawan's eyes in October, director Shoojit Sircar and writer Juhi Chuturvedi's most romantic association to date. The trailer is suffused in shades of green and the hues of morning time serenity, conveying a closeness to nature that is as bracing as a walk by the riverside on a soft autumn morning.

Varun plays a housekeeper at a hotel, in love with the idea of love. The girl whom he follows into the ICU of a hospital barely acknowledges him at their workplace. Yet he clings to the idea of love in the way a mother whose son has gone soldiering to the border clings to the idea that he will come back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vracgLyJwI

The thought of a man waiting for a comatose woman to recover before knowing whether she is in love with him or not was recently seen in Kumail Nanjiani's The Big Sick.

In October, Sircar and his infinitely intuitive writer Chaturvedi show us what it is like to be in love with the idea of love.

It's a relationship built on fragile hope and residual trust. The trailer tenderly and lovingly weaves into Varun's character Dan's world where love has lodged itself precariously.

This is not an easily obtainable love nor is it a relationship that has any rational basis. For all we know, the love could just be in Varun's mind.

7 of the biggest Bollywood controversies of 2017

October is a world that very few film-makers today would dare to enter, let alone inhabit with such comforting grace. This is the kind of romantic drama we though we would never see again after Rajesh, Sharmila and Shakti Samanta.

It takes one Bengali to take over the mantle of the new-age Bimal Roy from another Bengali.

Take a bow, Mr Sircar. We had a magician with whom you share your name. Now there is you creating magic in film after film.

Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below. ]]>
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			<title>The ‘Raza Mir’ Factor</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1650944/raza-mir-factor</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1650944/raza-mir-factor#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 04 Mar 18 11:18:43 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Ahmed Sarym]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Life &amp; Style]]></category><category><![CDATA[TV]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=1650944</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Timeless star Asif Raza Mir and son Ahad Raza Mir spill the beans in their most personal family interview yet]]>
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				<![CDATA[The one thing I often crib about is how fame gets to actors’ heads. Fame is fickle; respect isn’t. Attaining the latter today is much harder and for me, the Raza Mir ménage deny the popular fashion of stardom. While late film-maker Raza Mir was associated with the first ever Pakistani film, Teri Yaad (1948), his son and veteran actor, Asif Raza Mir, amongst the most prominent faces in the 80s, has given Pakistani television and film some of its greatest works that include Tanhaiyaan, Samundar, Darwaza and more.

Whilst he’s ventured into production with his own banner, his offspring and all-the-rage today, Ahad Raza Mir, follows in his father’s footsteps bringing forth oodles of charm and incredible acting prowess.

[caption id="attachment_1650967" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: PUBLICITY[/caption]

Just within the span of a little over a year, he’s become one of the most successful actors of the nation. I remember first interviewing him when he had just stepped foot in the industry and returned to Pakistan from Canada, and as I sit down with him now, after numerous achievements, he remains the same person – passionate, zealous and humble.

The two haven’t had a chance to work together, but are in talks with production houses, whilst Asif feels that his son has had it in him since he was in the 8th Grade. Keeping it candid and real, The Express Tribune caught up with the dynamic father-son duo for more revelations on winning big (at award shows and otherwise), collaborating with one another and broadly, how the industry functions. Excerpts from our conversation follow:

ET: First and foremost, are you critical of each other’s work?

Asif Raza Mir: We are! I feel Ahad is at a stage where he wants to have that feedback and a lot of times, he has seen my work and as individuals, we do talk about our work. I don’t think we could call it being critical, but we do suggest each other how something could have been done better; but that’s an ongoing process that will continue as we go forward.

[caption id="attachment_1650970" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: PUBLICITY[/caption]

Ahad Raza Mir: I can’t really be critical of his work; I learn from him and he’s a school. But I’m always observing and somewhere, stealing as much as I can (laughs). But he’s definitely someone who knows me very well and how good I can do, so he’s particularly good at pinpointing what is it exactly that I do right or I don’t. He’s very helpful in that sense. What stays with me is that he taught me to take my time and be patient.

ET: Last year, when Ahad had just started off his career in Pakistan, the two of you came under fire for nepotistic accusations and he’s truly risen above them; comments?

Asif: I think it’s very natural that people would have made that comment; he comes from a family that is already established in the industry and it would probably be easy for him. I’d say, maybe, to some extent it was easier because there was a reference, but this business is where only the fittest and the absolute best can survive. At the end of the day, only the audience can decide whether he’s a good actor or not, regardless of his family name, and he’s been able to overcome this, proving his mettle on his own.

Ahad: I feel like there’s a burden that’s been lifted off of my shoulders, but I hope I can maintain this. There were actually three things; I wanted to prove myself on my own, secondly, I wanted to take my family name forward and lastly, I wanted to show people that I’m serious about this. It’s not that I’ve come in it just because of my family lineage, but because I love my work. People kept telling me I was a star-kid, but I spent most of my time not knowing that. It was oblivious to me. I wanted people to take me, as an actor, very seriously. I’m not a social media celebrity, I’m not here to become famous; I’m here to give Pakistan some good cinema and TV.

ET: Ahad, you just won the ‘Best Actor’ award at the Lux Style Awards, the very same that your father held exactly a decade ago for Mere Dard Kou Jo Zaban Milay. How does that feel?

Asif: I did (laughs)? I think I’m losing my memory, but it does give me a lot of pride, something I can’t put into words. The best thing about Ahad’s award is that Yaqeen Ka Safar was his first play on the Pakistani screens and that in itself would go down in history that there is this one individual to win for his very serial. LSAs are basically an appreciation by the public, translated into these awards. And I think they’ve done a great job running this show consistently and recognising actors all these years, even when the film industry was at its all-time low.

[caption id="attachment_1650971" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: PUBLICITY[/caption]

Ahad: I finally get to come home with my own (laughs)! It’s technically Pakistan’s biggest award and the day I came back home from Lahore and put mine at the same place as his. Most of all, I feel it’s keeping the family name relevant, keeping it up there. In that moment, when I was awarded with the trophy, all I could think of was my grandfather. People still remember Raza Mir and it was truly a big deal for me.

ET: Nauman Ijaz and Sarmad Khoosat pointed out that young actors like you Ahad should have been awarded with a separate category instead of ‘Best Actor’ competing against seasoned actors. What’s your take on that and the credibility of the award shows?

Asif: Controversies attached to award shows aren’t anything new, they happen worldwide. Some people don’t have very nice things to say, whereas others have great things to say. Like I already said, I personally think of it very positively. As far as categories go, there’s always one ‘Best Actor’. There can’t be a division between fresh talent and not-so fresh talent. What would they call the category for veterans? Should we call it the ‘Oldies’ Award’? I think Nauman is a great actor and I’m not commenting on what he said, but a category shouldn’t reflect on anything but what people have liked and appreciated.

Ahad: Frankly, I don’t agree with them, I was honored to share the same list as Nauman Sahab, but I don’t feel there should be separation between newcomers and seniors. What’s the point of the awards then? Do we ever hear people in Hollywood or Bollywood arguing about that? It’s not about division; it’s about celebrating good work. There have been instances where Robert De Niro has lost to actors much, much younger than him and there was no second thought. Not to say I’ve done something spectacular, but I shouldn’t be undermined because I’m young either; that just isn’t fair.

As far as the credibility goes, there were some things that didn’t make sense to me. Yaqeen Ka Safar, the biggest play of the year, yes, I’m tooting my own horn, but it was serial everyone spoke about. Why it was not nominated for ‘Best Drama’? I’m being selfish here, but a play like Muqabil, which was nominated in all major TV categories, but my father, who was the driving force of the serial wasn’t recognised. Nobody can deny that because I watched the serial myself and that’s what the response has been. I just think we’re all in this together, we shouldn’t treat this as competition, but something that helps us move forward.

[caption id="attachment_1650969" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: PUBLICITY[/caption]

ET: Asif, Ahad has also joined your production house and the two of you are developing on scripts for films. What’s it like working together?

Asif: Well our paths fall over (laughs). He has his own views, I respect that and to some extent, he respects my views (laughs). But I think it’s a good combination of youth and experience, let’s see whether we can deliver. There’s no concrete timeline set on it; we’re taking our time. It’s come to a bit of a standstill because of both our commitments. I’m involved in a new venture that is developing a post-production facility for film, TV and restoration like color grading, sound and all of these things in collaboration with a company based in Hollywood. So that’s taking a lot of my time, once I’m done with that, we’ll start focusing on the film and we’ll hopefully be on-set sometime next year.

Ahad: Working with him is fun, but Baba is full of ideas to make things bigger, better, which is why he can be indecisive sometimes (laughs). But out of the two projects I conceived and wrote, we’re focusing on one of them right now, which is a love-story very grand in its storytelling, but ever since Yaqeen Ka Safar happened, I’ve kind of been very busy, so Baba is taking that forward when he gets the time to. It’s a sensitive time for films right now, so we’re deciding how to scope it out, strategically.

ET: Ahad, writing isn’t the only job you’ve done behind the camera. You started off acting and directing theatre in Canada. Is theatre something you’d like to pursue in Pakistan also?

Ahad: I come from theatre back in Canada, so I’ve directed a lot of plays there and that’s definitely something I want to pursue here, but my biggest fear right now is the lack of time I’m getting. I’m running from one place to another and because I really got into the serial I’m doing (Aangan), we’re shooting it in bits and pieces since there’re a lot of variations in my character. So maybe when it slows down a little, which I hope it doesn’t (laughs), but I’d love to direct or be part of theatre here. In fact, I’m planning to go back to Canada next year for some Shakespeare; I need that play-break.

ET: You’ll be featuring in Parwaaz Hay Junoon this year. Do you have any recollection of your father’s films from back in the ‘80s?

Ahad: Yes! I used to watch Baba’s old films. One of my all-time favourites remains Miss Hong Kong. He played a very fun, charming, but witty character. But believe me, when I was in Canada in my younger years, I had no idea who ‘Asif Raza Mir’ was; I just knew my dad did some films. It’s when I briefly moved back in about 2006 before I went on for university; I got to know who he was. I used to be on the streets and people would be yelling his name. It was a shock (laughs). But having watched his roles, I’m seeing how things are changing with time, not just within my family, but in the industry at large, how much film has changed and its future.

ET: Asif, you just starred in the recently released Maan Jao Na and were apparently a part of Azaan Sami Khan’s much-delayed directorial. What’s your take on the kind of films that are being made?

Asif: I haven’t seen Maan Jao Na myself, I wasn’t in Pakistan, but I’ve heard it’s entertaining, which is exactly what it set out to achieve. As far as the industry goes, it is evolving and it will continue to evolve. Yes, we are going through issues that should’ve been dealt with and sorted by now, but you know, we’re a small industry. We’re trying and there’re some success and some failure stories, but I think we’re becoming knowledgeable.

[caption id="attachment_1650968" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: PUBLICITY[/caption]

As time passes by, there are more young producers and directors coming in. We will have to have some patience and make sure that investments are done within the country; we can’t start importing or letting this money go out either. And it actually is gradually changing, we have film-makers like Humayun Saeed and Nabeel-Fizza or Yasir Nawaz, and the numbers are only increasing.

ET: Asif, you were missing from the acting scene before you made a comeback of sorts with a number of television serials. What kept you busy?

Asif: Fortunately or unfortunately, I am on every channel right now (laughs). But there was a point when I wasn’t on any of them. After Muqabil, there were some great scripts that came my way and I had disengaged myself from Geo then, so I had some time also. I think another key element is that in my age group, there are very limited options left, so I was fortunate last year with the kind of roles I was offered. I will continue to do plays for the time being, but I think I’ll have to take a hiatus when I begin production for my film. That will need my complete focus and concentration.

ET: Lastly, if there was one thing you could change about the industry, what would it be and why?

Asif: I think not only talent on-screen, but also the people who work behind the camera need to be educated – ethically as well as technically, and that would truly change the landscape entirely. The audiences look at the stars on the screen, but a huge process takes place to actually make that possible and that is where the training and investments are needed. If I do get a chance, I would definitely change the production process and provide the youngsters with the knowledge they need.

Ahad: There are a lot of things I see that are wrong. What comes to mind is that we’re not putting talent above all else and we’re wasting actors. We are casting people based on their social media following and we’re confused; our actors are confused on whether the number of followers you have determines your success, but it doesn’t, it’s very artificial. I think there’s a big division between people who take acting seriously and people who take social media seriously.

Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comment below. ]]>
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			<title>Love, from the sets of ‘Sherdil’</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1638765/love-sets-sherdil</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1638765/love-sets-sherdil#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 19 Feb 18 08:06:43 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Ahmed Sarym]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Life &amp; Style]]></category><category><![CDATA[Film]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=1638765</guid>
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				<![CDATA[Cast and crew of mega project discuss their association with PAF, participation of Junaid Jamshed]]>
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				<![CDATA[It’s a pleasant winter afternoon in Islamabad as I head out to the sets of much-anticipated film, Sherdil at an exquisitely built mansion in what can be called the suburbs of the capital. Sherdil, by definition are the aerobatics display team of the Pakistani Air Force (PAF). The feature film, however, fuses much more than mere jet flying in its narrative. One walks in to be greeted by a local crew that has previously worked on films like Janaan and Parchi.

Produced and written by debutant film-maker, Nomaan Khan, who will, through Sherdil , be launching his banner of ‘NK Pictures’, has previously worked with the PAF to produce a track called Tum Hi Se Aye Mujahidoon that was sung by the late Junaid Jamshed and featured Sherdil’s leading man, Mikaal Zulfiqar.

Armeena Khan and Mikaal Zulfiqar to star in Pakistan Air Force film 'Sherdil'

Rarely does one see a producer this involved in the creative space, but Khan’s contributions to the film’s mounting seem more than just providing finances.

“Junaid Jamshed kept insisting that if you’ve made this song, you must do more,” Nomaan disclosed as we sat down to chat between takes, he spoke of how the late musician-turned-religious scholar had influenced his decision of turning to film-making. “It wasn’t till we lost Junaid that I really decided to pursue it. In fact, I was supposed to be on that very aircraft flying out of Pakistan to look for locations. Junaid suggested we did it very discretely, but he was very much a part of it.”

[caption id="attachment_1638787" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: PUBLICITY[/caption]

Jamshed, who turned down several film offers including Shoaib Mansoor’s, was on-board for Sherdil. “He agreed to sing and compose its soundtrack, and he wanted to act in it as well. You know Shoaib Mansor stayed at his place for a couple of days to convince him to do a role in Bol, but he told me it would be an honor for him to be a part of Sherdil and wear the uniform again because his father was a former Air Force officer. We’re giving him a tribute by naming one of the characters in the film Junaid,” Khan continued.

Contrary to popular belief and unlike Haseeb Hasan’s Parwaaz Hay Junoon, Sherdil is a privately-funded project that is only logistically supported by the PAF. Nomaan feels that it was essential for the aerial warfare branch of the armed forces to be involved.

Sanam Saeed, Armeena Khan come together to support 'PadMan'

“It was very important for me to take PAF on-board, otherwise I couldn’t have the F-16s or the FJ-16s and the helicopters, or access to the base. I kept going to them and they would call me, we would talk about the story, but they never said ‘yes’, until the Air Chief indirectly approved by handing me a chit at a Board’s Meeting a couple of months ago,” he shared.

Sherdil’s protagonist, Mikaal Zulfiqar, after having a cinematic run across the border, will finally be making his foray into local theatres with an extended cameo in Cake. He’s also shot for a romantic-comedy, Na Band Na Baraati in Canada and ISPR’s tentatively titled The Trial alongside an ensemble star cast comprising of Sadia Khan, Shamoon Abbasi and Resham amongst others. All of them have had their fair share of ups and downs, when questioned, Mikaal sees film as a “tedious process” at large.

[caption id="attachment_1638789" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: PUBLICITY[/caption]

“If my fans are my fans, whether they have to pay to see me or watch me on TV, they’ll do it; that’s my star-power,” he says, as we speak of him simultaneously taking up television assignments with films. “TV is something completely different than films, its drama. But you see I’m playing an action-hero in Sherdil and they’ve never seen me like this before. I think even romance on both the mediums is very different from one another. I just want to pick up the best projects.”

Having done two films backed up by the forces, The Trial and Sherdil, one wonders if propaganda taking centre-stage has even been a concern for Zulfiqar.

Mahira Khan thanks fans for 5th Sexiest Asian Women title in hilarious video

“It has. But I don’t like to be too risky with projects, like I didn’t do Baaghi because I was a little worried about the Qandeel (Baloch) aspect. Or Udaari, I couldn’t see myself doing the molestation scene, being a father. However, with our story, there’s nothing of such sort. In fact the PAF is a huge support. They love our story and are as passionate about the film as we are,” he responds of being heedful of his assignments.

Though the Indo-Pak peg very much exists in the narrative, Mikaal assures that it’s been done subtly and won’t overpower the flow of the film in any way. “We’ve tackled the subject in a way it hasn’t been dealt with before; in a beautiful manner and not trying to take sides at the same time,” he observes of the plot. “I don’t want to reveal too much, but it’ll be something very new for Pakistan without being controversial.”

It's disturbing: 'PadMan' director on getting banned in Pakistan

We’re also joined by the film’s director, Azfar Jafri, who marks his many firsts with Sherdil. Starting out with the fact that he collaborates with another banner after three consecutive directorial projects with Imran Kazmi and Hareem Farooq’s IRK Films – Siyaah, Janaan and Parchi. Having dealt with an array of genres, ranging from horror-supernatural to comedy, Jafri’s plunge into yet another unknown territory will be a fresh take on the military-drama.

“As a director, I’m a storyteller and the genre of a film shouldn’t affect that at all,” he says of having been able to successfully shift from one theme to another.

“There’s always a story to tell; in my opinion, the genre is just the wrapping. I try growing with each project and try new things. I think our industry is at a stage where we can experiment. Once it’s established, you can venture into parallel cinema, which I will eventually, but at the moment, you need to make things for the audience and keep that in mind with whatever you do.”

After over four years with IRK, what made him step outside? “It was difficult to decide. When I first met the team, I knew I wouldn’t do any other film than IRK’s. But when I read the story and I had long discussions with the producer, since he’s the writer as well, and we came to common grounds eventually,” he revealed. “From my experience as a director and having received the audiences’ response, we made some subtractions and additions. I and IRK are already working on our next, we started off together and they’re family to me.”

[caption id="attachment_1638788" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: PUBLICITY[/caption]

Just when one steps out of the manor, the film’s leading lady and the endearing Armeena Khan arrives, having a late call-time; I managed to get her view of the film and what it propounds. Her last cinematic appearance came with Yalghaar last year, but hasn’t been seen as the prima-donna for about two years now. Though she’s found acclaim on the small screens, Khan’s sabbatical of sorts comes to an end and for all the right reasons.

“I waited for the right film to come along last year, with a strong script and Sherdil was just that. My father is a former-armed forces’ officer, so the forces always fascinated me,” she maintained as her face lit up. “I loved the storyline and all that entailed; the struggles and the love. It’s family-oriented, so that’s what I go with as it caters to the entire family. I was approached with a full presentation in an organised manner, I was shown the storyboards, and I knew it would be something different that takes us to the next level.”

Hamza Ali Abbasi's stance on 'PadMan' stirs social media debate

Unlike most women portrayals on the silver screen, Armeena guarantees a significant female part in Sherdil. “It’s my thing to be part of ground-breaking projects, as you’ve already seen in Daldal,” Khan asserted. “I go for two things mainly, the team and the script. It’s of a very strong, empowered, modern-day woman who knows what she wants, and there’s tremendous potential for me to explore that side because I’ve played the bechari way too many times.”

Currently being shot in different localities of Pakistan, Sherdil’s last leg of shoot will take place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Slated to wind up production by mid-March, the film is slated to take local cinema to a worldwide audience with a release in forty-countries and will be dubbed in six-languages.

We’re trying to show that women can lead men: ‘Parchi’ producer, Imran Raza Kazmi

The film is being shot by renowned Hollywood cinematographer, Riki Butland who’s been associated with franchises like the Fast &amp; Furious and Star Trek, and has signed onto Sonu Dangerous for choreography.

Also starring Hasan Niazi as the antagonist and Sabeeka Imam in a supporting role, the soundtrack is being composed by Adnan Dhul and Rabi Ahmed of Soch, who have previously worked on Bollywood film, Ek Villain and the recently-released local production, Chupan Chupai. Here’s hoping Sherdil is a flight in the right direction; something one can imagine without much hesitance by the zeal of its professional, yet romantic team.

Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below. ]]>
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			<title>Hamza Ali Abbasi's stance on 'PadMan' stirs social media debate</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1634537/hamza-ali-abbasis-stance-padman-stirs-social-media-debate</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1634537/hamza-ali-abbasis-stance-padman-stirs-social-media-debate#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 14 Feb 18 09:43:46 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Entertainment Desk]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Life &amp; Style]]></category><category><![CDATA[Film]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=1634537</guid>
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				<![CDATA[Previously, Sanam Saeed and Armeena Khan voiced their opinions against the ban on the Akshay starrer]]>
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				<![CDATA[Just a few days ago, Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar’s latest venture PadMan – a film propagating awareness of menstrual hygiene – was reported to have been banned here in Pakistan.

According to members of the censor board, films on “taboo” topics such as menstruation should not be allowed to be viewed in the country. In fact, the Federal Censor Board also denied issuing an NOC to PadMan and has announced it to be banned from cinemas everywhere .

Sanam Saeed, Armeena Khan come together to support 'PadMan'

Sanam Saeed and Armeena Khan recently voiced their opinions on the rumoured ban on the movie. Joining the bandwagon, Hamza Ali Abbasi also lent his support the Akshay starrer.

Taking to Twitter, the Mann Mayal star wrote, "So our Censor Board allowed Padmaavat which portrays Sultan Allaudin Khilji as a nymphomaniac barbarian and banned #Padman which gives much needed awareness about menstrual hygiene! I am known as a wannabe Mullah and even I find it pathetic."

https://twitter.com/iamhamzaabbasi/status/963331689736015872

"Grow up Censor Board!" he added.

As expected, his two cents on the matter stirred a social media debate.

Do you think the section of women in need of awareness are cinema goers and can afford tickets to the movie? Women who need an awareness are usually from that class where their only worry is to manage food! First please make sure they have basic amenities of life! By the way quite lame tweet by you!" wrote one user.

Another twitter user discussed the supposed aesthetics of religion. "This awareness can be spread by some other means too. Jab Islam main kuch cheezon ko hidden rakhne ka hukm hai tou wo hidden hi rehni chahiyen, (If a topic is frowned upon on Islam, then it should stay hidden)."

‘PadMan’ Review: The movie we know we need

"The thing is not about portraying Sultan Alauddin. The thing is that our Censor Board bans every movie which spreads awareness that is much needed in our society! Even #Verna was banned and now #PadMan," said another one.

Calling it a 'woman's private matter', a Twitter user called PadMan cheap. "That's a woman’s personal and private matter. Flaunting these things in public looks extremely cheap and attention seeking. If you want to raise awareness then lady health workers should be appointed to go door to door and provide help and awareness" he wrote.

Will PadMan see the light of the day in Pakistan? Only time will tell.

Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below. ]]>
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			<title>Sanam Saeed, Armeena Khan come together to support 'PadMan'</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1632688/sanam-saeed-armeena-khan-come-together-support-padman</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1632688/sanam-saeed-armeena-khan-come-together-support-padman#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 12 Feb 18 08:30:37 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Entertainment Desk/ IANS]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Life &amp; Style]]></category><category><![CDATA[Film]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=1632688</guid>
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				<![CDATA[Pakistani starlets took to social media to slam the supposed ban on the movie]]>
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				<![CDATA[Just a few days ago, Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar’s latest venture PadMan – a film propagating awareness of menstrual hygiene – was reported to have been banned here in Pakistan.

According to members of the censor board, films on “taboo” topics such as menstruation should not be allowed to show in the country. In fact, the Federal Censor Board also denied issuing an NOC to PadMan and has announced it to be banned from cinemas everywhere.

[caption id="attachment_1628618" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: FILE[/caption]

This hullabaloo surrounding the film has riled up some local celebrities, who insist such stories are important to create awareness. Actors Sanam Saeed and Armeena Rana Khan, for instance, have come out in support of the Khiladi actor’s film, saying that it is imperative for it to be released in Pakistan so as to understand its sensitivity.

Shocking: ‘PadMan’ banned in Pakistan

Taking to social media, the starlets showed their support for PadMan, stating that it is imperative to screen the movie in order to understand its sensitive nature.

"Periods. What’s the big deal people?," asked the Daldal star.

https://twitter.com/ArmeenaRK/status/962700732716797952

"The entire female population gets them including mother, sisters and daughters. They are as natural as the changing of the seasons. Let’s not make a big deal out of it. No need to ban films. They happen. Period," added Armeena.

Sanam, on the other hand took a more witty approach to address the subject.

https://twitter.com/sanammodysaeed/status/962348659038932992

"A man changed the lives of women across India, he made them aware of their unhygienic practices. He found a way to provide them with affordable sanitary napkins. But let’s not share that story because it has something to do with #MenstrualHygiene. Tobah! #padman," said the Cake starlet.

PadMan tells a story of a Arunachalam Muruganantham's journey to make affordable sanitary napkins. A section of the media have said that it has been banned in Pakistan due to its sensitive subject.

'Padman' is an honest subject: Akshay Kumar

On the flipside, a senior official of the board claims PadMan has not been denied an NOC for import into Pakistan, stated a press release. Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chief Mobashir Hasan said the decision regarding the NOC is yet to be made as the film had not been previewed yet.

[caption id="attachment_1628621" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: FILE[/caption]

“The decision to issue an NOC by the Ministry of Information Broadcasting National History and Literary Heritage is yet to be taken on the release of a foreign feature film PadMan, as it has not yet been previewed by the CBFC,” Mobashir tweeted. “The decision to grant the NOC to the subject film will be based on the merit and criteria of the CBFC, not vexatious, false and irresponsible political motives being created on various media platforms on the back of the film.”

Rare sighting: Malala Yousufzai shows support for Akshay Kumar's 'PadMan'

Hasan went on to comment, "The decision to grant NOC to the subject film will be based on the merit and criteria of the CBFC, not vexatious, false and irresponsible political motives being created on various media platforms on the back of the film.

[caption id="attachment_1595674" align="alignnone" width="500"] PHOTO: FILE[/caption]

"It is advisable to maintain principles of integrity whilst making statements on any issues. Good values are the foundation upon which we will build a prosperous Pakistan, not upon a decision of releasing a solitary film," he added.

Akshay Kumar postpones film release for ‘Padmaavat’

PadMan tells the real life story of an Indian man named Arunachalam Muruganantham and how he came to inventing low cost sanitary napkins for women in Indian villages. Directed by R Balki, the film is based on a short story from Twinkle Khanna’s book The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad and released the world over on February 9.

Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below. ]]>
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			<title>I’d absolutely love to work in Pakistan: Govinda</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1632041/id-absolutely-love-work-pakistan-govinda</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1632041/id-absolutely-love-work-pakistan-govinda#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 11 Feb 18 07:19:30 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Mahwash Ajaz]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Life &amp; Style]]></category><category><![CDATA[Film]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=1632041</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Actor was recently seen in Kill Dill alongside Pakistani heartthrob Ali Zafar and Bollywood bigwig Ranveer Singh]]>
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				<![CDATA[There isn’t any millennial who has grown up in India or Pakistan and doesn’t know Govinda. He first appeared on the screens in the 80s and has starred in over 150 films since then.

From the age of ‘the angry young man,’ the protagonist mindset of Bollywood has changed (and evolved, thankfully) a whole lot. Govinda has seen an entire span of a generation change its shape and its face. The fifty three year old actor wasn’t to be deterred by this of course as he was recently in the UAE and raring to mesmerise audiences with new avatars. He walked in with his entourage and his beautiful wife, Sunita, and of course, embodying the classic swag that we all have known Govinda for.

[caption id="attachment_1632055" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: BOLLYWOOD BUBBLE[/caption]

“You’ve been performing for us for so long,” I ask him, “and over these years, the industry has changed so much. The performances, the kind of work people are doing now has taken quite a turn. How do you see this change,” I am of course alluding to the nature and performances at award shows and films especially. “There are good and bad to every kind of changing times, how do you see these changes?”

Govinda thinks about this for a moment and speaks with his characteristic broad smile, “I think there is a lot of hard work involved now. The world is looking at you. And because the world is looking at you, it’s incredibly important that you work according to that. Whether it’s your nature or your physical performance, you have to keep up with the standards of the world.”

Award shows nowadays are a multi-million rupee industry, with A-listers performing and attending as well as in terms of the the giant leaps that technology has made in order to amplify the experience for the audiences. “In the beginning, or previously,” says Govinda referring to an earlier decade, “people worked on their style etc to showcase their personalities – there was a separate brand of hard work that went with it. Now it’s mandatory to work hard on these kinds of things.”

[caption id="attachment_1632057" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: BOLLYWOOD BUBBLE[/caption]

Different celebrities employ brand managers and PR consultants to help them say the right things and appear in a certain way. The environment has obviously shifted in dynamics. “Dance has changed as well,” Govinda adds. “There’s a lot of exercise involved. (laughs) It’s fine. Everyone has their own style.”

Govinda also talked about the changes in cinema and the kind of film-making that happens in today’s world. “What I want people to give attention to is that the cinema that we used to watch had this connectivity with people. Now it has turned into a business that involves the personal likings of people who have money.”

[caption id="attachment_1632058" align="alignnone" width="630"] PHOTO: BOLLYWOOD BUBBLE[/caption]

In an inherently commercial and money making business, it has obviously all become about box-office and the numbers game. “Whoever has the cash can now say and communicate whatever they want. It seems as if they’re talking – and they won’t stop talking,” laughs Govinda.

“And if you try and ask them what their problem is and why they’re doing what they’re doing – they sort of stare back at you and think they’ll crush you. What I wish is that people can connect again to the cinema in ways that aren’t just based on what a few people with money like to show on the screens.”

We recently saw him in the film Kill Dill alongside Pakistani heartthrob Ali Zafar and Bollywood bigwig Ranveer Singh. Govinda essayed a negative role, a villainous role which was a departure from his regular cheery, heroic roles that he is more prone to have played. What made him choose this role?

[caption id="attachment_1632053" align="alignnone" width="630"] SCREENGRAB[/caption]

“When I left politics – I did whatever work I got. I signed the first film I got. I told the directors of Kill Dill that you’re taking me for a negative role but I don’t think I’ll be able to do it. I kept his cheque aside, I didn’t cash it. I wasn’t taking his money. I wanted to make sure I could do this.”

Does he want to do more roles like that? “I’m just working,” he replies shaking his head and still smiling that bright mega-watt Govinda smile. “I’m not thinking much about anything. I kept thinking 2007 to 2017 and now I think I need to just work. And not think.”

And of course, I had to ask. “Would you like to work in Pakistan?”

“I’d absolutely love to.” He emphasises on the word ‘love’ and his smile is broader. I beam back at him. And he added again, “Thank you so much for asking, I’d love to.”

Govinda Ahuja is a powerhouse of talent and humility and there is no doubt that fans across India and Pakistan would love to see him on Pakistani screens and collaborate with more Pakistani actors. More power to him.

Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below. ]]>
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			<title>Review: 'Azad' gives big-budget local films a run for their money</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1630458/review-azad-gives-big-budget-local-films-run-money</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1630458/review-azad-gives-big-budget-local-films-run-money#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 09 Feb 18 09:14:52 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Rahul Aijaz]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Life &amp; Style]]></category><category><![CDATA[Film]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=1630458</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[A thought-provoking venture, comprising a Woody Allen and Jim Jarmusch-esque style of humour]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[In times when home-based network subscriptions are all the rage, you can randomly put on a film and not expect much from it. If it turns out to be great, it’ll be two-hours well spent; if not, we move on to the next. Not much harm done. There’s always more. It’s a different case, though, when you have to go all the way to the cinema, spend a few hundred rupees and watch a film that you probably might skip because there are no famous names attached to it.

But do yourself a favour and go watch Azad. Rehan Sheikh’s directorial debut is a pleasant surprise amidst a bunch of mediocre films that crowd our cinemas most of the time. The film revolves around an RJ named Azad (played by Sheikh) who hosts a morning show and likes to believe he is free until an encounter with his past challenges his belief.

'Maan Jao Naa': A predictable past-time

It’s one of those films whose trailer doesn’t do it complete justice. But you step into the theatre, sit tight in your seat and surrender yourself to the experience and it will engage you unlike any other local film that has come out this year so far. The first three minutes of the opening montage will hook you in and set up the film’s world with a clarity so rarely found in Pakistani films.

Remember that Azad is not a big budget film and by no means, it tries to deceive you into thinking that it is grand and larger-than-life. Azad’s success is in understanding and being content with its place and it is exactly that which helps ground the viewer in the film’s reality.

Pari: A comedy of horror

With all the rage for making big-budget films and breaking records, here is a film which quietly does its work with limited resources and carves out a beautiful story which not only entertains for two-hours but resonates and lingers in your mind long after. The director understands and creatively tackles the financial limitations.

[caption id="attachment_1630501" align="alignnone" width="625"] PHOTO: PUBLICITY[/caption]

Even as an actor, Sheikh delivers a performance which makes you truly believes in his character – a man who likes to think he is free, but is in fact, like all of us, wearing shackles we are not even aware of. The supporting cast, which includes Salman Shahid (as radio station owner PK Sher), Sabreen Hisbani (Azad’s former lover Jiya), Sanam Saeed (colleague), Ajlal Shah (Billoo), and Zahid Ahmed (OJ), also deliver realistic performances. There is no rush or exaggeration to their characters.

The film’s pace may be too slow and unconventional for some. The duration could have been 15 minutes shorter, but don’t let that discourage you from giving it a shot. Azad mesmerises you with its poetic, almost romantic flow. It’s sprinkled with classic songs like a chocolate cake with coconut powder.

Three local releases to clash at box office this weekend

Abbas Ali Khan’s melodious score, from beginning till the end, involves you further into the story. It stays mellow throughout and brings out the much-needed emotions in certain scenes. You will find yourself listening to the songs composed by Khan and Taimoor Mirza. Shumaila Hussain’s jazz flavour ‘Huzoor’ adds a fun, vintage feel to the film as well.

Thereby, the film, on the whole, equals to a visual poem narration – put down your guard and trust the narrator to take you wherever he wants. You won’t be disappointed. The ride will make you laugh with a very Woody Allen and Jim Jarmusch-esque style of humour. It will make you think and reflect on your life. And by the end, it will make you cry.

'Allahyar and the Legend of Markhor' review: Save the storytelling

Azad is a film which sets us free from a long list of underwhelming cinematic experiences. It is an important win for content-centric Pakistani cinema, which we definitely need more of. It’s important for the local cinema, in general, as it should ideally pave the way for more small-budget, story-centric films to follow. Simply, Azad is here to rescue Pakistani cinema from mediocrity.

Verdict: Go watch with no preconceptions and let Azad pleasantly surprise you.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below. ]]>
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			<title>Online blasphemy case: IHC asks govt to ban movies against Islam, Pakistani culture</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1619252/online-blasphemy-case-ihc-asks-govt-ban-movies-islam-pakistani-culture</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1619252/online-blasphemy-case-ihc-asks-govt-ban-movies-islam-pakistani-culture#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 26 Jan 18 20:17:43 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[rizwan.shehzad]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Orders to form a high-level committee to examine the issue of pornography]]>
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				<![CDATA[The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has ordered authorities to ban all foreign movies violating Islamic teachings and the laws, moral values and culture of Pakistan.

In the remarks made on Friday during hearing of the online blasphemy case, the IHC judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui said all the movies and video games responsible for promoting pornography and violence must be banned.

“Movies coming from foreign countries – if they violate any law of Pakistan, moral values, Islamic teachings and Pakistani culture – must be banned regardless of the origin of the movies and take measures in accordance with law,” Justice Siddique said.

IHC moved to ban Black Friday for being ‘un-Islamic’

He also ordered forming a high-level committee which will examine the issue of pornography, its availability on the internet, TV channels and other means and devices, with suggestions of immediate, short term and long term measures to stop ‘this menace against society’.

“The committee will be headed by the secretary cabinet division and comprised of secretaries of the ministries of Interior, religious affairs, information technology and broadcasting with the special participation of chairmen of Perma [Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority] and PTA [Pakistan Telecommunication Authority],” he added.

The court said the very purpose of insertion of pornography in the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 (Peca) was to take preventive measures against the onslaught through internet, TV channels and other means.

He said the values of Pakistani nation and its young generation were being attacked and it was expected from the executive functionaries to take some remedial steps. “But unfortunately this alarming and chronic issue failed to attract the attention of persons at the helm of affairs.”

With regard to insertion of provisions for punishment in case of false accusation of blasphemy, the Additional Attorney General Afnan Karim Kundi told the court that all the stakeholders had been involved and it was expected that the matter would soon be placed before the cabinet for its approval.

“At least 30 days’ time is required for that purpose,” he added.

The PTA official Nisar Ahmed told the court that pornography is controllable and bids have been invited for expression of interest in order to deploy suitable technical solution for controlling unlawful content.

However, Kundi revealed during the hearing that definition of the clause of ‘pornography’ requires clarification and he sought at least a fortnight’s time for this purpose. He said the slots for both the PTA chairman and member finance were lying vacant.

The IHC directed the government to appoint the PTA chairman and member finance within a fortnight, noting that an important authority had become dysfunctional for all intents and purposes.

In response to an earlier order, the Ministry of Interior special secretary submitted an interim report showing progress and steps taken pursuant to the court order.

The steps include final approval of amendment in the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) schedule; preparation of proposed draft for insertion of definition of blasphemy and pornography in Peca, and stance of the PTA that being an independent authority is fully empowered to enhance its capacity for carrying out its mandate.

The progress report said public service messages by the Ministry of Information were sent to Pemra for allocation of 10% air time. In response to Pemra’s instruction, 38 TV channels had started allocating time, but still some leading news channels were not ready to allocate the time.

The court order issued after the hearing revealed that there were serious complaints that different channels through morning shows are involved in activities which are against the decency, morality, values of Islam and cultural heritage of Pakistan. “[It] is a matter of great concern for all the families,” it said.

As some items of different channels clearly fall within the definition of obscenity, pornography, Justice Siddiqui directed Pemra to submit a report in this regard and take immediate steps to prevent telecast of such content. “If any channel fails to follow the instructions, penal action may be taken against the channel,” he said.

Justice Siddiqui directed Pemra chairman to take action against the TV channels, which are not allocating time for public service messages. He also sought a report in this regard before the court on next hearing on February 16

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			<title>Pindi youth caught feigning kidnapping</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1608238/pindi-youth-caught-feigning-kidnapping</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/1608238/pindi-youth-caught-feigning-kidnapping#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 14 Jan 18 05:11:03 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[APP]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Punjab]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Police arrest kidnapped teenager, friends]]>
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				<![CDATA[Watching too many movies landed a teenager and his friends in real trouble when they tried to fake a kidnapping to get ransom from his parents.

Airport police said they have solved a kidnapping case registered on January 8 and rounded up four friends including the kidnaped boy.

DSP Civil Lines Circle Kazim Naqvi said Tariq Pervaiz, a resident of Dhoke Nusha Gangal, Rawalpindi, submitted an application that his 17-year old son, Muhammad Saheer Tariq, a college student had been kidnapped and the kidnappers, through Facebook messenger, were demanding Rs600,000 ransom for release.

Rawalpindi CPO Israr Ahmed Khan Abbasi constituted a police team comprising DSP Civil Lines Circle, SHO Airport and IT experts under the supervision of SP Potohar Syed Ali to arrest the accused.

The team started investigation on scientific lines and father of the abductee was asked to pay ransom amount which was given to a kidnapper in Morgah area.

Later, police succeeded to net the three kidnappers namely Muhammad Qasim, Muhammad Yasir Abbas Talal and Abdul Khaliq who were class-fellows of Saheer and recovered the abductee from Adiala Road.

Police also recovered an unregistered Honda motorcycle, Rs210,000 in cash, two mobile phones and other costly items from their possession.

Later, police rounded up Saheer and recovered an expensive mobile phone from his possession as he was mastermind and prepared the plan to get himself kidnapped to milk his family for money.

The DSP informed the media that a blind murder case registered on December 4 last year had also been resolved by arresting the alleged killers namely Tahir Shahzad son of Muhammad Kambeer, a resident of Faisal Colony Rawalpindi and Zaheer Abbas son of Muhammad Bota, a resident of Islamabad.

He said, in this case, Noor Ahmed was shot dead by Zaheer Abbas who was hired by his brother-in-law Tahir Shahzad. Noor Ahmed was killed as he wanted to have a second wife.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14th, 2018.]]>
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