"One can't deny the Bollywood influence in Pakistan," Aamina told IANS, adding that Pakistanis were as passionate about Bollywood as Indians.
"So much so that they want to compete with Bollywood films. We, as actors, always say that we can't compare the two industries at infrastructural and other level. But people can't help but compare."
"Bollywood has an immense impact on our lives. Who doesn't want to take a deep dive into it," added the 29-year-old.
Asked about her favourite actor and who she would want to work with, Aamina answered promptly: "Abhishek Bachchan and Ranbir Kapoor would be nice."
Aamina, who is the face of L'Oreal Paris, Emirates Airlines, Pantene Shampoo and Clear Shampoo in Pakistan, was in India for the first time for her forthcoming film Josh, which was screened at the 14th Mumbai Film Festival (MFF) here.
Directed by Iram Parveen Bilal, Josh is the only fiction film from Pakistan screened at MFF in the last five years.
"I am here for the first time and what better way to come for work through work. Josh is a film that has been made with a lot of passion and heart. I am hoping it does well," she said.
Talking about her character in the film she said: "I play Fatima, who has a group of friends who are very progressive and represent the urban youth from cities like Karachi and Mumbai. It is through her friends that she explores her nanny's village. The nanny runs a 'khaana ghar' that Fatima attempts to run after her nanny dies."
"As she starts the journey, she comes across a lot of complexities and tries to address them head on. So the film is about her journey of exploration of the village, which has mystery and lies," says Aamina.
Josh will break the stereotype of the country, hopes Aamina.
"The plot of the film is like an allegory of what Pakistan is right now. It is a bird's eye view of what the country is. The story makes you touch the heart of Pakistan and break the stereotype image of the country," she said.
COMMENTS (53)
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@kapil: Everyone is welcome to Pakistan. I've been to only 2 concerts in my lifetime, of Sonu Nigam in Lahore and Edward Maya in Karachi. We Pakistanis also appreciate talent, that's why bollywood is famous here.
To some extent she is right....
The Bollywood business is shared between two languages(i.e. Urdu and Hindi), Bollywood can never be as big, if the Pakistani viewer ship is reduced. If that happens, You ll see the billion dollar industry coming down to a million dollar industry.
Already the Pakistani drama industry is having huge impact on the Urdu/Hindi drama industry. Not only in Sub-Continent but world over in the respective communities. But I think India is wise enough to bounce back in the drama industry(due to the huge finance they have and their immense capability of copying themes/stories).
I consider both of the above mentioned entertainment industries(movie, drama) as competition and my comments are not based Pak/Indo Rivalry.
Oh come on guys. India have always respected the great singers from any part of the world, and everbody have live concerts here weather it is strings, jal enrique, Brayn Adams etc. But how many are welcomed in Pakistan. We do not compare strins with junoon or Ghulam Ali Or NFAK. We simply appretriate the music
Wrong - Our music industry has immense impact on bollywood. See how they copied "Jugni" by Arif Lohar and "Disco Deewane" by Nazia Hassan in their movies this year. @A.M.Khan: Bollywood had good singers no doubt. But in this age, there is simply NO COMPETITION. They had Lata, we had Nur Jehan. They had Rafi, we had Mehdi Hassan. But Nusrat Fateh Ali khan is out of this world and he can't be compared to any classical singer in the sub-continent. Same goes for Vital Sign (Pop) and Junoon. (Rock) In this age the only good singers they have are Shreya Ghoshal, Sonu Nigam and Mohit Chauhan (out of 1.3 billion people!) But we have Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Shafqat Amanat Ali, Atif Aslam, Sanam Marvi, Ali Azmat, Arif Lohar, Imran Khan, Abida Parveen, Ali Zafar, Farhaan Saeed (Jal guy), Strings and countless other gems. Right Now I'm listening to "Phir wohi Raaste" by Shafqat Amanat Ali, movie Ramchand Pakistani. Simply Awesome! Please don't compare us with bollywood, even junior artists like Bilal Khan & SYMT are far better than dhinka chika trash. Go to Coke studio and see how forums are populated with Indian fans' comments'. I bet they are dying to get our Junior artists into bollywood.
@A.M.Khan, Pankaj - Guys, why are you denying each other? There are incredible talents on each side. Just because you know only about talents on your side of the border does not make the other side talentless. And why do we need to deny others to prove that we are the better. Why can't both of us be incredibly good at the same time? There is Nusrat on one side and then there is Hazarika on the other. There are excellent musicians and singers on both the side. You guys are talking about guitarists and Bollywood to measure each other, that may not be a very good scale to start with and also it will only highlight your limited knowledge on music of this region. I am not saying those are bad but those do not portray the full picture of our music. Try exploring classical music and instrumentals as well as regional music of both the countries. You will be amazed to know that no region in the world provide such variety of high quality of music . Again this is not to say that western classical or rock music is crap, rather it is awesome but we are no less either with var more variations.
Most importantly top talents on both side of the border appreciate and respect each other and are always keen to learn from their counterparts. Hope we can follow the same and try to exhibit some decency and humility
@Pankaj @A.M.Khan You guys need to take a chill pill. We have learned to disagree with each other so much that few simpler yet important things are being missed. Khan saheb, please google up origins of sufi and you will see even though it was invented by Islamic musicians it was born by this sub continent culture. Today our subcontinet is named ad India and Pakistan, but whether you like it or not our roots are same. Origins of your religion may be from different land, yet your DNA is same. By this I am not in anyway discrediting or taking credit from Pakistan for sufi music. But the music only gets popular if it has large fan following. Outside Pakistan sufi is only loved in India in vast majority. In western countries only handful of connoisseurs will appreciate that. So whether you like it or not, success of sufi is by large extent due to its acceptance by Indian and Indian movies. By talent sufi artists are successfull, but commerical success comes from their outreach to masses and that mass is the audiance of Bollywood movies. Please believe me when I say that I do hate 80 % of Bollywood masala especially the love dovy psychotic movies which sells larger than life dreams but no real substance. But again the rest 20 % is still a very large quantify in pure numberical value. That number is far far far far and very far ahead of decent movies made in Pakistan. Again this statement is not by my deliberation to compete. Bottom line is. We have common traditions, values and if you focus on whats common between us rather than differences you will realize we r far more common in our taste whether its food, music, movies, gossip, sports .....etc. Our moronic military and political leadership have so far kept us busy being afraid of each other , but hopefully soon, truth will prevail, our people will be one. All this petty competition will be just talk of past.
@pankaj: Do you think the world has enough spare time to waste on Bollywood movies? 3 precious hours of your life would be spent on copy ideas? Would anyone spend time to watch Memento or twice made Bollywood copies(for example)? What is Sherkhan? By the way Junoon collaborated with Brian O'Connell when India was in the stone age in music world :)
@A.M. Khan...as a matter of fact I have posted the list of lead guitarists of India but due to some unknown reasons ET didn't posted it... As a matter of fact Indian movies are most popular form of cinema not in the subcontinent but in the whole world... which is stated by the lady along with a lot of pakistani posters on ET.
Kindly embrace the truth without any prejudices. just me the truth .. did u enjoy Sherkhan ??
@Foolitics and @pankaj To be truthful, I didn't understand the point posting the web page. I am just looking forward for the answer of a simple question which I have posted above.
@Foolitics: the way you are addressing shows your level of decency and I am shocked how your comments have passed through the filter here.
The way you guys are moving around the issue shows your knowledge about music. We started pop music in the region in the late 80's. From that era Salman Ahmad like figure used to be compared with Adam Jones level of musicians. What were you then? May be at that nobody knew how to hold a guitar in India :)
@A.M.Khan: http://www.rsjonline.com/ . That shut you up. Didn't it? :-) living in a box made out of dogma and ignorance is not healthy. Come out of it and smell the coffee. But I really doubt if you can do that. After living inside a box for so long, you ur self have become a box.
@Knotty @AM Khan @Mubashir Ahmed
Why does ET have so many Bollywood / Hindi movie reviews? For every 1 Hollywood movie review, there are at least 5 Bollywood movie reviews.
If you guys go over to your ET 'Life and Style' page, you will see so much news and gossip about Bollywood folks.
The Pakistanis I see see in Dubai, London and Chicago are all crazy about attending the 'Bollywood shows' . In fact hey are the ones who jack up the ticket prices.
I personally do not care too much for Bollywood, but reality is that majority Pakistanis love Indian cinemas...
@ A. M. Khan @ Pankaj
While arguments and counter arguments are a healthy sign, don't overshadow this news with your pro India and pro Pakistan debate! There is no point going on and on! . I agree that Bollywood does have impact on most of Pakistanis, keeping in mind that majority is illiterate. Educated people prefer to watch world cinema or Hollywood. I stopped watching Bollywood when I was 19. I just gew up!!
@A.M.Khan.. that is for your reference
http://www.rsjonline.com/
Enjoy !!
@A.M.Khan... I didn't get your point..
as far as best guitarist is concerned there are many..just use the google.. for your kind info.. bollywood comes in a package that is why they are a multi billion industry. all your talents want to be in India... why are you not responding to the questions that i have put about the credibility of lady ? most of your arguments are vague and can't be substantiated .. the attitude "I know the truth" doesn't work when facts and numbers speak for themselves.
@pankaj: That's typical Indian attitude, you say you don't do something and then you do it right away :) To make it even more simple, give the name of the best guitarist you have?
@A.M.Khan.. no offence but u don't hold any credibility....lady has more credibility than you...accept the facts and live with it.
as far as names are concerned they are uncountable to say the least...as Bollywood is a multibillion dollar industry... numbers speak for themselves... I have already told u check out the pakistani shaadi videos on youtube and you may get enlightened !
I see now this has come to personal offense. If this becomes upto such level then it is a never ending discussion.
To keep it simple, I don't understand why people above from other side of border do not give any names to google to. Like I have provided some examples above. Readers/viewers will google themselves and see the difference!!!
@ethicalman: Background singing and lip-sync is not a dare, Coke Studio type things are. Give us the name/genre of the music you are talking about!!!
A M Khan etc. ppl suffers from in Inferiority complex big times..simple as that..Comparing India with Pakistan is uneven.. Indian Punjab can be compared to Pakistan..
The so called sufi music is an outcome of contact of fakirs to Indian divine classical music..All sufi music have it’s foundation to Indian music…the allap, tabla, sarangi, harmonium (which is of French origin) etc..
Btw India has much much more than just all the so called crapy bollywood music..if only Pakistanis try to learn about India only then they will know… ‘There has to be an open heart for the reception of truth’ which unfortunately I don’t see in a 99% of Pakistanis..
Salman Rashid kind of people are that 1% of Pakistanis …
@A.M.Khan... sorry to disappoint you sir, but you don't have any credibility and we can't take your arguments on face value... lady has been associated with film industry and has more credibility than you.
On a side note I can also say that I know a lot of pakistanis and they think that Lollywood is a disgrace to pakistan.
The lady is right. I think more Pakistanis intentionally or unintentionally are connected with Bollywood. Its not Iranian cinema or Arab.
Thank you Aamina for speaking truth. You are already a star and your serious work shows that your future is very bright.
@raghu: Now I can confidently suppose that most of the commentators above from India do not have any friend circle from/in Pakistan. Their source of knowledge is purely their own media and BBC. Which means they have wrong perception of Pakistan and its culture and music.
I have/had lot of known/friends from all parts of India. So I get the first hand knowledge from them which eventually becomes my reference for such discussions. My knowledge about India might not be perfect but at least it is first hand. This was the response of above comment which mentioned me being ignorant.
Your Lata, Kishore may be earned lot of money because you are way too many but who collaborated internationally more are Pakistani artists. I have already given the examples.
wow nice debate going on here ! (Y) A M KHAN
@A.M. Khan..come to south India you will get the real taste of Indian music..you people don't know any thing about it..India is not about Sufism only..the diversity of music you find in India is very vast and very unique..You people often fail to understand it..There are many world famous Indian musicians from every ethnic group..Broaden your knowledge and think beyond and understand.. I agree Pakistani singers are very famous in Sufism, and their popularity platform has been widened by Indian movies mainly Bollywood and you people only know about Bollywood movies. Try to dig deeper and see beyond Bollywood.
By the way these Pakistani singers are not that famous in south India because they have different cultures
@A.M Khan you can,t even imagine how big the Indian film industry is
@A.M. Khan... I can't accept your arguments on face value... Results show the different trend...
Lady is right ... we aspire to become like bollywood...
I don't know the gentleman that U have mentioned...
I hope your immensely talented artists can earn some fame and money in pakistan itself..
@pankaj: No, she is not lying, it is just her side of picture which has a different context. May be she wants to promote her movie in India.
I have couple of friends from Calcutta and I know which level of guitar talent you are talking about. I am talking about Mikaal Hassan level of skills.
From your above comments it is safe to presume that you sir don't really understand music well. Business aspect of music is another topic.
@A.M. Khan.. are you kidding sir ? india doesn't have a single guitarist ? just come to kolcutta i will show you the real talent... irony is that without having anything "good" we produced multi billion dollar industry...
@someone... ahh... finally we have moral grandstanding !! Bollywood is a mix of all music form... be it sufi or indian classical or western.. and it is acknowledged world wide...look what kind of coverage josh is getting when they are going to mumbai film festival.... and why you people are deliberately ignoring what lady is saying ... is she lying for few bucks ???
@Butt: Why is this pakistani love for oscars or grammy i thought pakistanis hate everything western but for dollars!!! Hmm guess not!
@rahul: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan has more worldwide recognition than any of the mediocre Sufi artists (that's if you have any) that have ever been produced in your own country.
@rahul: For the record, how many Indians have won a Grammy or Oscar award? Fewer than ten maybe. Or even less? No one from Hollywood is coming to work to India anytime soon, I suggest you get a reality check yourself.
Coke Studio is a great example. I saw India has tried some similar one and anyone can judge the difference in quality.
It is such a big population and not a single famous guitarist. How come? Pakistan is full of this talent.
@Pankaj.....We dont make music for movies usually so you cannot ask us to give you our best music director who is perhaps known to you. Its just like asking a cricket team their best striker. Maybe in India music means playback singing, but not for us atleast. Even in US, I d like you to find the "best" music directors.
Also, we make music that are sometimes bought in (or copied) for your films that itself speak of quality of our singers that are groomed in the same Pakistani music industry, Bollywood doesnt import our Raw talent, does it?
I have traveled some place around the world and talked to people. Regarding bollywood music, they had the impression of Bhangra type music in their minds and certain instruments were known as bollywood (like sitaar etc.) but not any specific singer. When asked about Sufi music, most of them knew NFAK and Junoon.
@A.M.Khan .. I think you need a reality check. Can you tell me your how many of your so called SUFI singers have worldwide recognition?? . How many have won Grammy or Oscar award. They got some fame because of Bollywood and Indians. We have BIG HEART and hence we accommodate even your mediocre artists. Bollywood is recognized world wide. People from Hollywood want to come and work in India. This news was also published by ET. So please get of your bed and smell some coffee and WAKE UP !!!
@pankaj: " and please nobody talks about pakistan music" I know have so many non-Pakistani westerner friends and admirers of classical music who would give you a good rebuke for that.
By the way, Bollywood music is immaterial. You can never, ever compare Bollywood with the traditional Sufi and qawalli music. Only someone who understands Sufism and qawalli music and the devotion within the music therein truly knows the value of these rich genres. Bollywood is just a modernised consumption trash.
@A.M.Khan:
What is Sufi music. Can you enlighten me about its origin?
@A.M.Khan: I agree with you that Pakistan has number of Sufi singers. It is also a bitter truth that they achieved their stardom through Bollywood due to its reach to millions. In my personal opinion Sufism is the spirit of Islam and Pakistan has abandoned it in favour of dogma of the religion. Peace in Pakistan will come when moderate like you will encourage and nurture Sufism for next generation. So please we need more action than words. Eid Mubarak.
@A.M.Khan.. when did u own all this genre ? and please nobody talks about pakistan music...the only thing they talk about pakistan is u know what !
Bollywood is in fact a multi billion dollar industry... kindly check the facts. India has produced the gems like lata, Mohd. rafi, Kishore, rehman etc etc... can u tell me who is the best music director of pakistan ?
kindly check the video proof... if in case youtube in working in pakistan .
@pankaj: You are talking about business side of it, which is another topic.
When people in Europe and USA (even in Japan) talk about Pakistani music, they talk about Sufi Pop, Sufi Rock, Sufi Classic and Qawwali. What's your name of music? Bollywood? misleading my friend coz that's not your music Genre that's the movie sector.
Don't exaggerate the figures dear, it could be multi million DOLLARS but not 'billion'. After you are too many to be fed!!!
@A.M.Khan ... come on dude... don't compare handful people with a multi billion dollar industry.
Listen what lady is saying. Check out the videos otherwise.
@Pankaj: FYI. Pakistan is the birth place of Sufi music. Don't you know Junoon, Atif Aslam, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Mikaal Hassan etc.? Just to add, those are all Pakistani musicians :) They composed the biggest ever hit songs from Asia.
@A.M.Khan.. what is so great about pakistani music ? can u suggest any single good song ?
Our music is much stronger than bollywood and Hollywood movies are 100 times better so no point watching Indian movies.
@Ajay: your guess is quite close, we just more into Hollywood. Afghan, Arabic, Turk Uzbek movies!!! what are those?
@ host If movies could have so much impact on your life then may be you are living it wrong!
joking?? bollywood is out of my life for more than a decade now and my life is so much better already.
She must be talking about affect on her life.For me it has no value.
I thought Pakistanis should be watching arab/turk/tajik/uzbek/afghan movies, since they are closer to them ethnically, culturally and also bound to them by their religion..
I love Bollywood .
it does have an impact on our lives,whether you agree or not,all the pakistanis see bollywood movies
Bollywood has absolutely no impact on my life. Thank you very much.
In other news, the Sun rises from the East.
u guys keep seeing bollywood and out tv shows....no prob.....but we wont ever see ur shows on our tv......