Its Father’s Day, and celebrities like Yashma Gill and Haroon Kadwani took to social media to share loving odes to their father, because we truly know that behind every successful individual is a strong support system.
‘Jhoom’ actor Haroon Kadwani shared a picture with his father, producer Abdullah Kadwani, and praised him for being a ray of sunshine and his role model.
Happy Father’s Day to a true superhero – my coolest and stylish Abba. A ray of sunshine for others, a king at heart and a man of his words aka my role model. Love you ❤️ Stay blessed.. may ALLAH protect us from the eyes of the evil – your proudest son, since 1999 “
Danish Taimoor shared a card he received from his son, Rayan, for Father’s Day. The actor has married ‘Chand Tara’ co-star Ayeza Khan, with whom he shares two children.
Aritifical Intelligence (AI) has now crept its way into the music industry, allowing users to manipulate voice and re-create songs with it. The Beatles have announced that they are recording a decades old song with the help of the technology, featuring the late lead singer John Lennon’s voice.
The Recording Academy has announced new guidelines that state that AI in music will not be considered eligible for nomination.
“Only human creators are eligible to be submitted for consideration for, nominated for, or win a GRAMMY Award. A work that contains no human authorship is not eligible in any Category,” the Academy says.
The Grammys also introduced some additional changes to be eligible for the ‘Album of the Year’ nomination, announcing that a music creator has to feature on at least 20% of the album to be able to become a part of the nomination. Previously, any producer or song writer who had participated in making the album, could earn a nomination.
Netflix’s thriller series ‘Black Mirror’ set hearts racing with the trailer for its latest season, revealing that the dystopian series was about to provide an even more grim experience. Popular actors like Annie Murphy, Salma Hayek and Aaron Paul star in the episodes.
The show had been on a break since 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic, as series creator Charlie Brooker explained to Entertainment Weekly that in dystopian times, humanity could do with a break.
The show previously broken records with critically acclaimed episodes like ‘The Entire History Of You’, ‘San Junipero” and even “White Bear” all of them discussed the dangers of depending on tech, and how it breeds the corrupt nature of humans. This time, fans were wondering if the show would be able to surpass its own expectations and deliver an outstanding season after three long years of waiting.
And it was worth the wait.
This season delved into the rise of AI generated images and videos, which would soon make deep-fake videos of other people without their consent, how the obsession with murder documentaries leads to a man exploiting his own family, and another episode starring Aaron Paul exploring a new invention in the 1960s that makes robot replicas of two astronauts who are completing a six year mission up in space.
And twitter users ate them all up.
I love when Black mirror episodes leave me traumatized and mentally disturbed for 12hrs pic.twitter.com/FwN7wNY9PM
no but the loch henry episode from #BlackMirror had the saddest ending ever, like the son just wanted to do his egg documentary and in the end of he was left traumatised and alone. his entire life was a lie like 😭 pic.twitter.com/zX2gfqsEMF
The iconic Bollywood song ‘Tum Ko Dekha’ was the anthem for lovers for an entire generation. Our lives were never the same after the song debuted, ghum hour was coined and now Javed Akhtar, who wrote the song, has revealed that he wrote the lyrics in under nine freaking minutes.
Scoop Whoop revealed that while speaking at a recent FFCI event in Kolkata, Akhtar disclosed that he had been drinking a lot the night he received a phone call from late director Yash Chopra’s assistant, who forwarded the request to the lyricist to write a song for his upcoming film:
“Every evening, we’d drink and chit-chat and by 2 am, we’d decided that we would finish the song tomorrow. I kept delaying it, then one day, the poor guy asked again. This was past midnight, after the eighth or ninth peg, I asked for a piece of paper and a pen, and decided to get it over with. Jagjit Singh sang the song, it was ‘Tum Ko Dekha To Yeh Khayal Aaya’. It was written at perhaps 12:30 in the night, after eight or nine pegs, in nine minutes…”
Can you re-call a popular song that was only written in less than 10 minutes?
Social media can be a blessing because of how it is able to bring people together regardless of their background. It provides people with an opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals. But we have to admit that the downside of social media -particularly in regard to how women on the internet are openly criticised and trolled- is something that cannot be overlooked. Mahira Khan was attacked online for not wearing a dupatta, and now Naimal Khawar is getting trolled after people assumed the actress had gotten a nose job.
Pakistani women exist in an invisible cage that follows them to their graves. They are a vessel of opinions other people have about them, and have no say in how they choose to live their own lives. Men tend to perceive Pakistani women as their personal nannies, therapists and full time mothers. In the particular case of Naimal Khawar, its amazing how entitled babus on the internet have so much to say about a woman who is financially independent and has a caring and attentive husband and family.
What had led to such a vicious response? The actress had merely posted pictures of herself next to some flowers, which led to some trolls making heinous comments about how her alleged nose job made her face look different.
Like seriously, the comments section really proves how as Pakistanis, misery is the flag we love to wave. We cannot remain happy, therefore we cannot see other people happy.
I’m sorry but did Naimal Khawar personally reach out to you for money even if she had gotten a surgery? Why would you feel so entitled to make such negative comments about a woman’s face? Why do Pakistanis feel that making hideous remarks about women’s bodies passes is acceptable? Naimal Khawar has not survived so many years in a competitive industry solely because of her looks, but because she is a talented person. She owes no one an explanation about how she chooses to live.
Trying to justify your body shaming by using the religion card? Didn’t Islam also tell us to keep our opinions to ourself, and to never open our mouth if we have to make a mean comment about someone? In a country like Pakistan where already 75 per cent people suffer from mental illnesses like depression, could we try to understand that, now more than ever, women need to stop pilling on hate on each other, and help by being a little kind and compassionate?
By the end of the day, we simply have to say that take your rules and restrictions away from the bodies of Pakistani women. Naimal Khawar is her own person. She can decide by herself what she wants with her life, whether she chooses to go under the knife or not. It’s all about what makes her feel more secure in her body. For the rest of us, there are more things to worry about while living in Pakistan rather than taking it out on a woman who has nothing to do with it.
If you’re still having a problem in undestanding how to possibly mind your business and manage not to tear down a happy person, then take a note from Mathira, who manages to keep a classy and cool persona by uplifting people when they need it the most.
Director Dawood Murad’s venture ‘Hum-Saya’, produced by the Centre For Social Justice, has received the prestigious award for ‘Best Short Documentary on Human Rights’ at the Venice Intercultural Festival 2023. The film focuses on the story of two girls who are abducted, forcibly converted and then married off, while also exploring the turmoil their families undergo.
In an Instagram post, the director revealed that the film will also be screened in Venice, Italy, on June 23 and later at Kellogg College, Oxford, on June 16.
A recent report compiled by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan found that in the year 2021, at least 60 cases of forced conversions were reported in the media, out of which 70% of the girls were under the age of 18 and were from Sindh.
The data also revealed that blasphemy cases were on the rise in the country. In 2021 there were 585 blasphemy cases registered in Punjab, out of which 16 were filed against the Ahmadi community.
Disgraced Hollywood star Bill Cosby has been accused of sexual assault by nine more women, according to a lawsuit filed in Nevada. Al-Jazeera reports that the women claimed they were drugged and assaulted by ‘The Cosby Show’ star between the years 1979 and 1992.
According to the complaint filed in the US District Court of Nevada, the survivors were attacked in dressing rooms, hotels and in Cosby’s various homes. The suit demanded the former star pay damages for sexual assault and battery.
The lawsuit has arrived after Nevada changed its law regarding the statue of limitations for adult survivors of sexual abuse to pursue civil cases.
The law had previously given survivors a two-year window to file civil charges. But on June 2, Governor Joe Lombardo signed a bill “Justice for Victims of Crime”- which was met with praise from survivors of sexual assault and rape.
“For years, I have fought for survivors of sexual assault, and today is the first time I will be able to fight for myself,” said Lise-Lotte Lublin, a school teacher and former model who has long pushed for statutes of limitations to be broadened in sexual violence cases.
Lublin had initially filed a case against Cosby in 2014, alleging that the former comedian had summoned her to his hotel in 1989 to learn acting techniques. She recalled Cosby giving her spiked alcohol to “help her relax”. Lubin revealed she quickly lost consciousness, only reawakening in her own bed later on, not knowing how she got there.
More than 60 women had accused Cosby in 2018 in Pennsylvania of sexual assault and rape through the inclusion of drugs, and he was convicted for drugging and assaulting Andrea Constand in 2014. However, in 2021 the Pennsylvanian Supreme Court overturned this suit, citing the fact that the former star was denied protection against self-incrimination.
The court had stated that Cosby had been denied his “due process rights” when the prosecuters had ensured him that he won’t be charged if he confessed during the testament. When he revealed that he gave women quaaludes during sex, it became the key testimony during the criminal case that was overturned.
Cosby’s spokesperson, Andrew Wyatt, released a statement where he accused the women who filed a suit against Cosby of being motivated by their “addiction to massive amounts of media attention and greed.”
“From this day forward, we will not continue to allow these women to parade various accounts … against Mr. Cosby anymore without vetting them in the court of public opinion and inside of the courtroom,” Wyatt responded in a statement.
British newspaper Guardian released an article on some of the best films of 2023 so far, ranging from horror to thrillers and animated comedy films like ‘Marcel the Shell with Shoes On”.
On the 15th place is Pakistani writer and director Saim Sadiq’s debut film ‘Joyland’ which starred Ali Juenjo and transgender model Alina Khan.
Discussion the significance of the film, the article described it as “a movie about people who find their inner lives and sense of themselves don’t match up to what is expected of them. Their feeling of wrongness is part of what they have to suppress, from day to day.”
The film, which was banned in Punjab last year just 24 hours after it got a certificate of approval from CBFC, had aired in India in March, receiving positive remarks from watchers who described their experience as ‘magical’:
One user wrote:
“Still can’t get over the experience of watching Joyland on big screen. I’ve never seen the crowd get this hyped, laugh and cry together for a movie before, magical experience.”
still can't get over the experience of watching Joyland on big screen. I've never seen the crowd get this hyped, laugh and cry together for a movie before, magical experience pic.twitter.com/rEnltdZca1
“Joyland is fantastic, heartbreaking and beautifully made – the experience of watching it amongst an engaged enthusiastic audience last night at the Habitat center film festival was exhilarating. Also what about this poster by Salman toor!”
Joyland is fantastic, heartbreaking and beautifully made – the experience of watching it amongst an engaged enthusiastic audience last night at the Habitat center film festival was exhilarating. Also what about this poster by Salman toor! pic.twitter.com/l2lCRz7o7L
Last night's screening of Joyland in Delhi was magical. People waiting in lines for a Pakistani film that so lyrically talks about patriarchy and the loneliness it breeds. People sitting on floors in awe, clapping and crying in unison. Through grief and borders, art finds a way. pic.twitter.com/pLfTuLOHnO
Was it a charming male lead Choi Chi Yeol (played by Jung Kyung-ho) who falls for a single mom, that drove people to watch ‘Crash Course in Romance’? Or the fact that a show went into minute details about the pressures of high school, the cut-throat competition surrounding college applications and how it damages the mental health of students? Whatever it was, the Korean rom-com ‘Crash Course In Romance’ had aired only two episodes when it lead the polls in the list of dramas that are generating the most buzz.
Aside from this show, and the critically acclaimed thriller ‘The Glory’ that was among the top ten most watched dramas around the world, this is the perfect time to get into Korean dramas, especially if you’re from Pakistan and dying to watch something other than a toxic romance going round and round like a jalebi. From the list of K-dramas set to arrive on Netflix, the shows range from a wholesome office romances to an unlikely encounter between a vampire and a human and a bored housewife taking charge of her fate and deciding to become a doctor.
2023 has only reached its middle and this lineup of dramas has us excited. Check out some amazing options.
1 See you in my 19th life
Time travelling lovers who recognise each other in their next lives? Sign us up immediately. Ban Ji Eum has an extraordinary trait: she can remember everything from her 18 past lives. But when her life is cut short tragically and Ji Eum is reborn in her 19th life, she is determined to reconnect with all the people she lost, and in the process she comes across Mono Seo Ha, a man whom she met in her previous life.
2 My Heart Is Beating
Missing your Vampire Diaries, Twilight era? K-dramas have got you covered. Remember the heartthrob villain Jang Jun-Woo from Vincenzo? The actor who played him, Ok Taec-Yeon, is now the lead in this drama, as a vampire who desperately wants to become a human being, but he misses his chance because of one day out of a 100 years. He starts living in a guest house run by Joo In-Hae (Won Ji-An), a cold-hearted nurse who does several jobs. As the two get closer, both start getting feelings for each other.
3 King The Land
If you missed witty office romances like Ankahi, or quite recently ‘Fairytale’ and need something to fill the hole in your heart left by Farjaad as you wait for Season 2, check out this one. Gu Won is the son of a chaebol family, who is caught in an inheritance war with the rest of his siblings over the control of his company. Although he is successful in his business, his work-a-holic attitude makes him bad at dating, until he meets Cheong Sa-Ra, an employee at his hotel, and immediately falls for her.
4 Doctor Cha
Cha Jeung-Suk graduated medical school with aspirations to become a doctor, but resigns to becoming a housewife to the Chief Surgeon at a university hospital. Twenty years later, Jeong-Suk decides to start her medical career despite resistance from her husband.
Yes, you’ve heard of ‘Tere Bin’. Your momma has too, as has the paros walli aunty. Even bechara Irffan Khan ka beta apnay aap ko iss say bacha nahi saka.
‘Tere Bin’ has us all in a trance, but perhaps we don’t want to remain in it. Yet there we are, every Wednesday and Thursday, hooked to our screens. These two days could be now renamed ‘Tere Bin days’ and we’re honestly thinking this drama should be studied by psychologists because no matter what absurd plot twist is thrown in, the fanbase remains dedicated as ever. Is it because of the appeal of the main leads, Wahaj Ali and Yumna Zaidi? Or is it because as a post-colonial nation, we’re addicted to hate watching? Does any scientist out there care to explain how we’ve gone from this couple fighting to falling back in love to faking a pregnancy to then back to shouting and crying and going all over again back to lovers? We’re 53 episodes in, give us a break!
But we did as a nation get some hilarious plot twists and pearl clutching moments that even got PEMRA looped in. So let’s break down some of the ways Tere Bin decided to throw logic out of the window
1 Starting with the more recent: Meerab’s pregnancy announcement.
Episode 53 opens with a mind blowing twist: that apparently doing it only once in your marriage with your frenemy husband gets you immediately pregnant. Fans first got to watch their favorite couple in torment because they broke their rules and decided to have sex, and then mope around when Meerab decides to run away, and now the cherry on top is her realising that the same husband she ran away from is the one who got her pregnant?
2 Abba saying shaba khair
There is a hilarious trope in Pakistani dramas that every time a daughter decides to rebel by divorcing the man she’s been forced to marry, the dad immediately becomes an obstacle in her path by dying from a heart attack. Ye abba je ko convenient waqt nahi milta apni manmani karwanay kay liye? And why play up the daughter’s guilt when she is escaping an unhappy marriage? We saw this with ‘Mujhay Pyaar Hua Tha’, that the father immediately passes away, guilt shaming Maheer further for not wanting to remain married to her cousin, Saad.
In episode 50, after finding out that his daughter Meerab has run away from her home and left her belongings behind, her father searches for her and then passes away outside her friend’s house.
3 Haya dancing at Murtasim’s wedding
If a villain goes down in history for messing with the nation’s mind so much that even the actress performing this role was sent hate mail, it would be Haya, palyed by Sabeen Farooq. We have to give credit to Farooq’s brilliant acting that makes Haya such a hateful character, and yet someone whom the audience can’t turn away from despite how cringey she looks trying to trap Murtasim. Perhaps the most Haya she has ever been was in episode 8, when she dances in a seductive manner at Meerab and Murtasim’s mehendi, something we’d not even do even if a gun was put to our head.
4 Malik Zubair aka Anas
Sirf Meerab, Murtasim aur Haya kaafi nahi thay, that even Mariam bechari had to be dragged into such a messed up love affair with the man who attempted to harm her brother? We discover in episode 40, that Anas is actually Malik Zubair, Murtasim’s biggest enemy. The episode also drew a lot of backlash from audiences for portraying the female characters of the show as helpless and clueless about the person whom Murtasim repeatedly refers to throughout the show as his biggest enemy.
5 The pregnancy confusion
‘Tere Bin’ did everything in its power to win the ‘most brainless show’ competition and they led the polls with episode 24. Murtasim promising his wife that he doesn’t think of Haya as anything but a sister, and then deciding to go to the village with her? Maa Begum becoming gynecologist and deciding Meerab is pregnant, without our headstrong lead even bothering to correct this assumption? Allah madad kar.
