If you’re planning your next BTS streaming party, then Spotify’s latest report will definitely make you excited because they have revealed which regions will you find the most hardcore fans of the popular Kpop band.
According to Dawn, Spotify Pakistan’s region-based breakdown has revealed that Sukkur is the place where BTS has the most fans. Three BTS songs ‘Yet To Come’, ‘Dreamers’ and ‘Dynamite’ are among the top five favorite tracks. Among major cities like Karachi, Peshawar and Lahore, Spotify reported that local musicians are currently holding the top spots which included ‘Pasoori’ by Ali Sethi and Shae Gill, ‘Iraaday’ by Abdul Hannan, ‘Bikhra’ and King’s ‘Tu Ake Dekhlay’.
Spotify also revealed that currently the top trending artists in Pakistan include Atif Aslam, Young Stunners, Asim Azhar and Hasan Raheem. While several artists from across the border have also bagged spots like Arijit Singh, Pritam and AP Dhillon.
Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor has addressed backlash from Indian fans after he was called ‘unpatriotic’ for saying that he would love to work with Pakistani actors, and that art has no boundaries. The incident took place last year at the Red Sea International Festival as shown by Diva Pakistan.
The Indian Express reports that the ‘Tamasha’ actor addressed the controversy while at a promotion event for his upcoming film ‘Tu Jhooti Mein Makkar’ where he said: I think my statement was misconstrued. I had gone to a film festival and there were a lot of Pakistani filmmakers asking me this question, ‘If you’ve got a good subject would you do it?’ So, I didn’t want it to be controversial in any way.’ Furthermore, Kapoor said he had previously worked with Pakistani actors like Fawad Khan and didn’t think that art should have any boundaries: I don’t think it was such a big controversy. But, for me, films are films, art is art. I have worked with Fawad (Khan) in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. I have known a lot of artists from Pakistan. Rahat (Fateh Ali Khan) and Atif Aslam are such great singers who used to contribute to Hindi cinema. So, cinema is cinema. I don’t think cinema sees boundaries.”
It’s an undisputed fact that Pakistani dramas will never stop one-upping each other on who can make the most cringe worthy, mediocre version of the good-girl-saves-bad-boy-by-becoming-his-punch-bag trope. But another important element of Pakistani dramas remain unchallenged as being the best: the title songs. If a drama disappears from public attention because of churning out the same old stale storylines, their title songs will still remain evergreen and loved by the social media users. After a lot of careful searching, here are some of our favourite title songs from Pakistani dramas!
1 Humsafar by Quratulain Baloch
No one can start an article about this topic without mentioning the song that kickstarted it all. Humsafar will remain a prominent element of pop culture discourse for creating the kind of chemistry between the main leads that no television show has been able to match to this day, but one can’t talk about the drama without acknowledging the grip this song had over the entire country. Even today, this song is considered as Baloch’s finest hit.
2 Ranjha Ranjha Kardi by the Justin Bibi’s and Rahma Ali
Fans of ‘Peechay Hutt’ should give this iconic song some justice and credit the prodigious sisters for making something that will forever remain among the best title songs for Pakistani dramas.
3 Mein Na Munh Kholi by Azad Asim and Shehroze Butt
This gorgeous, moving song was the title track for the drama ‘Habs’ and had captured the hearts of fans on Twitter as soon as it released. It reflects the anguish of a couple who are unable to express their true feelings to each other, despite being married.
4 Mujhay Apnay Jeenay Ka Haq Chahiye by Tahira Syed and Roshaneh Zafar Ft. Shabana Azmi
Written for the drama ‘Akhri Station’ and penned by legendary Urdu poet and writer Amjad Islam Amjad, the powerful melody is an anthem for every woman out there struggling to find her own voice, and reflects the anguish of the main characters and their difficult backgrounds.
5 Dil Moom Ka Diya by Soch the band ft Sanam Marvi
Fans are obsessed with the band’s Coke Studio song ‘Neray Neray Vas’, but please do give this song the acclaim this deserves, as it is rarely mentioned as one of the best written title songs for Pakistani dramas.
6 Dobara by Sehar Gul Khan and Shuja Haider
Hadiqa Kiani’s powerful drama ‘Dobara’ about a woman who reclaims her life after the death of her controlling husband deserves an equally gripping song that captures the anguish and nervousness of the main characters and the stigma society has towards aging women, and this song does an excellent job at it.
7 Asamanon Se by Sohail Haider
Only real fans who stick with us till the end will be happy to see a timeless classic included in this list. The gorgeous period piece features stunning performances from actors like Fawad Khan, Sanam Baloch, Saba Qamar and is still regarded as one of the best dramas produced in Pakistan.
Famed Baloch singer Wasu Khan passed away Friday morning. According to his family, the singer was suffering from a prolonged illness and was admitted to a private hospital in Sukkur where he died.
Khan was known for his collaborations with pop singer Shehzad Roy for the show ‘Wasu Aur Mein’ on Geo which explored how the two met. Roy first stumbled across Wasu’s viral Youtube video in 2012 and then began collaborating on songs with him.
The ‘Laga Re’ singer dedicated a post to Khan and called him someone with ‘great political intellect’, and shared a clip of their song ‘Apney Uloo’.
“Wasu Khan passed away this morning. He was unable to read and write, but had great political intellect and wrote political satire. We will miss him. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un #WasuKhan”
Wasu Khan passed away this morning. He was unable to read and write, but had great political intellect and wrote political satire. We will miss him. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un #WasuKhanpic.twitter.com/glQdHURW7k
Sajal Aly has only praise for Bollywood superstar the late legendary Bollywood actress Sridevi, her costar in the Indian film ‘Mom’.
Aly talked about her relationship with the superstar on BBC Asian Network show and her experience of working with her on the film. “First of all the experience was unbelievable for me that I’m sitting right in front of her, acting and giving dialogues, all that. And it’s just like looking at her you would forget everything. But I think the mark of a good actor is that they also need to be a good person. We are sometimes intimidated by actors in front of us, and also realize that this person is scared while standing next to us. But if you know, then the first thing a good person and a good actor would do is make the other person comfortable. She was that kind of actor. She had a lot of empathy and kindness towards me. For instance, I had that one scene where I was wearing this red dress and when I got ready she was like ‘Oh! You should curl your hair more!’ She was acting like a mother to me, although she was just a co-star. But the fact that she cared about how I’m looking and how I could look better, that is something that stole my heart.”
The host Haroon Rashid reminded her of what Aly said once about not being able to open up to people easily, but finds it easier to act in front of the camera. He recalled his interview with Sridevi at her home in Mumbai, and told Aly that the ‘Chandni’ actor had said “the exact same thing, ‘I don’t know how but when I’m in front of the camera,and the camera is my friend and I open up.’”
Aly said she felt the same way because the camera acts as a mirror in front of which you can be any character, and everything else just blurs.
Rashid, also recounted asking Sridevi about ‘Mom’ after the interview, which had not being released at that point. To which the late actress had only said ‘It is Sajal you need to look out for.’
Aly had expressed feeling extremely flattered and scared because she feels the pressure of proving she is a better actor
“I didn’t know she said that about me, but of course in some interviews she praised my acting a lot. These kind of compliments, I get scared because I feel the pressure. I never talk about her a lot and the relationship we had, it’s something I can’t explain. Because it was really real. Because when we think of showbiz, its a glamorous and refined. But to find a genuine connection within this place is incredibly hard. But for me its been very easy. It’s the only reason why I say that I’ve been very lucky.”
Aly also opened up about her friendship with Sri Devi’s daughter, Jhanvi Kapoor, and how the two developed a closer bond after both of their mothers passed away. “We met after six years[in Dubai], when my mother had passed away as well as hers. Probably because of our mothers as well we got a lot more closer. So I connect with her and she connects with me. We used to keep in touch but then she started her career and she’s busy with that.”
Aly also addressed being cast the main lead for the upcoming adaptation of ‘Umrao Jaan’, revealing that she was already learning kathak lessons.
The ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’ actor said that this project was handed to her as a surprise:
‘My agents Hammad and Yaqoub came to my house as a surprise and said ‘You know how once we were talking about the project ‘Umrao Jaan?’ I said okay, hmm. Then they said ‘You’re doing it! We’re not asking you if you’ll do it, we’re telling you!’
Former film mogul Harvey Weinstein has been convicted for attacking an actress in a hotel room during a film festival, and has been sentenced to 16 years in prison on Thursday by a Los Angeles court. On 19 December, a Los Angeles jury found Weinstein guilty of one count of rape and two counts of sexual assault innvolving an actress, who identified herself as Jane Doe 1. The survivor recounted her experience in court before the sentence was announced: ‘Before that night I was a very happy and confident woman. Everything changed after the defendant brutally assaulted me. There is no prison sentence long enough to undo the damage.’ Weinstein had told the Los Angeles Court judge that he did not know the victim and had not assaulted her ‘I never raped or assaulted Jane Doe 1,’ he said. Weinstein also critcized the case for having ‘too many loopholes’ and even said there were ‘so many things wrong’ with it. He especially accused the woman of being an ‘actress with the ability turn on her tears’. Before the sentencing was announced, Weinstein begged for leniency with the court, saying ‘ I don’t deserve it’. Weinstein had been previously sentenced in 2020 to 23 years in prison in cases of assault pertaining to a production assistant in 2006 and an aspiring actress in 2013. He is now appealing the sentence.
Bollywood actress and model Sonam Bajwa held a Q&A session with fans on Twitter and announced that she will definitely come to visit Pakistan this year.
“I will definitely come this year,” she responded to a fan’s request to visit Pakistan.
Previously, Bajwa had expressed her love for Pakistani actor Mahira Khan on a Twitter post. When a twitter user had asked her to comment on the trolls coming after Mahira Khan for looking similar to her, Bajwa responded: “I love love and love Mahira Khan.”
Bajwa had also previously revealed that she had a crush on singer and actor Fawad Khan. In a conversation with Connect FM Canada, Bajwa revealed that if Khan was not married, she would have dated him.
“I don’t eye on married men. It’s Fawad Khan, so if he wasn’t wed, I’d make my move.”
Bushra Ansari was a guest on Nida Yasir’s talk show where among many things, she opened up about her abusive first marriage and the ways her husband, Iqbal Ansari, restricted her from the things she used to love. Ansari and her ex-husband parted ways after 36 years of marriage. The veteran actress said in the interview that she was quite naive when she got married: “Girls who are around 19 or 20 years old when they’re getting married, it’s not easy for them to stand up for their rights, and most of the time they don’t want to. I believe that young people are very innocent and idealistic, which is why it is easy for an older person to enter their lives and mold them to his taste. Especially it is your parents and other relatives who complain about your bad habits to your husband, and encourage him to keep a strict control over you. But girls are very naive when their getting married, they’re like jelly. But I’m proud of this generation today because women are well-educated and also know how to stand up for themselves.”
Ansari went on to share how she followed the customs of her time to obey and act according to the wishes of her husband, hoping that he might like her and be happy but instead of that, she was expected, all the time, to do what he said.
“He asked that i remove my nose pin, which I loved, but I agreed. He also said don’t wear ghararay on your wedding so I decided to switch to wearing sari’s. Then he also said don’t wear mehndi on your hands on your wedding, I agreed. Even though this wasn’t a twenty year long affair, but we only knew each other for three months and then we got married.”
“I thought that if I would say ‘theek hai jee, aap ki marzi’, then everything would be fine. Because once he is happy, then I would also be happy. Whatever he said, I would do. He said stop going to your friend’s house, I agreed. I thought that he was a temple, and I was running around it. But this was the kind of mindset women from this generation used to follow because they were told this is how they must remain happy in their marriages. I’m not saying you should completely rebel and refuse to be nice to your husband, because sometimes listening to someone’s request is a good thing and they acknowledge you. Otherwise you listen to them once, then they keep expecting you to listen to everything they have to say.”
Ayesha Omar made headlines in both Pakistan and India when her sensual photoshoot with the former Pakistani cricket player Shoaib Malik went viral on social media. Rumors began swirling about estrangement between Malik and his wife, former Indian tennis player Sania Mirza, with speculations of a divorce in the works. Omar and Malik became the target of gossip, with stories of the two having an affair which led to the cricketer’s marriage falling apart.
Now on a talk show with Shoaib Akhtar, Omar made it clear that she isn’t interested in married men.
“I will never be attracted to a married or committed man ever. Everyone knows me… that goes without saying,” she said.
When Akhtar asked her about the controversial photoshoot, Omar responded that the rumors of their affair started in India and then arrived in Pakistan.
Previously in 2021, an instagram user had taunted Omar by asking her when she will be getting married to Malik, and she shut down the rumor directly:
“Absolutely now. He is married and is very happy with his wife. I respect Shoaib Malik and Sania Mirza a lot. Shoaib is a good friend of mine and also a professional colleague. He respects me a lot as well. There are also relationships like these which don’t revolve around marriages,” wrote the Bulbulay actor.
Pakistani dramas aren’t the first option one would think of when looking for strong female representation and well written, complex characters. Pakistani screenwriters and drama creators have for long refused to acknowledge the power of storytelling. They refuse to believe it is necessary to have positive depictions of women on screen rather than relying on the same age-old mantra ‘aurat he aurat ke sabse bari dushman hoti hai.’
Our television screens are littered with tropes that demonize women who actually seek their own independence rather than being obsessed men. Characters like the gold digger, the career-obsessed heartless woman, or fighting saas/ bahu are the norm. It seems like most dramas are obsessed with getting the right amount of misogynist and sexist content in order to get better ratings.
However, there are a few dramas that were able to get representation right and give the viewers depictions of what wholesome friendships can do to a woman’s life. In the spirit of the upcoming Aurat March, here is our selection of Pakistani shows that have gotten female friendships represented properly.
1 Akhri Station (2018)
Written by Amna Mufti and directed by Sarmad Khosat, the series is a wonderful depiction of how women suffering from abuse and trauma can come together to revel in their pain and find their catharsis together. At a train station in Lahore, a group of women meet up and begin opening up to each other about the kind of suffering they had undergone. Produced by Kashf Foundation, the mini series didn’t shy away from exploring tabooed topics like sexual abuse, mental illness, HIV/ AIDS and acid attacks.
2 Churails (2020)
Written and directed by Asim Abbassi, the drama made waves across Pakistan when it was released in 2020. It is now regarded as a powerful feminist drama that centers around women coming together to take revenge on their abusers. When stay-at-home mother Sara Khan finds out that her husband, Jameel, has been cheating on her with several women, she vows to get back at him. After blackmailing him to send her money, she and a group of close friends open a secret agency, disguised as a boutique, where they help other women who are suffering from abuse or are unhappy in their marriages.
3 Sar-e-Rah (2022- on going)
One of the most well-rated dramas currently playing on ARY, it accurately captures how one woman who breaks away the shackles of patriarchy can help other women do the same, regardless of being from different backgrounds. When Rania’s father suffers a heart attack, his family loses their source of income. She decides to step up and follow his footsteps to become a taxi driver. At first, Rania faces immense difficulties because of harassment and backlash from strangers, as well as from family members who keep taunting her with ‘log kya kahenge’, but she refuses to let harsh criticism keep her from becoming the breadwinner. Soon, Rania is able to use her power and knowledge to help other women suffering from the same issues.
4 Tanhiyaan (1985)
When it comes to powerful dramas, Tanhaiyaan will always remain part of the discussion for being one of the earliest dramas depicting women living their lives to the fullest, and refusing to obsess about a man’s approval. The legendary Haseena Moin had written powerful, complex female characters and championed social issues in her dramas. The show revolves around two sisters, Zara and Saniya, who are visiting their aunt in Karachi when they find out that their parents have passed away in a car accident. Because of their father’s debts, the sister’s lose their home and have to adjust to their new life in Karachi, while Zara fixates on becoming rich and regaining the house and furniture she had lost.
5 Raqeeb Se (2021)
Penned by the powerful Bee Gul, the drama revolves around the issue of domestic violence and women finding solace in each other’s company to escape their abuse. Sakina escapes her abusive husband’s home by arriving at her former lover Maqsood’s home with her daughter, where she meets his wife. Seeking shelter and rejected by Maqsood, it’s his wife, Hania who helps Sakina find ground in their new home.
6 Kuch Ankahi (2022- on going)
If you’re reminiscing about the days of PTV dramas that had not held back from addressing social issues, then this drama is the perfect blend of comedy and social awareness. The plot revolves around the three elder sisters and their home in Karachi, where their father is facing pressure from his siblings on the ownership of their home. The eldest sister, Samiya is being pressurized by her mother to marry someone and facing taunts about her age, and her siblings, as well as phupoo, help her find her own voice.
