Social media is rife with rumors that Pakistani actor Imran Ashraf and Indian singer and actor Jassie Gill will be seen acting together in an international film.
The name of the film and other details have yet to be revealed, but fans are happy to hear the news and are excited to see how art can cross political and cultural boundaries, bringing people from both countries closer together.
They also believe that this project could open doors for more South Asian actors to gain access to global cinema.
Director and writer Abu Aleeha believes that the success of a film lies in picking the right genre. He points out that horror comedy, which is gaining huge popularity worldwide, especially in Bollywood, is a winning choice for capturing audiences and hitting box office targets. Abu Aleeha also made a horror comedy film ‘Kataksha’, earning 19.3 million rupees at the box office.
The conversation started when the CEO of 422 Murad Kazmi asked him for advice in choosing a film genre.
The Taxali Gate writer said, “I suggested horror comedy, which made him laugh. He teased me, saying I was one of the few who had attempted it, and asked about the outcome. I admitted that either we didn’t execute it well or audiences weren’t ready for cinema post-Covid. However, I emphasized that horror comedy is a globally popular genre that doesn’t require a large cast or elaborate production design.”
Abu Aleeha continued, saying “With compelling characters, you can captivate audiences for two hours in a single location. The success of Stree 2, which will soon cross 300 crores, and Munjya, which earned over 100 crores two months ago, proves this point.”
He concluded, “My advice is to create a film that audiences want to see, rather than what’s easily producible.”
Here is a look at the box office results of some well-known horror-comedies:
Indian Movies Stree – INR 180 crores Bhool Bhulaiya- INR 266.88 crore.
Munjya – 132 crore at the box office. Pakistani Films Rangreza (2017) – PKR 2 crores. Koi Tujh Sa Kahan (2014) – PKR 1 crore.
Maria B is under fire after being accused of copying designs for her Palestine campaign. Activist Leena Ghani brought attention to the issue, claiming that Maria B used an artist’s illustration without proper credit. The controversy has sparked criticism and scrutiny within the fashion industry.
The issue came to light when Ghani highlighted the similarities between a piece from Maria B’s collection and an original design credited to the Palestinequebec page. Ghani posted both designs side by side, pointing out the resemblance. She commented, “The original design vs Maria B’s knockoff! And then she dares to call herself an artist and a designer.” Ghani also accused Maria B of being “greedy” and profiting from the conflict in Palestine.
“While Palestinians are getting killed, this greedy grifter thinks it’s the best time to start her modeling career by taking their culture. She is not an artist; she is a businesswoman. Artists don’t profit from genocide, but Zionists do!”
Maria B launched the collection on her website under the name ‘Palestine Pret.’ In response to the backlash, she explained on her Instagram Story that her ‘Falasteen’ collection was not just about profits. Maria B stated that part of the money from the sales would be donated to support Palestine. She said, “The entire sales of the collection will go to Falasteen… for everyone who loves Falasteen, you will love this collection because there are small details in it that will remind you of Palestine.”
However, Ghani also questioned the high price of the collection and whether the promised donations would reach those in need. She remarked, “Almost 10K for one outfit! Just wondering how much will be donated to the charities? And why couldn’t Maria B tag the charities she’s working with like other brands for transparency?”
A wave of backlash followed the announcement, with many people online accusing Maria B of exploiting the Palestinian cause for her benefit. One user commented, “While Palestinians are being killed, Maria B thinks it’s the best time to start her modeling career by taking their culture. Her clothes aren’t going to free Palestine. She needs to be clear about which charity she will send the money to. No one is falling for this. Shame on everyone involved in this campaign.”
Another critic urged people to support Palestinian businesses directly, saying, “Instead of buying from this opportunist using Palestine for her branding, I encourage people to buy directly from Palestinians.”
The criticism continued with another comment: “Will you also be donating all profits to Palestine, or are you just using someone’s suffering to make money?” This reflects a broader concern among consumers about how sincere brands are when they align themselves with social causes.
Maria B has repeatedly landed in hot waters in recent years for targeting the transgender community and most recently, for her crusade against Barzakh.
In the field of entertainment and television, Khaled Anam stands out not only for outstanding acting skills but also for being very candid.
The actor cum singer was no less candid when he appeared as a guest on ‘Haute Talk with Hassan Choudhary’. Anam expressed frustration with unqualified critics who share negative opinions on social media about drama serials.
Hassan Choundhary asked “So, what feedback are you receiving feedback about ‘Gentleman’ from friends, family, views, and fans?”
Anam replied, “Gentleman has been getting good feedback till now. Most importantly, people like the character of a progressive father. He is a strong character, and I am hoping that I am able to portray it well. But then there is this program on television, where actresses showed up and were reviewing dramas, and according to them, it is this very bad character who is trying to get his daughter involved with a man.”
The Gentlemen actor went on to say, “They took it badly, that’s their opinion. These things shouldn’t be happening. Reviewers need to be qualified to critique a drama, based to what we were taught during our theater training.”
Anam emphasized the importance of qualified criticism:
“A person cannot critique something if they haven’t studied theater. You have no right to criticize something just because you don’t like it. Only someone who has studied acting and theater can give criticism. It’s okay, they’re just friends, and they’re just doing a show. Apart from that, social media is a really dangerous thing because everyone believes they have the right to criticize and degrade others.”
Here is the video of Nadia Khan who talked about Zarnab’s father.
Yumna Zaidi is playing the character of Zarnab and Khaled Anam is playing her father.
Former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi and his sister Aleema Khan exchanged harsh words during the Toshakhana case hearing at Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, Express Tribune has reported.
An uproar flared up in the family section of the prison, where women’s voices were heard arguing loudly, interrupting Imran Khan’s conversation with journalists thrice.
The dispute started after Aleema Khan commented about a female lawyer in court, to which Bushra Bibi and her daughters responded, upon which a heated conversation escalated, and both exchanged hard-hitting words.
Meanwhile, Bushra Bibi’s granddaughter started crying as the argument unfolded.
Outside the jail, Aleema talked to journalists to take a swipe at PTI leader Sher Afzal Marwat. “Imran Khan just shook hands with Sher Afzal Marwat, he did not hug him,” Aleema stated.
She accused Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa of trying to eliminate PTI and Imran Khan. “As Qazi Faez ends his tenure, the election results will crumble.” Faez Isa and Chief Justice Islamabad High Court Amir Farooq are a part of the London agreement plan, which facilitates Nawaz Sharif, she alleged.
Sindh Minister for Local Government Saeed Ghani mocked the Punjab government’s recent move to give relief to the masses by reducing electricity prices for just two months, terming it a “political stunt.”
He said this in response to Punjab’s government’s decision to provide relief to the public by rescuing Rs 14 per unit on electricity bills for two months (August and September).
Ghani remarked that it was the federal government’s responsibility to provide people with cost-efficient electricity, saying, “Rs 45 billion are being expended for relief for two months only, while scores of relief works could be done with that Rs 45 billion.”
“The question is what will happen after two months. The consumers will be paying the same [high] prices,” the PPP leader stated.
Interestingly, Governor Sindh Kamran Tessori asked Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on Sunday to announce a Punjab government-like relief in electricity bills.
An emotional US President Joe Biden passed the torch to Democratic nominee Kamala Harris with a hug on Monday, saying he gave everything for his country in a bittersweet farewell speech at the party’s convention in Chicago.
“America, America, I gave my best to you,” the 81-year-old Biden said, quoting a patriotic hymn during a nearly hour-long address that ran through his achievements while urging voters to back his vice president against Donald Trump in November.
Harris joined him on stage after the speech and the pair embraced, as the crowd gave Biden a rapturous reception following his stunning decision less than a month ago to drop out of the 2024 White House race.
In a remarkable turnaround, Harris has reenergized the party and wiped out Republican rival Trump’s lead in the polls, but Biden insisted that he was not bitter about stepping aside.
Instead, as he contemplates the imminent end of a five-decade political career, he said that he had done what he thought best to ensure that his nemesis, Trump, does not return to the Oval Office.
“I love the job, but I love my country more. I love my country more,” said Biden. “And all this talk about how I’m angry at all those people who said I should step down — that’s not true.”
Both Biden and Harris appeared to wipe away a tear as the US leader won a huge four-minute ovation when he first took to the stage, following an introduction by First Lady Jill Biden and his daughter Ashley.
Several members of the audience were also in tears as Biden made his farewell speech, before leaving the stage to the strains of the song “Higher Love.”
And Harris had earlier made a surprise appearance — Democratic nominees don’t normally speak until the final day of the convention — to heap lavish tribute on her boss.
“I want to kick us off by celebrating our incredible president Joe Biden,” said Harris, who was wearing a tan suit and took to the stage to Beyonce’s “Freedom.”
It was undoubtedly a difficult swan song for Biden, but he insisted he would be the “best volunteer” for Harris’s campaign — knowing perhaps that his legacy depends on her beating Trump.
But he couldn’t quite let go of the presidency, with his speech focusing more on his own record in office than the future under a President Harris.
Biden listed his proudest achievements including on the economy and health care, but above all for healing the “soul of America” after Trump’s time in office and the pro-Trump January 6, 2021 Capitol riot.
“Donald Trump calls America a failing nation… He says we’re losing. He’s the loser,” he said, also referring to Trump as a “convicted felon” after the Republican was found guilty of doctoring business records to cover up hush money payments to a porn star.
Despite his low popularity ratings and the debate debacle against Trump that led him to step aside, Biden again insisted he’d given his all.
“I made a lot of mistakes in my career, but I gave my best to you,” he said.
As he has been so often in his five-decade-long political journey, Biden was surrounded by family at the end of his speech.
“Joe and I have been together for almost 50 years. And still, there are moments when I fall in love with him all over again,” the first lady said in a speech introducing him.
Monday’s first night of the convention was an emotional one on many levels, and for many of the key players.
Hillary Clinton, who lost against Trump in 2016 in her own bid to become America’s first woman president, backed Harris to finally break the glass ceiling.
“Something is happening in America, you can feel it — something we’ve worked for and dreamed of for a long time,” the former secretary of state and first lady said.
Biden addressed pro-Palestine protestors
US President Joe Biden said Monday that protesters against Israel’s war in Gaza who demonstrated outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago “have a point”.
“Those protesters out in the street, they have a point. A lot of innocent people are being killed, on both sides,” Biden said in his farewell speech to the convention, adding that it was time to “end this war.”
Earlier, protests against Israel’s genocide in Gaza had shadowed the opening of the convention, underscoring what remains a potential vote-loser for Democrats among left-wingers and Arab Americans.
A group of demonstrators broke through the outer security fence of the convention after splitting off from a larger protest of thousands of people.
Police in blue helmets with shields and carrying black batons prevented them from getting to the inner cordon.
Trump, meanwhile, has been sent into a tailspin by the sudden change at the top of the Democratic ticket.
While Democrats are in Chicago, the Republicans will spend the week crisscrossing the country.
In the battleground state of Pennsylvania on Monday, he highlighted what he called Harris’s “craziness” and said she “has no idea what the hell she’s doing” on the economy.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Sher Afzal Marwat has said that former spymaster General Faiz Hameed had harmed the party more than any good he did for it.
Talking on Shahzeb Khanzada’s talk show on Geo News, Marwat said, ‘’Faiz Hameed’s role as DG Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) was to harass political opposition, prepare cases against them, put them behind bars and send references against incumbent Chief Justice Pakistan Qazi Faiz Isa on Gen Bajwa’s decision.”
‘’Faiz was more Bajwa man than PTI and was working for his own benefit,’’ Marwat stated While talking about militants resettling in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Marwat claimed. ‘’it was not Imran Khan’s decision alone but the parliament’s, but setting them free after rehabilitation was a mistake.”
‘’We will show the High Court’s permission if the police file a case against them after the August 22 power show,’’ he concluded
Famous actress Hania Aamir recently got everyone talking with her fun tribute to the popular Bollywood character, Geet, from the movie ‘Jab We Met.’ The lively star recreated one of Kareena Kapoor’s famous lines while enjoying a skincare routine.
Hania’s energetic lip-sync of Geet’s iconic dialogue, “Dekho meri shadi Anshuman sy hone wali hy and all that but agr wo meri life mein nhi hota to u never know shayad mein bhi tum sy pat jati. Just Imagine,” quickly resonated with fans. The video went viral, with many praising Hania for capturing Geet’s lively spirit.
Hania’s playful tribute not only highlighted her acting skills but also brought back fond memories of ‘Jab We Met’ for fans, showing the lasting impact of the film and Geet’s unforgettable charm.
The all-time favorite singer, Atif Aslam, surprised his fans by sharing beautiful pictures with his wife on his Instagram account. The post took a funny turn when his brother-in-law left a comment.
Commenting on the post, a user named Abbas Bharwana wrote, “Atif Bhai, my respect for you has increased because I know how hard it is to survive after taking a bad picture of Sara. You made it out alive!”
