She has sworn on her family that these are lies and she has never married Atiqur Rahman. Now, I don’t  know who to believe in, but based on what I have seen lately on media, Meera Jee has certainly a lot of explanation to do. The drama continues….

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

by Jasmin Mirza. Book Review here

My first reaction was shock. yes, shock is the word that almost defines what i felt for days after reading those books. During my 8 years in corporate sector, I had an opportunity to live and work with people from different parts of the world. I attended training and seminars on issue of workplace diversity and gender issues. Even then this was too big a cultural shock for me to absorb.

Can people living in the same city  be so different and isolated in their values? Can all of this still be happening in modern times? Questions, questions and more questions I was left with. The adventure boy inside me wanted me to check out the Mohalla first hand. And I did. not once but three times but in none of those trips, I was able to verify the detailed descriptions of the sub-culture as defined in the books.

First trip was during day time and second one was in Moharram, so the bazaar was not open and all i saw was just the shops and ordinary people. I was impressed with the architecture of inner city though.  In the last trip, I got a glimpse of reality. It was at perfect time. 1 A.M. and I saw the same visuals as described in the books and as you will see in the documentary below. Since, I went alone, I did not dare to enter any of the so called “Office”.  Only few friends know what happened that night.

This documentary came as a surprise. It verified the contents of the books above and contains real truth about the people who frequent these tawaifs. the interview of the police office in charge is really interesting. This documentary was originally made for TV One but they did not dare to air it. so some one published it on internet. It is a real eye opener. It shows a face of our society, no one even wants mention. Download and save this as PTA might ban these URLs too. as it contains some politically radioactive content. Here is the excerpt from the blog where I originally found the links to these Youtube.com videos.

These book can be bought from here or here, both books were published by Oxford University Press and thus they should be available at FerozSons on The MALL.

A banned documentary which never came on TV. A must watch for every Pakistani and take a positive message and try to understand the true story of these Tawaifes. We call our society an Islamic society do we deserve for it? May Allah show us a rite path. Amin.

1. Watch Here
2. Watch Here
3. Watch Here
4. Watch Here
5. Watch Here
6. Watch Here

Note: Please don’t forget to give your valuable comments.

Usman Nasir’s Blog Page: Kahani Tawaif Ki Zubani – Hira Mandi

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And as if this was not all enough, for the more Westernized lot, Angelina Jolie’s ‘Wanted’ screens on July 25 while ‘Kung Fu Panda’ is already evoking rounds of laughter at the main screens.

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Add to that Javed Sheikh’s long awaited venture ‘Khulay Aasman Ke Neechay’ for which enough pre-release buzz was created so much so that the movie even has a fully dedicated blog.  The movie itself was a decent effort according to the audiences.

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Finally, jewel of the year will be Mehreen Jabbar’s much inspiring ‘Ramchand Pakistani’ as it hits cinemas on August 1, 2008.

So, what are you up to this summer!

Places to watch:

Love Story 2050: Plaza, DHA Cinema, Sozo Gold
Kismat Konnection: Gulistan, DHA Cinema, Sozo World
Khulay Aasman Ke Neechay: Empire, Sozo Gold
Kung Fu Panda: DHA Cinema
Wanted: DHA Cinema
Ramchand Pakistani: Still to be announced

Hell’s Ground, as it is titled in English, premiered at LUMS last year. Most of its cast and crew does not belong to typical Lollywood crowd. In fact the only “known” faces you will see would be actor Rehan who makes a comeback to silver screen after more than 30 years, and whose last famous role was that of Dracula in Pakistan’s very first horror movie “Zinda Lash” (The living corpse) in 1967 – Zinda Lash incidentally was recently rediscovered from “rusty old cans” in a film studio. The other known face is model Adnan Malik in a small cameo, although if IMDB is to be believed, the producers at one point of time were considering Indian actor Saif Ali Khan for this role.

To be exact, no zombies are wearing saris in this movie. Burqas yes… chappals too, but it appears that the dress of choice for most of the zombies in the flick was plain simple shalwar qameez. As a matter of fact, the movie features so many things “desi”, in a typical gore backdrop nonetheless, that at times “horror” takes a backseat to the sheer joy of watching something you can easily relate to. Dusty and deserted roads leading to outskirts of Islamabad, an old Khokha out of nowhere offering “deewane ki mastani chai”, featuring an eerie old man who claims that his chai is “world famous” as the likes of Queen Elizabeth, Lady Diana, Henry Kissinger and recently Angelina Jolie alongwith her “boyfriend” stopped by for the same. The background music frequently shifting to classic Punjabi tracks of 1980’s Lollywood films, a van that seemed to pop straight out of a studio in Lahore that made Maula Jutt and its contemporaries, a bunch of teenagers from urban Pakistani middle class, speaking half English half Urdu sentences (well the curses were almost always in English though), the broken limbs, flesh eating zombie from a village in hell, a Barri Bua exhibiting typical warmth for her children and then turning into a crazy revenge seeking menace, a forceful hitchhiker from a “peer’s tomb” who suddenly gets awfully thirsty, a dark foggy jungle described as “the road to the hell” – This movie has it all, and does pretty well with all of it.

So what exactly is Zibahkhana all about. If you put your logical, rational thinking hat on (which you should not be wearing all the time) Zibahkhana appears to be a low budget horror movie with some shockingly gore scenes. The movie is indeed low budget. The acting is somewhere between average and below average (with the exception of Rubya Chaudhry who acted brilliantly at times). Camera work is so so, story is very predictable and editing could have been crispier. But (and this is where you must take off that ugly looking logical hat for a while) all the above elements add to the “classiness” of the film, believe it or not. Zibahkhana, is nothing like your average blockbuster big budget entertainers. It’s a typical independent movie to the core. It’s different, very different, from what you would expect from our Desi cinema. And it certainly defies the logic that you need to have everything exactly where it belongs to make a good movie. Nothing in Zibahkhana seems where it belongs. The lighting, the acting, the props, the works, and yet it works out so neatly that you end up watching a fairly enjoyable thriller at the end of the day. (Note: not for a weak of heart)

For more info on Zibahkhana:

IMDB
Time
Telegraph

Four of the best cinema theatres in Lahore, SozoWorld, Plaza, Metropol and DHA Cinema are scoring the ‘Goal’!

Peo Badmashan Daa
(The Father of all Gangsters)

One wonders, how come an actor like Shaan transitions between portrayals of two extremes; from a sensible actor to a howling Gujjar!

Image Source: Irfan Zafar at Buzzvines
Post Suggestion: Asma

Pakistan’s film industry known as “Lollywood” is based in Lahore. Lahore was known to be the center of theatrical activities after Mumbai, Calcutta and Dehli before partition. The plays used to be staged in the streets of Lahore, and none other than our Government College Lahore’s prominent students were the talented hunks including M. Ismail, Abdul Rasheed Kaardaar, M. Jameel Heera Laal, Lala Yaqoob, Fazal Shah, Pitras Bukhari, Imtiaz Ali Taaj and many others.

Pakistan shared its film history with India from 1896 to 1947. Lahore produced many films and a big number of Pakistani artists debuted in this period. The first silent film from Lahore was The Daughter of Today released in 1924 and the inaugural Punjabi or talkie film from Lahore was Heer Ranjha in 1932. Mian Abdur Rasheed Kardar was the man who started film making in Lahore.

Heer Ranjha is the first ever Lahore made film. Anwari Begum and Rafiq Ghaznavi – the grand parent of Salma Agha – played title roles in this memorable film. Rafiq Ghaznavi was a famous musician in the 30s and 40s and Anwari Begum appeared in many films, one of them was Anmol Ghari. Revolutionary music director Master Ghulam Haidar changed the whole style of film music from classical Bangali to folk Punjabi music in this mega hit film from Lahore. Some of the great musicians of golden times were Khawaja Khurshid Anwar, Ustad Inayat Hussain, G.A. Chishti, Rashid Attre, Ustad Tasadduq, Master Abdullah, Firoze Nizami, Tufail Farooqi and Ustad Nazar.

In 1960s, the first Presidential awards were introduced and also from Islamic point of view, many prominent Ulma including Molana Mododi were consulted as to whether filmmaking in Islam is Jayez or Najayez, and they flagged it “Jayez”.

Golden era of Pakistani Films is considered to be from 1956 to 1966 and let me name very very famous male artists like Sudhir, Santosh, Waheed Murad, Nadeem, Mohammad Ali, Aslam Pervaiz and female artists, Noor Jahan, Nayyer Sultana, Shamim Ara, Sabeeha, Shabnam, Nisho, Neelo and there are lot more stars I hope you guys still remember some of them.
Intentionally, I am not going to talk about the eras when Pakistani cinema faced crisis and you guys know very well about the ups and downs and the fragile status.

Lets not forget all the glitzy Kings and Queens of celluloid and hope for the bright future of Pakistani Cinema.

Courtesy to Mr. Mazhar and Jung and for images Pakistanimusic

‘Khuda Kay Liye’ is already making headlines!

Lahore has the maximum number of screenings as compared to any other city.

Cinemas showing ‘Khuda Kay Liye’:

Sozo World
Gulistan Cinema
DHA Cinema

But apart from all those chaos, there are some people who are critical of the movie and are opposing its launch.

A senior lawyer MD Tahir on Wednesday challenged in the http://www.lhc.gov.pk/Lahore High Court (LHC) the playing of the movie “Khuda Kay Liye” in the cinemas and demanded a ban on this movie.

According to the news in Daily Times, he (Tahir) termed the movie as anti-Islamic and has pointed out many flaws which can boost more frustration among the Muslims and particularly to the Pakistani Muslims which are facing suicide attacks and extremism at their home.

He pointed out that the Naseer-Ud-Din Shah, who is an Indian actor, tells in the movie that music is allowed in Islam because Hazrat Dawood A.S (Prophet Dawood) was a good singer and also he (the actor) has termed it legal that a Muslim girl can marry a Christian boy.

(Naseer-Ud-Din Shah left and Rasheed Naz right in a movie promo wallpaper.)

In another comment, Tahir pointed out that, the movie has been banned in India claiming that the movie can hurt Indian Muslims. He further said that even the USA was not playing it because the script was weak.

Now, “what to think…?” is the question in my mind…

On one side it seems a futile effort to stop the release and create a controversy for the movie to reduce its popularity but… on the other side, if it really is un-Islamic than what would or should be the fate of the movie…?

If we talk about the ban in India, it can be a factor that they don’t want our film industry to compete them but what is the answer to those arguments about the music in Islam and the cross religion marriage of a Muslim girl…? 8-|

I mean, now, a lot of questions would arise in our minds and they could be positive or negative. May be the objection is true or may be not.

Definitely, every one would like to see the movie now; so that one can judge on their own that whether the movie hurts them or not and also to rate it Islamic or un-Islamic. But the greater role is to be played by our scholars having the relevant and credible Islamic knowledge.

Instead of deriving conclusions, we must analyze the facts and the response of the audience. So, I don’t comment or provide allegations on any one right now. The reason and the result could be anything. You just analyze yourself.

I don’t know about the results but still, I pray for the good… for all. Aameen!

This is one tune that has not left my mind for the last couple of days; refreshing winds, drizzling drops, colorful spring, the season of love, all mixed in one blossom of elevated happiness…

Here are a couple of more visuals for you all to enjoy:

Song Details:
Aye mausam rangeele suhaane
Film: Saath Laakh
MD: Rashid Atre
Singer: Zubaida Khanam

Recently remixed and sung by:
Josh – ‘Mausam’