Goher Mumtaz is no longer single!

Jal’s guitarist and vocalist Goher Mumtaz recently got engaged to Islooite Anam Ahmad. Khurram Mumtaz, Goher’s elder brother and manager of Jal, confirmed the news and revealed the highlights of the event.

“He got engaged on September 15,” he told The Express Tribune.“Goher is certainly very happy about it.” The ceremony took place about a fortnight ago at a private event the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad. Rumour has it that the newly-engaged couple have known each other for some time and that a small baat pakkiceremony had already been held between the families.

He further revealed that Goher’s fiancé Ahmad is currently a student in a local educational institute and the rumours regarding her being a model are a not entirely true. “She has done a few local fashion shows in the city, but she is not a model by profession.” When asked whether she would continue to pursue her modeling passion after tying the knot with Goher, he said: “I have no idea but I believe she will not continue with it.”

As far as the fans are concerned, Khurram said: “If you check out the Facebook page, it seems people are pretty happy and are wishing the couple good luck in their future — even the female fans seem very excited.”

Keeping specific details private, he said that the wedding is expected to take place next year and the couple plans to settle down in Lahore. Congratulations to the beautiful couple!

Did you know: Pakistani student’s film shines at Raindance Film Festival

Last Remarks, a short film directed by New York University film student Umar Riaz, has been selected for the 20th Raindance Film Festival and will be screened at the Picadilly Circus in UK on October 4, according to a press release.

The festival is Europe’s leading independent film festival, which aims to develop and promote independent films and film-makers from across the globe. 

Inspired by an Edgar Allen Poe story, this film is set in 1947 at the onset of partition and follows the final moments of Arastu Jan (played by Riaz himself) — an isolated butler to an ageing British colonialist. Produced by Alexis Gambis, Shruti Ganguly and Heather Jack, substantial portions of the film were shot in Lahore.

Last Remarks was announced as a finalist at the Student Academy Awards (selected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences out of nearly a 1,000 college entries, from across the world) and was also premiered at the prestigious Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, earlier this year.

American actress to appear in Pakistan's brand TVC

Islamabad: Gone are the days when you watch Katrina Kaif and Kareena Kapoor on your TV screen, now you should ready to watch American actress in Pakistan’s mobile phone company advertisement.

She is not Angelina Jolie or Jennifer Aniston but you know her as actress of Bollywood because she recently worked for Indian movies and quite familiar face now for Pakistani audience.

She is considered bold as if Veena Malik and her name is similar as Pakistani actress Nargis.

Guess who? Yes! It is Nargis Fakhri who has been reportedly performed with Ali Zafar in an advertisement of cell phone.

She is an American national and a model who has been posed in swimsuit for Kingfisher Swimsuit Calendarand appeared in different cycles of American Next Top Model.

After her brief struggling career in Hollywood she moved to search for her fortune in Bollywood in typical bold style.

She worked in Indian movie Rockstar with Ranbir Kapoor last year and reportedly has signed a couple of movies in India.

Fakhri was born in Queens, New York to a Czech mother and a Pakistani father. Her parents divorced each other when she was barely six or seven years old. She is a U.S. citizen. Nargis Fakhri has roots in Pakistan as his father belongs to, unfortunately she raised in US and never visited Pakistan.

Though her work for Pakistan’s company TV commercial gave her chance to visit Pakistan but it could not possible because the shots was taken place somewhere else, may be, in India or UAE.

Now wait and see, when she will be visiting Pakistan through TV screen and what she will be performing in the TVC?

By the way, which company gave her chance to act in its TVC and spent millions of rupees. It is surprise for you viewers just remember about the brand, which is, Apna Hei… Jaisay….

Veena Malik gets bold for Drama Queen | Kissing shots released

Mumbai: Veena Malik, Pakistani model turned actress has always been noticed for her shocking incident starting from her nude-topless photo shoot for FHM magazine cover page to her official youtube channel kissing game and this time Veena has been noticed in a love making scene on screen, as per the reports.

As per the updates, this is the first time Veena has offered kissing scene and she will be seen as a pop singer for ‘Drama Queen’ and in relation to this you may have a look at the pictures taken out of music video. 

Earlier, Veena malik kissing video was recorded over her official youtube channel named “Veena Malika Official” and let’s wait for the updates and see what next Veena Malik planning for?

Watch: Drama Queen Kiss(first) - Veena Malik

Gol Chakkar set for premier in October

LAHORE: 

Candi Bhai — the fast talking, street smart, naughty boy who charmed us in Islamabad-based producers Shahbaz Shigri and Aisha Linnea’s project Sole Search — is set to make a comeback to the big screen with Gol Chakkar. It was finally announced on Friday that the much-awaited sequel of Sole Search will premiere in Pakistan this October. Shigri and Linnea plan to release the film all over Pakistan and possibly in India, UK and other countries as well.

Gol Chakkar — written by Linnea — is an extension of the duo’s previous short film and will be a continuation of Candi Bhai’s antics along with his group of hooligans who are popularly known as Jinnah Boys. While explaining the term Jinnah Boys, Shigri elaborates: “Jinnah boys are your proverbial hooligans and are somewhat like mallrats. They think that they are the bigwigs of Islamabad.”

The storyline of Sole Search revolves around this group that hangs out at Jinnah Market and how a series of mishaps drive them to Pindi. Gol Chakkar will carry on the story from that point. When asked what made him select such an odd topic, Shigri replies, “These days, there are a lot of films portraying clichéd topics. Some of them are good but these films put too much emphasis on tragedy and drama. However, our focus was on comedy and the main challenge was to make this movie fun,” the producer adds.  The upcoming film, that has already developed a keen following on the basis of the trailers and songs released earlier this year, has been self-funded. Many of the actors are friends, or friends of friends, says Shahbaz.

Finding the right cast under a financial crunch was also one of the biggest challenges Shigri and Linnea had to face. They finally found their cast in several new actors who willingly agreed to star in the film. Gol Chakkar features Ali Rehman Khan, Hasan Bruun Akhtar, Usman Mukhtar, Salmaan Ahmed Shaukat, Uzair Jaswal and Adil Gul, Saboor Pasha, Asad Ali Shigri, with a special appearance by Shahana Khan Khalil. The soundtrack, which is a musical concoction made by artists like Talal Qureshi, The Kominas, Adil Omar and many more, has garnered popularity because of its upbeat and fresh melody.

The other half of this dynamic team, Linnea, says that the remarkable comfort zone between the actors helped this film a lot. “Ali worked with us in Slackistan and Uzair thought the role he was offered was an exaggerated version of him, so he gladly agreed,” says Linnea, who is Shigri’s wife. Her brother has  also helped with this film as he plays the role of the nephew, Teddy.

Speaking about Gol Chakkar, she explains that the goal of this reel venture was not to simply screen it in front of an international audience or at a film festival.  Slackistan already brought them all the international glory they had hoped for; this time around, they wanted to give something to the Pakistani audience. “There is a lack of comedy in Pakistani films, which is unfortunate because Pakistanis have a distinct sense of humour,” says Linnea. “The Jinnah Boys are part of our culture, so I think the story was present in our society – we just garnished it with comedy.”

The storyline also picks up on another character, Pindi boy Shera, played by Usman Mukhtar. Linnea says that she had seen Mukhtar in the play Act 144 and then approached him for the role. Mukhtar, who plays the role of Shera, looks at the release as an important step since film-makers face many issues while making films in Pakistan.

The actor, however, adds that despite all these issues, film-making is a whole lot of fun. “It was a lot of fun shooting scenes in Pindi,” he says. “We spent the entire day in Lal Kurti where some 300 children started following us and since the cast and crew knew each other ,there were uncountable pranks and jokes,” he adds. “The characters are highly relatable. One would find all these characters in Karachi, Lahore or Gujranwala; the way they dress up and talk is similar. Shera’s character is representative of people coming from interior Pindi so I’m sure people would relate to it as well.”

The revival (or re-birth) of Pakistani cinema

KARACHI: 

Will Pakistani cinema see a revival, or does it need to be built from scratch? This question was debated by prominent personalities associated with the craft of film-making at The Second Floor (T2F) cafe on Friday evening.

At the interactive discussion titled ‘The Revival of Pakistani Cinema’, the big names were Nadeem Mandviwalla, the visionary behind Atrium Cinemas; Asim Raza, a music video director and film-maker and actor-cum-film-maker Zeba Bakhtiar, the first female Pakistani actor to cross the border and appear in the  Bollywood film Henna. The questions tossed around by Meher Jaffri — producer of the filmSeedlings, which recently bagged two awards at the New York City International Film Festival — focused on three things: content, money and professionalism.

In a time when the local audience is eager to watch every Bollywood movie that is screened in Pakistani movie theatres, Zeba Bakhtiar suggested that the focus should remain at home.“We should readily and eagerly collaborate with people in our own country,” she said. “It’s high time that we stop looking at India and focus on ourselves. We have good actors, good poetry and good music on hand, we can make as many films as we like.” She also noted that unlike India, Pakistan’s rich history of the Sufi tradition is a gold mine of inspiring ideas.

Bakhtiar also hinted at her upcoming directorial ventures, describing it as a “film that is going to be all about Pakistan.”

“We are always looking at the negatives surrounding us — the positives also need to be highlighted,” Bakhtiar asserted.

In the same spirit of patriotism, Asim Raza agreed that negativity does not work in the long run. “There should be a balance in the story line. I am certainly not talking in terms of escapism, that won’t work! But I am looking at positive stories and those will certainly make all the difference.”

Raza then delved into the issue that film-makers do not take their work as seriously as they should. He pointed out that more people need to make films as professionals, instead of merely pursuing a hobby or passion. “When I tell people that I am a film-maker, the follow-up question is usually ‘lekin aap aur kya karte hain (what else do you do)?” joked Raza, explaining that people do not consider movie making a serious profession.

What works

“Before 2007, we were catering to another audience,” said Nadeem Mandviwalla. “Earlier, the gandasa culture was popular; it was because there were people in the audience that enjoyed viewing it. Now we have moved away from those times.”

He explained how the cinema-going culture in Pakistan has developed over the years. Now movie-watchers go more for the atmosphere rather than the film itself. “Atrium Cinemas cater to a crowd with more evolved tastes and idea of entertainment and fun.” He feels that instead of reviving it, Pakistan is in the process of rebuilding cinema.

Mandviwalla explained that the process cannot take place overnight and that Pakistani film-makers need to be realistic and make films within their budgets. “Many dream of making heavy budget films to garner big business, which rather than benefiting them, will add to their growing financial concerns,” he said.

Mandviwalla also asserted that the most popular genre amongst the audience remains to be romance. To this, Bakhtiar added, “Everybody wants to hear a love story, with the story line based on emotions and conflict about people breaking up — something which people can connect to globally.”

Giving advice to young film-makers in the field, Raza said, “To take film-making as a profession, not just a hobby and passion, you must have a business plan in mind. What we should now cater to is what I call ‘substantial cinema’ — a thought provoking, reason-to-believe and intelligent film, which will keep people glued to their seats throughout.”

At the end, Mandviwalla surprised the crowd with the announcement that Seedlings will be screened at Atrium Cinemas soon — a move that serves as a good boost to film-makers in the country who are aiming to revive and rebuild Pakistani cinema.