Planet Lollywood: 2013-01-06

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Pakistani Actress Sana refuses Indian Drama offer

Well known Pakistani actress Sana, refused to go ahead with an Indian Drama due to the busy schedules she has in Pakistan. Sana has been signed up for toomany dramas in Pakistan and hence was unable to give dates to the Indian project, even though she was offered 30 Lakh for it! Sana’s Indian Movies, “Dil Pardesi ho Gaya” will be releasing in Pakistan in February 2013. Sources did say that Sana has apologized for her unavailability.

Friday, January 11, 2013

Mahnoor Balouch is the new Item Girl for Lollywood Industry

Mahnoor Balouch is the new Item Girl for Humayoon Saeed’s new movie “Mae Hun Shahid Afridi.”

The item song is “Charhti Jawani” and now the sizzling, sexy and seductive Mahnoor Balouch will be dancing on her first item song.

Mahnoor Balouch however had one condition and that was to only have the crew of the movie present, and after seeing her dance to it, every one has recommended her to move to Mumbai for further opportunities.

Humayoon Saeed stated that Mahnoor Balooch’s dance on the item song “Charhti Jawani” will be a challenge to all the Bollywood item girls for sure!

Well we wish Mahnoor Balouch and Humayoon Saeed best off luck.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Strawberry The Movie (2013) - Official Teaser

Plot Outline : An art movie- Story of a couple meeting at Railway Station- Girl is intent to break up the relation eternally but the wholesome devotion and love of young man keeps the relation alive. The story is a mixture of striking flashbacks and real time happenings.

Star Cast : Urwa (Female Lead) and Sohail Haider (Male Lead)

Directed By : Abdul Majid Abbasi and Raza Hyder

Official Teaser 1

Official Teaser 2

Ali Zafar play the lead role in Kill Dil with Parineeti Chopra and Ranveer Singh

Ali Zafar play the lead role in Kill Dil with Parineeti Chopra and Ranveer Singh

Filmmaker Shaad Ali Sahgal, of Saathiya, Bunty Aur Babli and Jhoom Barabar Jhoom fame, is all set to start his next directorial venture titled Kill Dil produced by Aditya Chopra . The film is about the tricks the heart plays on an unsuspecting victim film stars Ranveer Singh, Ali Zafar and Parineeti Chopra in lead roles.

The film is slated for a 2014 release and will go on floor in October this year. This will be Shaad’s fourth movie with yashraj films.

Chambaili - The fragrance of Freedom (2013) - Official Teaser

Chambaili is a Pakistani feature film by Coup Films and Seventh Sky Films.

Releasing Date: March 23rd, 2013

Story/Plot: An unforgettable saga of courage, romance and sacrifice of a group of friends who are led by circumstances and incidences to find themselves at the crossroads of fate.

Genre: Fiction

Star Cast: Salmaan Peerzada, Khalid Ahmed, Maira Khan, Shafqat Cheema, Omair Rana, Sadia Hayat, Saiqa Khayyam, Ali Tahir, Ethisham, Khalid Qureshi, Fatima, Ali Fateh, Humayun Bin Rathor and Shahzad Nawaz- Special guest appearance by Ghulam Mohiuddin

Produced By: Abdullah Kadwani & Shahzad Nawaz

Written By: Shahzad Nawaz

Screenplay By: Shahzad Nawaz

Directed By: Ismail Jilani

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

'Kaptaan The Movie' Theatrical Trailer (2013)

Message From The Team of "Kaptaan"

This time around, they look a bit old, a little more aggressive and are making Urdu songs instead of English. PHOTO: FILE

KARACHI:

In a refreshing development last month, Co-VEN, one of Pakistan’s oldest rock band, launched a new video. The news is exciting not only because a mature rock band like co-VEN is launching a video, but because after a long time a band is kicking itself into action instead of the solo artists who are dominating the music scene these days.

Lead by Hamza Jafri, co-VEN has been around for quite some time, but the band’s more formal introduction to the mainstream music scene was in 2007 and 2008 with a track calledSailing Fast, a song that brought forward a bunch of musicians who took songwriting and rock music seriously. This time around, they look a bit old, a little more aggressive and are making Urdu songs instead of English. The first of these, Chor was launched at a dimly lit yet festive ceremony at Music Art and Dance (MAD) School. As celebrities and guests walked in and out of the room, the screens played the three versions of the video titled Chor: Aik, Do,Teen.

Luckily for all the co-VEN fans, the song has their signature riffs and draws one in the moment it is played. What follows in the video will have your attention — especially the guys — because what you will essentially witness is a mujra in a raw shape. Kudos to Rola productions for once again impressing viewers with their understanding of the visual language and our social sensibilities; they did it with Sailing Fast and have done it again.

However, what might put one off is the lack of clarity when it comes to vocals given Jafri’s English dialect; due to this, it becomes really difficult to listen to a song which is satirical in nature and relies heavily on the lyrical content.

“Writing in Urdu was the biggest challenge for me,” Jafri told The Express Tribune at the launch ceremony. “I have lived abroad all my life and the lyrics didn’t turn out to be the way I wanted when they were translated, so I thought I might as well take some time and write the song in Urdu myself.”

Jafri had earlier worked with the theatre actor/underground musician Faraz Lodhi when making the music for Karachi: The Musical and that came handy for writing this one.

“I learnt a lot from Karachi: The Musical,” he says . “That is what gave me the confidence to write the lyrics myself.”

According to Jafri, the hiatus is over; now, co-VEN is looking forward to making songs and videos more regularly. The next project the band has in mind is revitalising one of the classics by the legendary folk musician Tufail Niazi.

Co-VEN’s story

A number of Pakistan’s mainstream artists have at one point been a part of this band called co-VEN. Ali Noor from Noori was their vocalist from 1996 to1998 and co-VEN’s founding member Mohammad Ali Jaafri later founded Noori. Overload’s Farhad Humayun was co-VEN’s drummer in the early ‘90s and Quandrum percussionist Atif Saeed was with co-VEN during 1994 to 1996. Co-VEN released their album Not in Your World in 1997 in Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad and Sialkot. The album has a cult following till today. After 1997 b co-VEN members dispersed, with some of them moving outside Pakistan but making a comeback in 2005 with Hamza Jafri, Sikandar Mufti, Sameer Ahmed and Omran Shafique in the line-up.

Monday, January 7, 2013

Living on the edge begins, 2013 Season 4

Living on the edge begins, 2013 Season, Auditions Teaser

Can U guess Waqar's Dare?, Living on the edge returns, 2013

A director on a mission to send a message

LAHORE:

Like many of the old school directors in Lollywood, Hasan Askari seems to be desperate for new direction. He is considered to be a prolific director for the industry. Speaking to The Express Tribune, he discusses his last attempt at films; through his new production company Vega movies and his interest in the Pashto film industry.

Today, Askari says that he will be looking for talent in the Pashto film industry for many of his films, with the local industry in Lahore left as a shadow of its former self. For his latest Urdu film Dastaan, he says he will be casting actors from the Pashto film industry. This film is expected to be out in April or May 2013.

“Dastaan is a film where we will be casting artists from the Pashto film industry, because the actors or artists from our film industry cannot be relied on any longer,” says Askari. “I think that Pashto films are strong and have a widespread impact on modern day sub-continent films,” he adds further explaining that “I feel the actors are more disciplined too.”

Askari is optimistic when he points out that Pashto films have quietly developed a bigger market than the once dominant Punjabi film circuit. He says the international market has allowed for producers to make films with fewer resources. With lead roles by Moammar Rana and Zari, the cast also includes Shahid Khan, Jahangir Khan and Asif Khan.

This film is unique because it will be dubbed in both Pashto and Urdu, to cater to the maximum amount of people. This has been done before and Askari is sure that it may help the project to reach more audiences.

“It is unfortunate that in the past, these types of films have focused more on Punjabi culture, instead of trying to address social problems,” explains Askari. The film’s plot will try to explore the theme of extremism, something that has taken its toll on the Pashto film-makers over the last decade or so.

Askari explains that Jahangir Khan will play the villain representing extremists while Moammar Rana will play the role of a young man who wants to avenge the death of his father, a police officer.

“It want to be political without naming any groups, but Moammar Rana’s character will try to challenge the same forces that killed his father,” says Askari.

Meanwhile, Askari also has another film which has already been passed by the censor board and will be released in February. This project also tries to address underlying social-political constructs of peace in a time of uncertainty. The cast consists of mainly new actors and some veteran ones such as Sami Khan and Mumtaz Malik.

“This film is based largely on the background of Kashmir and has tactfully tried to explore why we have been unable to move towards peace,” Askari explains. “It looks at a lot of interesting issues,” he adds.

Askari confesses that after years of making various kinds of films, his goal is to eventually direct an entirely artistic film.