Pakistan Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Naman Ramachandran Bilal Lashari’s “The Legend of Maula Jatt,” Pakistan’s highest grossing film of all time, is getting an unprecedented theatrical rerelease in key international markets. South Asian films have almost never had theatrical rereleases due to satellite and streaming rights being assigned post the standard window after their theatrical releases. Six months after its theatrical debut, “The Legend of Maula Jatt” will rerelease across 15 sites in the U.K., seven sites in the U.S. and two sites in the U.A.E. on April 21, in the Eid holiday frame. To date, the film has amassed $13.8 million worldwide on 500 screens, making it the highest grossing Pakistan-made and Punjabi-language film to date and the top South Asian film in the U.K. from 2018 to 2022. It grossed more than five times Pakistan’s previous box office champion, “Jawani Phir Nahi Ani 2.”

Greater Manchester's police chief has revealed the force is actively pursuing child sexual exploitation suspects currently in Pakistan to face possible criminal charges here. Chief Constable Stephen Watson confirmed GMP was 'seeking to bring suspects in from Pakistan' but refused to elaborate further due to what he called 'judicial processes'.

Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai is working on a new memoir, the latest book by the young activist from Pakistan known for her advocacy for education for girls and for surviving an assassination attempt by the Taliban when she was in her teens.

Oscilloscope Laboratories’ Cannes Jury Prize Winner and Independent Spirit international film winner Joyland led New York’s Film Forum to one of its biggest opening weekends for a foreign language film in nearly a decade, taking in north of $21k on one screen, the distributor said. Buoyed by strong reviews and strategic marketing, the film by Saim Sadiq sold out nine showtimes, with the theater adding additional shows.

Star Wars” movie future just came into sharper focus: Daisy Ridley’s Rey will be the central focus of the first “Star Wars” feature film since 2019’s “The Rise of Skywalker,” Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy announced at Star Wars Celebration in London on Friday. Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (“Ms. Marvel”) will direct from a script by Steven Knight (“Peaky Blinders”). The film follows the events of “Rise of Skywalker,” and will focus on Rey as she builds a new Jedi Order. The project marks several major milestones for the franchise: Obaid-Chinoy is the first woman and the first person of color to direct a “Star Wars” movie. The Pakistani filmmaker won two Academy Awards for documentary short, in 2011 for “Saving Face” and in 2015 for “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness,” and she most recently directed two episodes of “Ms. Marvel” for Disney+.

KSI has visited a mosque in Bradford and apologised again for using a racial slur in one of his YouTube videos.The rapper, boxer, gamer and YouTube personality received backlash earlier this week, following a video of him with his group The Sidemen. In the footage, KSI played a Countdown-style game with the group, and created a four-letter derogatory word for people of Pakistani origin.Following an initial apology, KSI has now used a boxing preview event to apologise again for the “hurt and disappointment” caused, and visited a mosque to “educate himself”.Shared to Twitter, the new footage shows the rapper – whose real name is Olajide William Olatunji – visiting Bradford’s Al-Hikam Institute, and “educating himself” on the impact of the slur.The clip, which has over 1.7million views, shows the 29-year-old wearing a red covering during the visit, and listening to Imam Muhammed Asim Hussain.In the footage, the Imam can be heard discussing KSI’s recent controversy.

Crisscrossing the country for the cuisine — and the culture! Padma Lakshmi is back for season 2 of Taste the Nation, and Us Weekly has the exclusive first look at the latest installment.

Naman Ramachandran NTR Jr, star of Oscar- and Golden Globe-winner “RRR,” will feature alongside Hrithik Roshan in “War 2,” one of the future instalments in leading Indian studio Yash Raj Films’ spy universe. “War 2” will be directed by Ayan Mukerji, who previously helmed Disney’s Indian mythological superhero film “Brahmastra: Part One – Shiva.” NTR Jr is currently shooting his 30th film, known by the working title “NTR 30,” with Koratala Siva directing. The actor hails from the South India-based Telugu-language film industry, but the pan-India and international success of “RRR” has seen him transcend boundaries.

Naman Ramachandran Ayan Mukerji will direct “War 2,” one of the future instalments in leading Indian studio Yash Raj Films’ spy universe. Mukerji previously directed Disney’s Indian mythological superhero film “Brahmastra: Part One – Shiva,” which was one of the biggest Bollywood hits of 2022, grossing $52 million. He debuted with coming of age film “Wake Up Sid” (2009) and followed up with romcom “Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani” (2013). Created by producer Aditya Chopra, the spy universe kicked off with the Tiger franchise, starring Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif, beginning with “Ek Tha Tiger” (2012) and “Tiger Zinda Hai” (2017), and continued with “War” (2019), starring Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff. The latest instalment in the universe, “Pathaan,” starring Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone and John Abraham, is the biggest Indian hit of the year so far, grossing $130 million. The four films have together grossed some $300 million.

YouTuber and boxer KSI has apologised for using a racist slur in a recent video.The 29-year-old internet personality, real name Olajide “JJ” Olatunji, said he was taking a break from social media as he had been “messing up a lot” of late.The four-letter slur, referring to people of Pakistani origin, was used during a video made with his collective of YouTubers, The Sidemen.Their Countdown-inspired game show saw him give the word as an attempt using his available letters. After facing criticism, he tweeted: “I wanna apologise for saying a racial slur in a recent Sidemen video.There’s no excuse, no matter the circumstances, I shouldn’t have said it and I’m sorry.

Naman Ramachandran The next magnum opus from Amazon Prime Video India is “Jubilee,” a period piece that charts the growing pangs of India and the rise of the country’s Hindi-language film industry that would come to be known by the term Bollywood in later years. Beginning around the months in 1947 when the subcontinent was partitioned into India and Pakistan, the dramatis personae in the series include studio boss Srikant Roy (Prasenjit Chatterjee), his movie star wife Sumitra Kumari (Aditi Rao Hydari), trusted aide with acting ambitions Binod Das (Aparshakti Khurana), talented refugee Jay Khanna (Sidhant Gupta) and courtesan Nilofer (Wamiqa Gabbi), whose worlds collide.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is set to launch a new taskforce to tackle grooming gangs during visits to Greater Manchester and Leeds today. The PM has pledged 'political correctness' will not get in the way of a crackdown, as ministers promised tougher sentences and new support for local forces to protect children from abuse.

Naman Ramachandran British YouTuber, rapper and boxer Olajide Olayinka Williams JJ Olatunji, known professionally as KSI, has apologized after a racial slur and will take a break from social media. KSI is a co-founder and member of YouTube group the Sidemen. On Sunday, KSI and the Sidemen appeared in a video based on U.K. game show “Countdown” where the contestant chooses between two stacks of letter tiles, one containing vowels and the other consonants and has 30 seconds to form the longest single word they can, using nine letters. KSI formed the word “P**i,” a pejorative term used to describe people of South Asian origin in the U.K., saying: “I don’t mean this maliciously, but the word’s P**i.” The offensive word was bleeped. KSI’s fellow Sidemen are evidently amused by the slur in the video.

KSI, the British YouTuber with more than 24M subscribers, has apologized and said he is taking a social media break after using a racial slur during his latest video.

A drunk newlywed pinched a cabin crew member's bottom - and threatened to burn another 'like Guy Fawkes' and 'bite her ear and nose off' during a 'terrifying' plane rampage.

Naman Ramachandran British Asian actor and writer Ambreen Razia has secured a development deal with Expectation Entertainment (BAFTA-winning series “Alma’s Not Normal”) to write an original comedy drama series about addiction and postpartum depression between a South Asian mother and daughter. The series, which has the working title “Wasted,” will follow the story of a junior doctor and the ancestral legacy which looms over today’s generation of Muslim immigrants. As an actor Razia most recently played Shandy Fine in hit Apple TV+ series “Ted Lasso.” Razia’s previous writing credits include “Hounslow Diaries” for BBC Three, which was adapted from the stage play “Diary of a Hounslow Girl,” a project that looked at the lives of modern Muslim girls in London. Recent stage plays include “POT” and “Favour.” She has also been part of the writers’ room for Channel 4’s BAFTA-winning series “We Are Lady Parts,” directed by Nida Manzoor, and Disney+ show “Extraordinary.”

Naman Ramachandran Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan will headline “Tiger vs Pathaan,” the latest film in producer Aditya Chopra’s spy universe. The film, from leading Indian studio Yash Raj Films, will commence principal photography in January 2024, sources close to the studio confirmed to Variety. Yash Raj Films declined to comment. “Pathaan,” starring Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone and John Abraham, is the biggest Indian hit of the year so far, grossing $130 million. The spy universe kicked off with the Tiger franchise, starring Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif, beginning with “Ek Tha Tiger” (2012) and “Tiger Zinda Hai” (2017), and contining with “War,” starring Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff. The four films have together grossed some $300 million.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Showing off your late-night hosting skills when you have just four days to do so can be daunting. So Kal Penn brought his ‘A’ game. The actor used his unique connections to the White House — he was an associate director of the White House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs during the Obama administration — to deliver a hard-to-get booking to Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show.” When Penn recently guest-hosted the program, his first night featured a sit-down with President Joe Biden. How did he land POTUS? Penn simply asked — but made clear he planned to ask questions the Commander-in-Chief doesn’t usually get during a media scrum. “I definitely wanted him to join me in setting up what I hope was a hopeful arc over the week,” says Penn, who asked Biden to discuss how young people’s advocacy can spur change on climate, drilling, and human rights. Biden also offered about his views on same-sex marriage and the treatment of transgender children, among other topics.

Despite their lavish royal lives, Prince William and Kate Middleton attempt to give their kids a life “as normal as possible.” Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis have childhoods not easily comparable to those of everyday UK citizens.They all have their starring roles in the upcoming Coronation of King Charles, and they go to the school once graced by the likes of Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hiddleston, Bear Grylls, and Crown actor Dominic West. But, royal author Tom Quinn has argued that their parents, the Prince and Princess of Wales, try to give them the most normal life possible.

Ramadan begins as the sun goes down tonight, and runs until April 21, meaning that Muslims across Greater Manchester and across the globe will be observing their sawm - abstention from eating and drinking - during daylight hours.

Ed Meza @edmezavar International distributor Eccho Rights has inked landmark deals for Turkish drama series “Golden Boy” with broadcasters in Sweden and Finland.The show, which has enjoyed huge success on Turkey’s Star TV since launching in September 2022, is the first Turkish drama to be picked up by Swedish and Finnish broadcasters. In Sweden, TV4 acquired “Golden Boy” for its TV4Gold and Sjuan linear channels, as well as streamers CMore and TV4 Play. In Finland, Eccho Rights’ deal with MTV Oy represents the first time ever that a Turkish series has been licensed by a Finnish broadcast group, with “Golden Boy” to stream on CMore and Katsomo in Finland.

Naman Ramachandran After “Mulk” (2018), “Article 15” (2019), “Thappad” (2020) and “Anek” (2022), filmmaker Anubhav Sinha is back with “Bheed,” another hard-hitting film that shines a light on the fabric of Indian society. The film is set during the 2020 Indian pandemic lockdown and tells the poignant story of migrant workers stranded without basic necessities while trying to go home to their villages. Shot in black and white, it is deliberately evocative of the 1947 partition of the Indian subcontinent into India and Pakistan when people were uprooted from their homes in the largest migration in history. “When the pandemic hit, people were seeking help on Twitter. Everybody had different strengths so we were helping each other and, and I really got sucked into it. And that was the time when I felt that this film had to be made, this period of time has to be recorded, and I didn’t want it to be just a Coronavirus film,” Sinha told Variety. “I’ve put in a Bob Marley quote in the beginning of the film, ‘If you know your history, then you would know where you coming from’.”

Michael Winterbottom has devoted much of his filmmaking career to revisiting real-life events through works blurring the boundaries between documentary and drama to various degrees.  

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Series Mania has always been about discovery: Of drama series as an art form, in its early days from launch in 2009; then of key players on a burgeoning international premium TV scene. Series Mania’s International Panorama now catches a new wave of creatives transitioning from film to scripted TV – Israel’s Yaron Shani with “Innermost,” Spain’s Isaki Lacuesta and Isa Campo with episodes of “Apagón”; and highlights notable emerging auteurs: Denmark’s Kasper Møller Rask, Canada’s Alexis Durand-Brault, Spain’s Fran Araujo, Pakistan’s Assim Abassi and Germany’s Jakob and Jonas Weydemann.  But for having already bowed at national festivals, some of the 12 titles below could well have been in the running for a Competition berth. 

Naman Ramachandran A poster has been unveiled for “Barzakh,” starring top Pakistani actors Fawad Khan and Sanam Saeed. The only South Asian selection at Series Mania this year, the series will debut in the showcase’s International Panorama, a 12-title competitive section where it will be eligible for the best series, director, actress, actor, student jury and audience awards. “Barzakh” (6 x 58′) is produced by Waqas Hassan and Shailja Kejriwal for Zindagi, the Indian subcontinent focused programming block on streamer ZEE5 Global. It is helmed by critically acclaimed director Asim Abbasi who also directed Zindagi’s first Pakistani original “Churails” and the feature film “Cake.”

Ben Croll Based in the northern French town of Lille since 2018, Series Mania has emerged as a key showcase for premium series and a spotlight for international creators — though, given the wider forces shaping the TV business, that spotlight has often shone on talent from the same three or four territories. And so, when programming the latest edition, the Series Mania brass looked to widen the field. “This year, we will introduce our attendees to new narrative modes and visual possibilities,” says general director Laurence Herszberg. “Because we’ve discovered so many series from countries that haven’t often attended the major festivals, with creative outputs that are much lesser-known. We want to celebrate them as well.”

Love contractually? That’s the setup at the heart of “What’s Love Got To Do With It?” — a new cross-cultural rom-com starring Lily James and Shazad Latif that Shout! Factory released the trailer for Wednesday.It’s also the name documentary filmmaker Zoe (James) chooses for her project following childhood friend and neighbor Kaz (Latif) on his journey to an arranged (or “assisted”) marriage. Zoe is a cynic who’s had no luck with dating apps; Kaz is optimistic that his marriage to Maymouna (Sajal Aly) will follow in his parents’ good example.The trailer opens with a look at the neighborly rapport Zoe and her mother Cath (Emma Thompson) enjoy with their next-door neighbors.

Kirkcudbright Rotary were invited to tell the pupils of Auchencairn Primary about how the organisation is fighting poliomyelitis globally.

Naman Ramachandran “White Snow,” the latest project from celebrated Indian filmmaker Praveen Morchhale, is his “artistic revolt” against political systems that repress artists. The project has been selected for the 21st Hong Kong — Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), the project market that operates concurrently with FilMart (March 13-16). Set in and around Kargil, a Muslim-dominated town in the Himalayas, where a war was fought between India and Pakistan in 1999, the film tells the story of Amir, whose short film gets banned due to a complaint from a religious leader, and his social media accounts gets blocked. His elderly mother Fatima sets out on an arduous journey in the Himalayan mountains to show the film in villages, which breaks her mentally and physically and brings her close to madness before she becomes a free soul.