KBN Media: 2010

Monday, December 6, 2010

Dancing Queen MD is going to Judge JDJ 4

The iconic Bollywood actor Madhuri Dixit’s last film, Aaja Nachle, may have failed and she may be based in the US, but that’s not stopping her from being part of the evolving entertainment industry in India. Dixit, who still retains her flawless skin, says she has no regrets over any film.

The 43-year-old is back in business with what she is best at: dance. She will be judging Sony TV’s reality show “Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa”, and says the failure of Aaja Nachle in 2007 didn’t discourage her at all.

“I don’t regret doing anything. When you work in a film, you do it thinking it will turn out well and will do well. But when it doesn’t do well, there’s nothing much you can do about it. So why should I regret anything?” said Dixit.

A resident of Denver, Colorado, where she lives with her husband Sriram Nene and two sons – Arin and Raayan – she is out of touch with Bollywood but wants to be part of the changing face of Indian cinema by trying her hand at new genres.

“My choice of scripts will always be based on what appeals to me in a role. Of course, I will be looking for different kinds of roles. It’s tough to say which role I have liked in recent times, but very different kinds of films are being made these days and it would be great to know what’s out there for me,” Dixit told IANS in an interview.

Dixit is in India for a few months to shoot the reality show “Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa” which goes on air on December 12, and plans to flip through scripts during her three-month stay.

“This (Bollywood) is not the only life. I have another life (in the US) and I really love it. However, I do miss India and my friends here. So it’s like having two homes. When I am here, I miss my husband and children. When I am there, I miss people here.

Madhuri Dixit became a formidable name in the film industry with hits like Tezaab, Ram Lakhan, Tridev, Dil, Saajan, Khalnayak, Hum Aapke Hain Koun, Dil To Pagal Hai andDevdas.

Her dancing prowess, thanks to eight years of training in kathak, has wowed fans in songs like “Ek Do Teen”, “Dhak Dhak”, “Choli Ke Peechhe”, “Channe Ke Khait Mein”, “Didi Tera Devar Deewana”, “Que Sera Sera” and “Maar Daala”.

Even her sons appreciate her songs. “My elder son likes ‘Ek Do Teen’ … he keeps singing it. They like songs from Devdas and Aaja Nachle. When I was coming here for ‘Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa’, they were very excited and said – ‘Are we going to watch you on TV?’”

The actor is as graceful as ever and young and old Bollywood actors alike are still full of praise for her.

“Well, compliments always make you feel good. It’s not that I have come to this stage without doing anything. I have worked really hard to earn this recognition and when one works hard, it is nice to receive such compliments,” said Dixit.

Protection Revival of Film & TV Production in Pakistan

A Press conference organized by Pakistan Film TV and Journalist Association with the collaboration of United Producers Association (UPA) on Monday evening, actors spoken their thoughts and ideas regarding the current situation of the industry. Celebrities including Atiqa Odho, Tanveer Jamal, Sajid Hasan, Faisal Rehman, Faisal Qureshi, Adnan Gilani, Arbaaz Khan and Bakhtiar Ahmed all beam volumes on how to revive the film industry in order to compete with Indian entertainment content and Media Supporters also evolves in it also just to save Pakistan Film Industry.

General Secretary of Pakistan Film TV and Journalist Association Abdul Wasi Qureshi inaugurated the session and said, “Indian television and films hold influenced over Pakistani channels and cinema houses because we have lost our true patriotic spirit. It is such a pity that Pakistani artistes who go to India win laurels there but this is rarely acknowledged within native bounds.”

Tanveer Jamal, chairman of the UPA spoke about the organization’s primary focus and explained why it is so important to the industry. “UPA is an organization which was founded four years ago by Sajid Hasan and Atiqa Odho. UPA’s main aim remains to act as a bridge between the TV channels and producers. Let’s talk about film revival here and a couple of cinema houses on main MA Jinnah road that look more like Mumbai than Pakistan.”

Jamal also used this platform to promote his new film, Ab Payember Nahi Aayain Gaywhich he feels, “will counter the negative image of Pakistan and the alter the false concept of Islam that seems to have taken the world in a spin.”

The press conference continued with every artiste emphasizing the need to rebuild a niche cultural identity for Pakistan. Bakhtiar Ahmed extended this viewpoint, adding that Indian cultural influence needs to be curtailed in order to move forward and promote local arts.

Actor Faisal Qureshi took to the podium to share a personal experience, explaining how the Pakistani audience can make all the difference if they made a conscious choice and realized how their current preferences adversely impact the local film industry. He said, “I was in a foreign country when I met Salman Khan and he told me Wanted earned nearly Rs750 million in Pakistan alone, when we hardly have more than 200 cinema houses across the country.” The actor showed disappointment at Pakistani film buffs being so easily swayed by foreign films that rob local films of a market at home.

Arbaaz Khan struck a positive note, reminding the audience of local stars who have received international recognition because of their talent, “Let bygones be bygones. But tell me something, has India ever produced even a single singer like Noor Jehan, Mehdi Hasan, Nusrat or Rahat Fateh Ali or even Atif Aslam? The list is endless and the day might come to an end but the list will go on.”

Atiqa Odho highlighted the importance of work ethics, “Whatever (respect and love) I have received I have earned it has been from my own country, Pakistan. There are a couple of channels that have not paid their workers’ salaries for months; we should fight against such injustices. We need to empower the worker, be it the technician, the writer and anyone working behind the camera.”

Odho also spoke about the importance of abiding by Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority laws and applauded Tanveer Jamal and Sajid Hasan for their pioneering ventures. Faisal Rehman, Begum Azra Mohyuddin and Adnan Gilani reiterated the same stance taken by the artistes.

Venue: Karachi Press Club

Theme of the Press Conference: Protection Revival of Film TV Production in Pakistan

Organized by: Pakistan Film, TV and Journalist Association and Karachi Press Club

Mobile Excellence Awards 2010 Announced

Karachi: Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) and Ericsson announced Ericsson-
PTA Mobile Excellence Award winners at a ceremony held today at a local hotel in
Islamabad. The award has been conferred on the winning team for their exemplary efforts
in developing an SMS SPAM Interceptor application. The ceremony was attended by Mrs.
Ewa Björling, Minister of Trade of Sweden, a high level Swedish business delegation visiting
Pakistan, Dr. Mohammed Yaseen, Chairman PTA, Mr. Mohsen Tavakol, President of Ericsson
Pakistan, and senior management of Ericsson.

Speaking on the occasion, Chairman PTA Dr. Mohammed Yaseen said that “We
at PTA believe in harmonized efforts for the uplift of ICT industry of Pakistan as we look
forward to carrying out significant projects in partnership with the operators and solution
providers in the future as well; such as the Mobile Excellence Award 2010 to bridge the
gap between industry, academia and the regulator”. Chairman PTA appreciated Ericson’s
initiatives for the support of telecom industry of Pakistan.

During the ceremony Mr. Mohsen Tavakol, President Ericsson Pakistan, said that
we are proud to award PKR 100,000/- the winners for their innovation and creativity in an
application which aims to intercept SMS at the access layer by using an underlying byte-
level data coding scheme”. He further announced that the winner of the Mobile Excellence
Award will also be given an opportunity to qualified practice through internship at Ericsson
for a period of 6 months from the time of graduation. “We work hard to build long-term
relationships with universities and student organizations around the world and attracting young
talent who eventually contribute to our future success, he added.

Muhammad Bilal Junaid and Talha Shabib Ahmed, final year students of BS (Telecom)
at FAST National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences were declared winners of
the Award while runner up award was given to two member team of students, Basit Hameed
and Imran Tanveer, from NUST School of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
(SEECS). The application they developed is an Android based application for the Open EMR
(Electronic Medical Records) system. It is intended to empower doctors sitting in rural areas in
maintaining patient record through their mobiles.

The panel of judges comprised of Mr. Amir Malik, Ms. Hina Saeed, Mr. Waqas Naeem,
Mr. Osama Ahmad and Mr. Naveed Ul Haq. The short listed candidates presented visual
demonstration of projects, applications and services to the panel of judges. All submissions
were subject to a pre defined criteria which included innovation (no re-use or adaptation of
already existing applications), ease of use and reach, impact of the application or service when
used in the Industry, tangible business benefits, ability of the project, application or service to
drive change and growth in the mobile marketplace and practical demonstration.

It may be mentioned that The Ericsson – PTA Mobile Excellence Award 2010 was
launched in September 2010 to honor students who have developed the most innovative user
generated or professionally produced content that engages the mobile user and enhances the
traditional mobile content experience. It aimed to reward the best mobile content development
in the areas of entertainment (video/music), social networking/online communities and
location based service.

Lollywood still ALIVE to be in LIVE

LAHORE: No more Pakistani movies are likely to be released this year as most of the film-related activities come to a halt with the advent of Muharram on December 7.

Currently, Lollywood has four films in the pipeline including Love Main Gum by Reema Khan, Son of Pakistan by Jarar Rizvi, Shah Murad by Pervaiz Rana andBashira Gujjar by Masood Butt. The films are in final stages, set to hit theatres after Muharram.

Syed Noor’s long awaited film Price of Honour, originally scheduled to be released this year, is likely to be postponed till 2011. Shooting of the film has been completed, taking it to the post production stage, said Lollywood’s ace director.Price of Honour highlights the issue of honour killings and is said to be the first Pakistani art film of its type. The film features young actors, all selected through an acting competition run by Hum TV.

Shoaib Mansoor’s Bol, debuting Atif Aslam as a film actor, is another upcoming film set to be released in the first quarter of 2011. The film which highlight the plight of women in society, has been cleared by the censor board. Talking to The Express Tribune, Mansoor said that Bol would be released once its distribution strategy is finalised.

For film critics, the ongoing films can bring crowds back to cinemas if all four are released around the same time. The matter, however, is not simple since very few cinemas screen Pakistani films as their focus remains on big budget films of Bollywood and Hollywood.

To make things more difficult for Lollywood, posh cinemas like DHA Cinema, CineStar, Cine Gold and Sozo World Cinema in Lahore do not screen Punjabi films at all. However, the administrations of these cinemas say that they do screen Urdu Pakistani films and want to go ahead with the films based on good scripts and stories.

“This week is going to be the last active week as far as film activities are concerned before the start of Muharram. Shootings stop in the month of mourning and no films get released. Several directors are giving final shape to their movies and will complete their post production work when Muharram begins. And if all goes well, the first month of the new year will witness release of some three or four Pakistani films,” said a director.

Munni and Chandermukhi will Judge JDJ 4

MUMBAI: ‘Jhalak Dikhla Jaa 4′, dancing with the stars, will start airing from December 12 The show had roped in dancing diva Madhuri Dixit and choreographer Remo D’Souza as its two judges of the season. While the third judge to the panel will be Malaika Arora Khan.

The Dabangg Munni is very excited about the venture and says that the format of the show is very interesting and above all she will get the rare opportunity to share a plat form with the beautiful Madhuri. She said that she had to manage her time to make space for the show, but the hard work is worth doing for ‘Jhalak Dikhla Jaa 4′.

"Amitabh is My Real Younger Brother" claimed by Jaffar Hussain

FAISALABAD: One Jaffar Hussain, hailing from Faisalabad, has claimed that Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan is his younger brother, Geo News reported.

Jaffar Hussain resident of Nawanpind, Faisalabad asserted that Amitabh had runaway to Karachi with Amir Badsha, and later to Mumbai at the age of 14, adding that his Islamic name was Subh Sadiq.

He said that Amitabh Bachchan was keen to work in movies since childhood. He said his father Abdul Haq was a goldsmith, who had registered a case against Amir Badshah in 1963.

Hussain also stated that one of their sisters namely Sardaran Bibi (late) had great affection with Amitabh.

Coke and Cricket Junoon - Side by Side

Karachi, Dec 03 2010: Coke’s latest campaign Coke Cricket Junoon is all about celebrating the passion and love that we as a nation feel for cricket. In Pakistan mostly everyone is a Cricket Junooni by birth, and this is a celebration of crazy cricket fans, without whom the game is nothing!

The highlight of cricket matches is not just the score board or stars, but the fans who are the real heroes of the game. Since the world cup matches will not be played in Pakistan, Coke has shown its spirited point of view in life and found a way for the whole nation to be with the team to support them.

A Cricket Junoon Movement launched today at the Forman Christian University lawns , featured purpose-built booths where fans recorded brief messages and posed for pictures. The photos were printed and framed for each participant at the event. Coke Cricket Junoon booths are also going to be installed in major cities and a Junooni float lead by Mr. Abdul Jalil, fondly known by cricket fans the world over as “Chacha Cricket”, will travel around the country as well. Fans can go to those Junoon booths and have their pictures taken .

At FCU, on Friday, students flocked to the booths with great zeal. Ali Mumtaz a student commented, “I think it’s a great initiative to provide cricket fans an outlet to express their passion for the game in such an innovative manner. I am overwhelmed by Chacha cricket’s patriotism and intense enthusiasm for the game. Agya bhee Agya, chacha cricket agya!!”

The nationwide Junoonis personalized goodwill messages, will be put together to compose a huge photo mosaic flag. A select fan army lead by Chacha Cricket will carry the flag to Sri Lanka to be unveiled at Pakistan’s first match, and will be the unprecedented representation of sport loving Pakistani fans.

Book on Mahendi Hassan is launching Today

KARACHI: A book on celebrated singer Mehdi Hasan will be launched at a ceremony here on Dec 6 (today). Titled ‘Mehdi Hasan: The man and his music’ it has been written by senior journalist Asif Noorani. Eminent poet Zehra Nigar will be the chief guest at the launching ceremony. The book has been published by the Liberty Books in collaboration with EMI Pakistan.