Media - 8

Who would want to watch a programme about Luton and particularly about Luton’s Pakistani community? Poor unloved Luton was recently voted “Britain’s crappiest town” and its media image veers from cheap ‘n’ cheerful Luton Airport to reports of police raids. So when writer and broadcaster Sarfraz Manzoor was commissioned to make a documentary film about [...]

The BBC World Service has launched a major marketing campaign to support its Urdu programming in Pakistan. The BBC Urdu team will also be visiting ten towns across Pakistan to discuss issues related to its social and current affairs programming, such as its flagship item Sairbeen.

There is a vast market for Pushto films in Afghanistan. This was stated by office-bearers of the Pushto Filmmakers Association at a news conference here on Sunday. People now liked action films with good music and powerful script, he said. Arshad Khan said that good photography and outdoor locations were also helping to popularise Pushto [...]

Also an actor, Tevana is currently on a promotional tour across the South Asian Sub-Continent and the Middle East and the single launched it’s airplay there today, coinciding with Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. John McCain’s visit to the region, on City FM 89, Pakistan’s first radio station primarily focused on Western and English music. [...]

Mansoora’s ongoing conceptual photographic video projects, ‘The Black Burqa: 9/11′, ‘Afghan Burqa: Begging for Peace’ and ‘Bound/Unbound’ depict the current global landscape. The artist uses the projects to take apart stereotypes. These are not comfortable works and are fraught with unanswered questions, said Saleema Hashmi, a former National College of Arts principal. Mansoora, who was [...]

When Qudsia Sethi was 11, she was invited to a swimming party. Her parents were hesitant but gave her permission to go. She wouldn’t be allowed to wear a bathing suit, however. That would be strictly against her Muslim upbringing, her father told her. Instead, she would wear something akin to a stretchy jumpsuit that [...]

Illuminare Entertainment to release the first ever Pakistani-American produced film “Night of Henna” (“The Wedding Night”). Produced by Phenomenon Films, “Night of Henna” is about a beautiful Pakistani woman who must choose between her true love and that of an arranged marriage by her family. It’s a young woman’s struggle to be free and to [...]

Set in 1979, the film captures Pakistan as Islamic militancy was just finding its footing. The Russians were about to invade Afghanistan. The shah was deposed in Iran. Clerics and fundamentalist college teachers were rabble-rousing the young all over the region.And Ayesha (Kiron Kher) would love to protect her son, Saleem (Aamir Ali Malik), from [...]

Pakistani terrestrial PTV is set to begin airing 21st Century Woman, a creation of Zeal’s The Chatterbox Partnership that was produced for Unilever‘s SUNSILK hair-care brand. The series, produced by the Karachi-based Nucleus Entertainment, is due to commence airing in a primetime slot on PTV this month. According to Zeal Television, it follows a group [...]

The appetite for reality TV in Pakistan is growing with networks like Geo TV and PTV both joining the party in recent weeks, the latter with a format acquired from UK indie Zeal Television. Zeal’s Dubai office is in production on the advertiser-sponsored talent show Sunsilk 21st Century Woman (13×60′), a primetime series being coproduced [...]