Thursday, 11 February, 2016
ARTS
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URdU novelist, playwRight Fatima sURayya Bajia passes away KARACHI
ali Gul Pir Layin in bed as mny ppl n cameras r starin at me.For a sec I felt like a pornStar but Im not naked n I c no oil #lol
ChristinalaMB So man who calls women "fat pigs, dogs & disgusting animals" has won #NewHampshire. Only consolation is none of last 3 Presidents won there
ali zaFar 3 songs/music videos released in 3 days! Hope that's a good doze on the music front. Now some rest and prep for next feature.
Furqan shayk How about a Kashmiri team in the #PSL just to show India that Kashmir is Pakistan! #RT If you want a Kashmiri team in #PSL
MuhaMMad uMair So #KhurramManzoor who has not enough talent to b selected for a #PSL team now selected for WorldT20
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sTAFF RePORT
ENOwNED Urdu novelist and playwright Fatima Surayya Bajia passed away on wednesday in Karachi after prolonged
illness. Talking to media after his sister’s death, Anwar Maqsood said “Bajia was a motherly figure for all her siblings”. “She not only left her family members but hundred of thousands of her fans to mourn the loss,” said a distraught looking Maqsood, adding that he was with Bajia at the time of her passing. According to Bajia’s family, her funeral prayers and burial will take place after Zuhr prayers on Thursday. Bajia wrote several popular serials for PTV, including Shama (based on A.R. Khatoon’ novel), Afshan, Aroosa, Aagahi, Ana and Zeenat. Besides, she had done historical plays, children’s programmes, women’s programmes and literary programmes such as Auraq.
In recognition of her services, besides the local awards, she has been given the highest civil award of Japan. Bajia also served as president of the Pakistan-Japan Cultural Association. Born into an educated in family
of Hyderabad Deccan in 1930, Fatima Surayya was the eldest of the 9 siblings. The family sailed to Karachi on September 18, 1948, immediately after the fall of the Hyderabad state, which was invaded by the Indian army on Sep-
tember 11, the day the Quaid-iAzam died here. She did not have a formal degree but had acquired extensive knowledge of Arabic, Persian, English and Urdu literature and history at home through private tuitions. In Karachi, when her grandfather and father died, she took up the responsibility of looking after her younger siblings, who all received a good education and some successfully carved out their own identity in separate fields of art and culture. Her brother Anwar Maqsood became a multi-talented artist writing plays for TV and theatre, her sister Zehra Nigah became a renowned poetess while Zubaida Tariq turned into a cooking expert. whether Bajia wrote a play, serial or any other TV-adaptable piece, she elaborately depicted the culture of the area and the period she set the story in. In Auraq, the literary programme that ran for about two years on PTV, she vividly depicted the culture of the area — whether Sindh, Pubjab, Balochistan, Frontier or Kashmir — in the stories she included in the programme.
From Shafqat with love
Parineeti Chopra’s next film is titled Meri Pyaari Bindu
Zohaib Kazi can’t turn ‘Ismail Ka Urdu Sheher’ into AG project KARACHI enTeRTAinmenT Desk
After a year’s disappearance from the big screen, during which she’s undergone a much-admired transformation, Bollywood actress Parineeti Chopra has finally announced her next film, Meri Pyaari Bindu. And she seems to be taking after her cousin Priyanka in this one. Parineeti’s film announcement features her singing a slow tempo track ‘Maana Ke Hum Yaar Nahin’, which will be included in the movie. while she plays the titular role, Parineeti is joined by her ‘singing buddy’ Ayushmann Khuranna in the cast. “This is a song from my new film… After a gap of a year, I am announcing my next movie. It is a Yash Raj project, which will be produced by Maneesh Sharma and directed by debutant Akshay Roy. It will also feature my ‘singer buddy’ Ayushmann Khuranna,” said Parineeti. Khurrana seemed just as stoked to star with his bud: Chopra was last seen in Ali Zafar-starrer Kill Dil (2014). It was earlier speculated that Chopra will be the next Dhoom girl, but that rumour is yet to be confirmed. Agencies
MUMBAI Agencies
February 9 marked the 75th birthday of ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh and that’s when Shafqat Amanat Ali took the opportunity to remind everyone of Jagjit’s legacy. The Pakistani crooner was all praises for Singh and how he had revolutionised classical music forever. “Jagjit Singh-jee introduced a completely new style of ghazals by introducing western instruments beautifully”, said Ali. “The beauty of
this fusion was that he kept himself rooted to eastern melody and style by always choosing the right poetry and mostly, complemented it with the right notes.” According to Ali, the ingenious musical composition is why Singh’s music appealed to both the masses and niche listeners. “His beautiful melodies will always keep ringing in peoples’ ears,” he added. As a classical musician, Ali is well-versed in the genre of ghazals himself. In fact, he describes it as “one of his
favourite” kinds of music and something that has been a part of his family tradition for years. He has lent his voice to plenty of ghazals as well, such as Ghalib’s acclaimed Dil Hi Tu Hai Na Sang-o-Khisht. The singer burst into the international limelight with his performance of Mitwa from the 2006 Bollywood hit,Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. He is currently in India, serving as a judge on Zee TV’s musical reality show, Asia’s Singing Superstar alongside composer Shankar Mahadevan.
‘Frozen’ set For Broadway in 2018 It took cinemas by storm and now the smash-hit Disney animationFrozen is heading to Broadway, the entertainment giant said, confirming months of fevered speculation. The musical adaptation will open outside New York in August 2017 and then hit Broadway in spring 2018. “As you know, a sequel of Frozen is in the works,” Disney chief operating officer Tom Staggs said during a conference call with analysts. “In the meantime Disney Animation is creating the first ever Frozentelevision special, which will air on ABC during the 2017 holiday season, and in the tradition of Lion King and Aladdin, we have a new
CMYK
Frozenmusical slated for Broadway in 2018.” Released in 2013, the film is one of the most successful in history, making $1.27 billion at the box office. The musical will feature the same writers as the film — music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez. Loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen, the film tells the story of princess Anna, who sets off on a journey to find her sister Elsa, whose hard-to-control icy powers have trapped the kingdom of Arendelle in eternal winter. The hugely popular film picked up two Oscars and a clutch of other awards along the way. Agencies
As a child, visiting the planetarium always meant more than just a trip for Zohaib Kazi. Although his excursions were usually quite brief, they left a visual imprint on him that is easy to spot in his work today. Through multiple stints as a video producer on Coke Studio, the musician has already proved his mettle when it comes to visual and psychedelic art. But a few months ago, Kazi struck once again with a graphic novel/music album entitled Ismail Ka Urdu Sheher (IKUS), which he has great plans for. Not only is Kazi currently having it translated into Urdu, he is also transforming it into an augmented reality (AR) experience — the first of its kind in the country. The project might still be in its infancy but Kazi has already ironed out the details with a tentative framework in mind. “we will most likely be setting up an installation in a public space like a mall and creating a video which is in a loop of at least 30 seconds,” he shared. “But it isn’t necessary that it will be just 30seconds long: the runtime will depend on the kind of resources and funding we have at our disposal.” with AR still working its way through international markets and audiences, Kazi’s decision to pursue the project in Pakistan may seem far-fetched. It is bound to raise a few eyebrows, primarily due to the lack of technological expertise and resources to support it through. And as is the case with most adventurous start-ups, funding seems to be a major issue plaguing Kazi’s vision. The project has already run into a roadblock, with Kazi having exhausted most of his own resources on IKUS already. He is now approaching people with proposals to back his offbeat venture, lest it fails. “I am looking into the idea and have already approached a couple of different investors with a proposal. Let’s see where we can take this project from over here,” he said, with his fingers crossed.