What a dud …

The other day while flipping through the T.v channels i came across the trailer of “The Men Who Stare at Goats”, thought that with a powerful cast (Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey, George Clooney, Even McGregor)that it had its going to be a mind blowing film but naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah it turned out to be a dud. But there are few instances which catch one’s imagination like

Larry Hooper:  Lieutenant Colonel Django used funds from the project’s black budget to procure prostitutes…

Bill Django: That’s a lie!

Larry Hooper: …and to get drugs for himself and his men.

Bill Django: That… well, the hooker thing is definitely a lie.

Though i think that Jeff Bridges and George Clooney has done a tremendous job and they have done justice to their roles but in totality the film lacked the extra punch that i thought it will have.

Coke Studio 2: Episode 3 & “Billie Jean’s new version Bashira bano”

Another remarkable and well tuned episode caught the eyes, hearts and ears of many on various channels and youtube when the third episode of the current season of Coke Studio was aired yesterday and it totally rocked.

Ali Zafar was outstanding again with another folk song Ya Daddi Ishq Atish and every word, line and stranza gelled so very well that it has become a master piece another gem by coke studio, my favourites Noorie were simply out of this world they are proving themselves again and again that they are ahead of the pack of musician that are currently in Pakistan wayahead.

JoSh were lively and their act was superb and Zeb & Haniya along with Javed Bashir were soothing but one thing i’m still confused about is that what was Atif thinking when he turned Billie Jean to Bashira Bano on Coke Studio Episode 3 …

Coke Studio: Getting better and better

Today was the second episode of the much talked about coke studio season 2 and it was up to the expectations from Josh’s Jaaney Do to Atif’s Kinara to Shafqat Ammant’s Ankhon Kai Sagar to Ali Zafar’s Dastan-e- Ishq but for me Toomba was the out right winner of the episode it was haunting to hear how everything about that song  gelled into a piece.

Coming to Ankhon kai sagar everything was perfect, vocals, music, feel of the song and not to forget the sarangi and tabla mix. On the other hand Ali Zafar caught everyone out of surprise again with his performance and strong vocals that showed every emotion of the poetry that he was singing.Atif’s Kinara was good but it didnot had any catch what so ever for me (sorry for that) and Josh was simply awesome with their Jaaney Doo which had a raw yet fresh feel to it.

But Toomba holds a very special position in the episode that was aired today which was totally dominated by the two cultural kalaam’s that were presented in it and shows the power of our folk music and its richness, i still am trying to forget the sound of the voilin and banjo on Toomba and those haunting vocals and fluet on Dastan-e-Ishq …

What else can i say Coke Studio does it again in a style of its own …

Coke Studio: Season 2 – Its Amazing

People in Pakistan have generally been on the low side of entertainment due to the prevailing conditions in the country but the out of the box thinking of creative people in Pakistan has yet again given a gem in the form on Coke Studio.

A brain child of Rohail Hayyat is making waves into the second season of its inception as most people have started to follow it now but as i had seen the first season too it has evolved in nature and made a bigger stride this time.

Especially the BTL advertising it has been doing through facebook is simply awesome, giving Behind The Scene (BTS) videos makes the coming performances all the more intriguing to watch out for.

The first episode saw some great performances from Atif (Jal Pari), Shafqat Amanat (Khamaj) & the duo of Zeb & Haniya (Paimona but the most standout performance for me was that of Noorie with Saieen Zahoor with the beautiful Aik Alif, for me it was more than a performance they gave a whole new dimension to the Kalaam and took the message in it to the next level and made it more powerful than ever before

After watching the BTS on ma facebook account if they are going to be what has been given in those BTS i am sure they will rock it & the ones i’d be waiting for are Ankhanon Kai Sagar (Shafqat) and Dastan-i-Ishq (Ali Zafar), i’m keeping my fingers crossed that they rock it.

In the mean time thumbs up for Coke Studio and Rohail.

Sony Tv New Show: Bhasker Bharti

Entertainment has been one of the major factors of Sony Entertainment being preferred by the masses to the sedate and out dated concpets of Balaji’s Starplus (oopss i hurt a few feelings there). With a variety of shows that totally rock the world of its viewers Sony has been a helm of entertainmet for sometime now after seeing alittle dip a few years back.
This entertainment is going a step up when the new show Bhasker Bharti starts off from 25th of May, a rip off the Argentine comedy show Lalola, which is actually a story of a play boy who is at the helm of his career, success has been redefined by this person in the Sony version will be named Bhasker and the Argentine version is was lalo. After ditching alot of girls one catches on to him and bewitches him so that he becomes a girl and knows the agony that they have to go through (a great concept indeed by the initial creator). To adjust his life as a girl he changes his name to Bharti and acts as Bhaskars cousin. Bhaskars friend falls in love with Bharti who is actually a boy. Will Bhaskar be able to adjust as a girl or will his truth be revealed?
Recently Ram Gopal Verma had also used the concept to make a movie but it failed miserablly let see how does Sony makes their move with this show. Actually i’m keeping my fingers crossed becuase it will be a fun ride atleast for sometime.

Dark Knight in the dark at Golden Globes

The award season is getting nearer day by day in Hollywood, along with it the Golden Globes are here but  with it the uncanny nomination mysteries are also here. The most surprising of them all is “Dark Knight” being shun at the awards.

Except for the obvious nomination of Heath Ledger for  “The Joker”, most of the categories that it was supposed to be named in like for the best drama, best director etc to name a few are no where to be seen I guess without a doubt these are at least the two categories that should have been on the list along with the legendary foe of Batman “The Joker”, that was made immortal by Heath Ledger.

It remains to be a mystery why the globe didn’t shine on Dark Knight but with the Oscars buzz associated with this awesome movie I guess the globes took one wrong nomination step!

Ali Azmat: The Rocker \m/

The music scene in Pakistan has been growing with time I still remember the days when there were virtually no good music coming out in Pakistan, there were some scattered good working going on. Even at that time I used to rate the Pakistan musician more talented than that of the Bollywood stereotype gana bajana.

Rock was something that used to considered total madness back then (many think about it the same today even) but when Junoon came they changed everything almost everything and with them came Ali Azmat into the local music seen as a raw potential to make it big and that is where he is now.

I personally am his huge fan because of the vocals he has are best suited to the genre that he is following. Ali Azmat was one of the reasons of the main stream attraction of Junoon along with the Sufish Rock music they have always produced.

The real potential of this singer came with the first solo album he did after the breakup of Junoon “Social Circus”, in which every second song had a meaning to it and he has lived it up with his new album Klashinfolk, giving the same old meaningful image to what is his passion.

You rock Ali Azmat \m/