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Could any girl imagine wearing a red jump suit, high waisted belt, mic in hand, jostling shoulder and appearing on a national television screen in the Pakistan of 1980s? Well, she dared! There was something eminent about Nazia Hassan that caterwauled her being a Pakistani, yet there existed a transcendental facet to every music she produced that caught attention of the ears accustomed to listening Noor Jahan or Farida Khanum. Pakistan has over the decades produced some quality music and a number of musicians taking over the centre stage with domestic and international acclaim, but about Nazia Hassan there’s a certain pristine quality that has the power of eternity.  The late pop sensation was just a child when she began her singing career during the 1970s. She started off with small appearances on several television shows on PTV as a child artiste and then went on to create a legacy of her own. The Hassan siblings, Nazia and Zohaib Hassan, were in England when they discovered the fiery music scene of Johnny and Marrie, Jackson 5 and Carpenters.  Around the time they met Indian composer Biddu, UK-based Indian music producer, who was then relatively unknown and meshed the two worlds of music together, the eastern melodies with modern orchestration to produce Aap Jaisa Koi for Qurbani (1980), picturised on Zeenat Aman, Feroze Khan and Vinod Khanna. The orchestration of Aap Jaisa Koi, is only half the story of its success; the other, and more significant half is the husky voice of Nazia, which came like a whiff of fresh air in the stuffy setting of cine songdom. Not many people in India knew Nazia, they only knew it was an exciting new voice they were hearing in Baat ban jaaye, their response to it was instinctive. They liked what they heard, that went through one ear, instead of going out from the other, was transmitted down to the foot, which compulsively began tap-tapping to the song lyrics.  By 1981, Nazia was reading aloud from her first foray into the music realm – Aap Jaisa Koi, winning her the Filmfare Best Female Singer award when she was merely 15 years old, the youngest recipient of the award todate.  Where in the west there was Michael Jackson and Madonna, for the South Asian music lovers, it was Nazia Hassan. You think it might be unfair to draw a parallel between them. Well, it’s not so out of place. Nazia was the the first South Asian musician to compose disco-inspired dance music.  Such was Nazia’s success that it was once said that she surpassed Lata Mangeshkar, Indian playback singer, both in terms of sale and popularity. Lata’s biographer Raju Bhartan however posed a question: “Were there, then, no serious challenges to Lata in her long singing career?” He responds, “There was a happening in Lata’s life and time that made a mere teenager despair for her. That teenybopper was Nazia Hassan.” Nazia then collaborated with Biddu, to produce the album Disco Deewane that created a new genre of Bollywood pop music that persists today. Disco Deewane made the charts in 14 countries and became the best-selling Asian pop album.  She later worked with her brother, Zohaib Hassan, to release four more non-film albums, Boom Boom (1982), Young Tarang (1984), Hotline (1987) and Camera Camera (1992). Disco Deewane and Boom Boom are songs still treasured by their fans – so much so that Karan Johar did a remake of Disco Deewane for his Student of the Year (2012). The brother-sister duo also made several appearances on Pakistan Television (PTV) throughout the ‘80s, and jointly hosted the show Music’89 that served as the launching pad for many new talents including Vital Signs, Ali Haider, Sajjad Ali and Strings.  The fusion sound that came naturally to Nazia and Zohaib was also subjected to intense scrutiny in the early years of their music career. But the traditionalists could not halt the rock-‘n’ –roll trend. What was perhaps, most striking about the siblings phenomenon, was the pair’s ability to convey the resentments and desires of a whole generation of young people growing up in the 1980s. Coveted as the only singers from Pakistan to have performed for Nelson Mandela, they also started off with a focus on social causes including drug abuse campaign, using music to reach far off places. Nasha Na Karo (Don’t Smoke) one of the sound-tracks produced as part of their campaign and organisation, BAN (Battle Against Narcotics).  At home, the success of the siblings created not only a sense of newfound respectability towards, and awareness of the music industry as a worthy field, it also offered a fresh breath of air to the suffocated youngsters disillusioned by limited creative opportunities during that time. Engineers, doctors and even young military officers, picked up guitars; If Nazia and Zohaib can do it, people thought, then so can we. Between the time of rising to fame, getting married and realising the harsh realities of life with a failed marriage, Nazia got Business Administration degree from Richmond American University and Law degree from London University. Following the release of her last album Nazia shifted her focus to philanthropic work abroad, and also worked for the Department of Political and Security Council Affairs at United Nations - New York.  It’s no shocker that Bollywood has decided to make a movie on the lives of the two legends, Nazia and Zohaib Hassan and Alia Bhatt is speculated to play the pop icon’s role. Eighteen years ago, on August 13, 2000, the shining light, Nazia lost her battle with cancer at the young age of 35 in London. Indeed, one doesn’t have to look too far for that immortal baritone voice, constantly poking out from the covers of commemorative magazine issues in full length dupattas with the innocent smile.

Family bands are not usually associated with heavy metal music. At one point though during their early days, American hard rock quartet Halestorm were still a trio consisting entirely of the Hale family. Frontwoman Elizabeth ‘Lzzy’ Hale and her drummer brother Arejay were joined by their bass player father Roger Hale. Added to this, their mother was Halestorm’s manager and publicist. “It was fun for Arejay and I to have our dad in the band with us,” recalled singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Lizzy. “We were very young so our parents were basically taking care of us. As we got older though, I guess it was a little restricting. I think it was probably best when Josh (Smith) became our bassist in 2004.” Lizzy and Arejay had co-founded Halestorm in 1997 when they were just 13 and ten years old respectively. With a musician father, the children had a natural interest in music. Lizzy was five when she began learning piano. She later progressed to the keytar. Perhaps surprisingly, Lizzy was 16 before she started playing guitar. Drums have always been Arejay’s passion. “It was just Arejay and I at first. We loved writing and performing our original material. We were so young that there was no real chance to make our way in the music business around that time, particularly when you come from a small town like Red Lion, Pennsylvania. But we realised the need to add a couple more musicians if we were to play the kind of music we wanted. “Dad joined us on bass in 1998. Then we got Leo Nessinger to play lead guitar. He left in 2003 and was replaced by Joe (Hottinger). After Josh replaced dad, we’ve had the same line-up for the last 14 years.” The band members could hardly be closer. “We obviously started out as a family band and we’ve always kept that feeling. The other guys feel kind of like brothers to Arejay and I. This family mentality even bleeds through to other people who are involved with Halestorm. Our tour crew are the perfect example. “Everything is treated in the sense that ‘we’re in this together.’ We don’t have separate agendas. We all share the common goal and we all work together. We also have so much respect for each other and recognise how we all need to make our individual contributions to create and perform the songs which have given Halestorm so much success.” The latest chapter in their success story is the number eight debut in both Britain and America for Halestorm’s fourth studio album, Vicious. It is their second straight top ten album on both charts, following up 2015’s Into The Wild Life, and has also given the band another number one on the US and UK Rock Albums charts. “Our (self-titled) first album reached number 40 on the Billboard 200 back in 2009. That was ten years after we released our debut EP. We feel like we’ve come a long way during that time. It’s particularly pleasing that we’ve not only increased our fan following in America and Canada but greatly increased our support throughout the world as a whole.” The quality of Halestorm’s music has also been recognised within the industry. Love Bites...(So Do I), a track from their 2012 second album, The Strange Case Of, won the 2013 Grammy for Best Hard Rock / Metal Performance. “We felt truly honoured to receive the Grammy. We were also totally genuine when our fellow nominees were thanked in the acceptance speech. We thanked our parents for turning us on to great music and giving us every encouragement to become musicians. But we got so much inspiration from bands such as Iron Maiden, Megadeth and Anthrax. Without listening to their music, we wouldn’t have written our Grammy-winning song.” Another Grammy nomination might well be forthcoming for Halestorm’s new album. Reviews have been the best of their career. “It’s great to have the critics lavish so much praise on Vicious and we do appreciate all the positive reviews. But it’s the fans who really matter. Happily, they seem to enjoy the album even more than the critics.” in brief Ellie Goulding / Leona Lewis There is happy news for English singers Ellie Goulding and Leona Lewis. Both ladies have recently become engaged to be married. Ellie, 31, had previously been in high profile long-term relationships with BBC Radio 1 DJ Greg James and McFly bassist Dougie Poynter. She has also been linked with Ed Sheeran, dance music producer Skrillex, actor Jeremy Irvine, One Direction star Niall Horan, and even Prince Harry. After dating for 18 months, she is now engaged to art dealer Caspar Jopling. A former Team GB rower at the 2010 Youth Olympics, Caspar was educated at Eton and has a degree in art history from Harvard University. He currently works at Sotheby’s in New York. Meanwhile, 33-year-old Leona is now engaged to choreographer Dennis Jauch. The couple has been together for the last eight years. They met during a concert tour when Dennis was working as one of Leona’s backing dancers. Leona had previously been in a decade-long relationship with childhood sweetheart Lou Al-Chamaa. An electrician before Leona won the 2006 season of X Factor, Lou became a talent scout for Sony Music. He has since risen to Vice President, Creative of A&R at Sony/ATV Music Publishing. The notoriously private Leona has not officially confirmed her engagement. But she has done nothing to conceal the sparkling diamond ring which now adorns the third finger of her left hand.  Dennis has been a little more forthcoming on social media. Alongside a number of pictures posted to celebrate their eight years together, Dennis wrote: “It’s been the most beautiful eight years of my life with this incredible human being. Here’s to many more beautiful memories.” Fia Moon Fia Moon is not yet a familiar name to most music fans. But the Dublin-born, now London-based, singer / songwriter is already taking confident strides along the road to fame. She first attracted attention earlier this year with her debut single, The Fall. The song dealt with her personal transition from Dublin to London, living alone and trying to create a new life for herself. There is no video for the track but an audio posting can be heard at www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bSjRBxCcLQ It’s the same story for Fia’s newly released sophomore single, Settle Down. No video has been made but the song is available to hear at www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRzTGKfWWp8 Fia says of her new single: “It’s basically about thinking someone is amazing. But this is all on the surface. Once you get to know them, you realise that their morals and values are totally different to yours.” Claire Richards Steps fans need not be concerned. The group have not split up again. They reached number two on the UK chart last year with their comeback album, Tears On The Dancefloor. But Steps are currently taking a break before recording their next album and it is this free time which has given singer Claire Richards the opportunity to launch her solo career. Her album, My Wildest Dreams, is scheduled for release on November 2. But lead single, appropriately titled On My Own, is available now. An official song video is yet to be released but a fan-made lyric video is posted at www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-DDOavxriA Claire says of her solo career: “The other members of Steps have been aware from the start of my plan to do a solo record in the gap between Steps albums. I don’t believe my album will take anything away from Steps. It’s an entity in itself. I don’t think any of us as individuals could ever be bigger than Steps as a whole.” On My Own is not the first single on which Claire has performed as a solo artist. She has previously made her own version of two Steps songs, One for Sorrow and Deeper Shade of Blue. These tracks were recorded in 2015 and can still be heard at (no www.) soundcloud.com/clairerichardsmusic Joe Bonamassa Blues-rock legend Joe Bonamassa will release Redemption, his 13th solo studio album, on September 21. Many critics who have already heard the record are suggesting the 12 songs on Redemption represent the best work of Joe’s near 30-year career. The album title-track was released as the lead single this past June. An accompanying video, filmed at the Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida, can be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDe-dI3c5d0 Rock and roll-style number King Bee Shakedown has just been issued as the second single. It is accompanied by another studio-filmed promo, this time at Blackbird Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. The video is posted at www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT8FwibMG4s brief

Tom Cruise is 4 years older than Salman Khan, but look at the stunts he performs, Oh Maa! Look at the warmth and humility he conveys in his persona. He lights up the room and the screen, depending on where you are watching him. And he doesn’t command attention. He gets it without asking for it. As I heard one of his co-stars from Mission Impossible comment, when you watch him at work you know why Tom earns the big bucks. Yes, watching him we know why he is ‘Tom Cruise’ a metaphor for masculine beauty and perfection all the way here in India where we often hear the taunt, ‘Kya samajhta hai apne-aap ko, Tom Cruise?” The best part of being Tom Cruise is he doesn’t behave like ‘Tom Cruise’. He is kind considerate and warm-hearted on the locations. All his co-stars genuinely love him. His time between shots is not spent bitching about co-stars or sharing lurid details about female actors (yes, a lot of Indian actors do that) but in healthy conversations about life and new skills. New skills, reminds me the chopper that Cruise flies through the treacherous mountains of New Zealand (standing in for Kashmir) in the Mission Impossible film. These are stunts that can easily take Tom’s life. Why does he do it? Why does he repeatedly take such grave risks with his life? Is it a death-wish?  I think it is more to do with learning on the job and acquiring new skills. Tom never ceases to be a humble inquisitive students looking for a challenge each time. When was the last time Salman Khan acquired a skill for a role? So okay, he learnt the dhobi-pachaad stunt for Sultan. He also gained a lot of weight for the part. This is as close to realism that Salman can bring himself. Tom Cruise spends months and years learning skills that would make him look absolutely convincing when doing the action on screen. Why go to all this trouble and even hazard a threat to his life when he could easily fake the stunts with a body-double?  Let me tell you the biggest of action heroes in Bollywood fake their big heart-in-the-mouth stunts. Salman doesn’t even try to do the action. He is forbidden from doing so due to his neurological condition. And yet he is the Tom Cruise of India. At 50-plus you can’t touch them even if you are an aspiring superstar with more energy than you can muster to get even with the enemies. They both are the sort of supreme superstars whose every word is biblical in context and every gesture is iconic. Yet there is a difference. Surrounded by family and hangers-on Salman has left no room for himself to grow, Tom, on the other hand is a loner. He has no family surrounding him in doting adoration. He has a daughter whom he seldom sees. He has only his superstardom for company. He nurtures it like a precious relationship, which, if you think about it, stardom is. He doesn’t try to be ‘Tom Cruise’. Because unlike Salman Khan, being Tom Cruise is not about self-congratulation , not about over-ruling the scriptwriter , directing the director and sneering at the media. Get it? – IANS

One man savagely attacks another, killing him on the spot then dousing the corpse with gasoline and setting it on fire. Opening a film with a scene like that would be business as usual for any number of directors, but Japan’s Hirokazu Kore-eda is not one of them. Kore-eda, who won this year’s Cannes Palme d’Or for his latest film, Shoplifters, is known as Japan’s nonpareil humanist filmmaker, not someone who usually has murder on his cinematic mind. But Kore-eda is also a director who goes where his interests take him, no matter how unexpected; his filmography includes dramas like 2009’s Air Doll, which has an inflatable toy as its centre of interest. And because the filmmaker is who he is it figures that Third Murder is not your standard John Grisham knockoff legal thriller but a meditation on the elusiveness of truth and its relation to guilt, innocence and justice as it is administered by the Japanese legal system. Is the murder of a Yokohama factory owner we have witnessed with our own eyes the murder that actually happened? How much can we believe what we think we’ve seen, or, for that matter, what people claim they saw? Yet because the sowing of disturbing confusion is Third Murder’s” aim, experiencing it can be as frustrating as it is fascinating, maybe even more so. Though the story is not business as usual for him, Kore-eda has used two of his previous actors in key roles, starting with Masaharu Fukuyama, who was the put-upon parent in the director’s exceptional Like Father, Like Son. Here Fukuyama plays high-powered defence attorney Shigemori, called in by a colleague to consult on the defence of Misumi (Koji Yakusho), the man who has confessed to the murder of the factory owner that’s the film’s starting point. An all-business type who reminds an associate that they are defending Misumi, not becoming his friend, Shigemori thinks of himself as a pragmatist who cares not about the truth but about what a winning strategy might be, a belief system defending Misumi is going to test. Giving the case an unusual wrinkle is a unexpected connection between defendant and lawyer that dates back 30 years. At that time Misumi was convicted of murdering two other men (hence the film’s title), but Shigemori’s father, who was the trial judge, sentenced him to 30 years in prison instead of death. In fact, Misumi was recently released from prison when the factory owner, who was his boss, was killed. Much about Misumi and his confession to murder and robbery seem straightforward, but the accused has the unnerving habit of frequently changing details of his confession, something which makes putting a defence together challenging. In fact it is a tribute to Yakusho’s performance that apparently straightforward Misumi comes off as an elusive, enigmatic character, difficult to pin down and harbouring eccentricities like a deep passion for peanut butter. Because of the vagaries of the Japanese legal system (one of Kore-eda’s themes) it goes harder on a murderer if robbery is just an afterthought and not the motive, so Shigemori works diligently to establish a grudge against the factory owner as the reason. In line with this, the attorney pays a pro-forma visit to the murder victim’s angry widow, and also pays attention to the dead man’s daughter Sakie, played by Suzu Hirose, outstanding in Kore-eda’s earlier Our Little Sister. A woman who walks with a pronounced limp, Sakie turns out to be as difficult to pin down as Misumi, telling different stories to different people about where that limp came from. Also figuring in the narrative are Shigemori’s own family, including a teenage daughter who is acting out, and his father the judge, who pays his son a visit and is given to making provocative comments like “psychiatry is not a science, it’s fiction” and “Some people are more beast than human.” Kore-eda is too polished a filmmaker for The Third Murder not to be of interest, but its focus is finally too fuzzy to compel the way the best of the director’s work does. With what happened on that fatal night and why increasingly difficult to know, we are forced to agree with the character who says “we’ll never know which is the truth,” but that is not the most satisfying place to be. – Los Angeles Times/TNS

As Pakistan entertainment industry celebrated Pakistan’s most cogitated golden statuettes, 6th HUM awards recently in Toronto, we saw some head-turner appearances on the red carpet. In terms of the style, this year’s big fashion story was a preference for the palest of hues. From sparkling metallics, to chick sleek and bolder colour choices, the red carpet was filled with plenty of encore worthy looks, a pinnacle of iconic style. Badly structured silhouettes, too blingy couture lines, awkward poses and dodgy hairdos are often part of the narrative, but with sprinkling A-list stylists, designers and makeup artists working strenuously behind the scenes, every attendee pulls out all the stops when it comes to their red carpet looks. Not only did our favourite stars push the envelope in their respective nominations but they also stepped it up with on the red carpet as well. From classic Anarkali glamour to bold neon, fluttery ruffles, crystals aplenty and vintage gathered strapless gown, there are plenty of looks that broke the mold for awards season style. The fashion desk curates the hottest red carpet looks that made the cut this year. Vaneeza Ahmed; Mawra Hocane and Hareem Farooq Mahira Khan: Anyone who has seen Mahira Khan at Cannes, or any other big-time red-carpet event can probably agree on the narrative: the woman knows how to make an entrance. She’s the red-carpet professional and HUM Awards was no exception. Sporting staggering nativity scene and minimalism taking over the centre stage, Mahira opted for a traditional full-length Elan ensemble with intricate details, zardozi work in white-on-white and silver colour palette sheer-bodice, complimenting printed border on the rich chiffon dupatta. The chiffon layer complimented the faded printed floral pattern in blush pink, exceptionally protruding Khadija Shah’s creation as the most buzzed-about ensembles and the favourite red carpet feminine appeal – remixing optic florals on florals. Very eastern and traditional shimmery finish! Fawad Khan Fawad made an appearance on the red carpet after quite long, but does he ever fail to look good! Republic by Omer Farooq has established itself as the go-to designer for everyday and formal wear and whenever Fawad is spotted sporting his creation, it’s always a tip-off that some exciting collection is under way. It’s always a teaser Republic throws off. Fawad’s sharp tailored suit that comes from Republic, brings international cuts and sharp edgy lapels to the fore, upstaging the mantra of menswear. Plain white pocket square, three trifling lapel pins and a slim black-tie caterwauled masculinity with appealing approach.  Hania Amir Embracing the acid tones, Hania Amir went for full sparkle of fabulosity and wit in neon strapless gown by Husain Rehar. It was fresh and bright yellow – radiating the fashion aesthetics of sleek and edgy cuts, as she draped a net organza french blue dupatta - a very hot combination. Slicked back hair and lack of bling, a perfect twist right on time. If you’re taking an inspiration and just not ready yet to dare with all-neon look, you can try a little mesh with texture and chromatic colours but for fashion get-goers Hania is a winner with this exotic look.  Vaneeza Ahmed This woman knows how to keep it sophisticated and make an elegant statement, Vaneeza opted for Faraz Manan’s ethereal pantsuit featuring his trademark intricate embellishments, delicate details and romantic lace in all-white palette. Vinnie alluded to, rather flaunted the flared pants. With tired notions of haute couture gowns, very shadi wears and blingy plethora of sequins going by the wayside, no bling is a phenomenon we expect to stick around for a while. Mawra Hocane  Proving there’s no better accessory than luminous skin and peach nude lipstick and blush-on, Mawra Hocane made an appearance with a glowing complexion that even outshined her dull peach couture dress with plunging décolletage. If you couldn’t already tell from the sexy silhouette, the ruffled gown trailed, is by Manish Malhotra. Mawra rocked every inch of the look with loose natural curls and no accessory mantra. The dress, which featured an off shoulder draped back, was a fitting look for the actress as she adorned a thousand-watt smile.  Hareem Farooq Hareem Farooq opted for simple contrasts, the monochrome by Zaheer Abbas. Black full-length skirt with white blouse was the most effective chic look, mirrored in clean cut lines and sharp silhouettes, sleeves giving a hint of individuality with a deep shadow of Victorian Era sleeves. The perfect pattern play, couture detailing and design by Zaheer Abbas played its part in this style timeline. Curling hair on one side, minimalism with accessories and dark maroon lip shade – all Hollywood perfect! 

It is sometimes said of sports teams that the sum of the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. The same is true for American country music duo Dan and Shay. Things were not happening individually for Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney. Dan was trying to establish himself as a songwriter while playing in a band called Bonaventure. Shay was also attempting to write songs while pursuing a largely unsuccessful solo career. As Dan remarked, the two men “couldn’t get a publishing deal to save our lives.” Everything was changed by a chance encounter. “We met at a party,” Dan stated. “We were both fairly new in Nashville. I’d come from Pennsylvania and Shay was from Arkansas. We’d both come to Nashville hoping to make it in the country music business. “We didn’t know each other but we did have a mutual friend who brought Shay to the party and introduced us. It was one of those times when two people have an instant rapport. We started singing together, singing harmonies and cover songs. The other people at the party were obviously enjoying us and we kept going way into the early hours. “Everything had gone so well that we said we should write together. Not in a few days though but that very day. A friend found us an open writing room and we wrote two songs together before we’d even known each other for 24 hours.” The songwriting magic which had eluded them as individuals sparked into life when Dan and Shay joined forces. Their first song was put on hold by country stars Rascal Flatts. “That was a dream for us,” Shay recalled. “Rascal Flatts were, and still are, one of our favourite bands. It was unbelievable that they should want our song. We kept writing together every day and then played gigs in small venues showcasing our songs. “We’d been struggling to pay the rent and getting nowhere. Then everything clicked into place. We suddenly found folks listening to our songs and publishing deals on the table.” Publishing deals were soon followed by recording contracts. But despite writing and performing their songs together, Dan and Shay had not thought of themselves as a duo. “It was crazy,” Dan laughed. “We didn’t know we were a duo. Nobody told us we should be a duo. But we were writing the songs together and performing them together. We realised we didn’t really need to recruit other musicians and become a band. We thought we should just go for it as a duo.” The boys found immediate chart success. Their 2013 debut single, 19 You and Me, hit number seven on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. It was the first track taken from Dan and Shay’s 2014 debut album, Where It All Began. The LP stormed straight to pole position on the Top Country Albums chart and reached number six on the Billboard 200. “We knew we had a following,” Shay reflected. “We’d played a lot of gigs, done some television, played at the Grand Ole Opry and opened for Hunter Hayes on his We’re Not Invisible tour. But we never expected to have a number one with our first album. To say we were super excited is a massive understatement.” Two more albums have brought Dan and Shay further success. 2016’s Obsessed stalled at number two in America but topped the UK Country Music chart. It also gave them another top ten entry on the Billboard 200 peaking at number eight. Their recently released self-titled third LP is another smash hit returning the duo to number one on the Top Country Albums chart and number six on the Billboard 200. Their success has been maintained despite some changes in Dan and Shay’s musical style. “I think we’ve actually become better songwriters,” Dan suggested. “Having chart success makes you want to keep raising the bar in terms of the quality of your songs. Our first record was a bunch of songs which were basically laptop demos. The second record was more experimenting, finding out who we were. Now we know, we’ve figured it out. We know where we want to go with our music.” The duo are prolific writers and frequently collaborate with other songwriters. They will pen perhaps 60 or 70 songs for each album before gradually paring them down to the final track-listing. “We have occasional disagreements along the way,” Shay acknowledged. “But everything is unanimous by the end of the process. It’s not just us who have a say. A few folks from our management and label give their opinions but it’s our wives who are probably the best choosers of the right songs.” While Dan and Shay enjoy working with other songwriters, they have never previously had a guest artist appear on any of their albums. This changed when Kelly Clarkson provided additional vocals on the track, Keeping Score. “The song is about appreciating what you have rather than constantly measuring yourself against everybody else,” Shay explained. “It felt special when we recorded it but we agreed the song would sound better as a duet.” “I think Shay is the best singer I’ve ever heard,” Dan added. “I knew we needed a duet partner who could match his vocal ability and there were very few who came to mind. But when we thought of powerful female vocalists, we reckoned Kelly Clarkson was outstanding. We sent her the song and got a positive response in no time. We think the finished product sounds great.” in brief Ward Thomas Twin sisters Catherine and Lizzy Ward Thomas have not only become stars on the British country music scene but hit number one on the UK mainstream Albums chart in 2016 with their second LP, Cartwheels. It’s a different story on the singles chart. Despite their undoubted popularity, Ward Thomas have never had a UK hit single. Perhaps this might change with the release of their latest single, Lie Like Me. The first track taken from their upcoming third album, Restless Minds, it just could be that Ward Thomas fans will buy the single because the new album will not be available until October 5. Lie Like Me deals with the issues involved in being on social media. The need to appear perfect and be well-liked online despite offline life often being rather different. The accompanying official video can be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bq385GUyds. A video detailing the creation of Lie Like Me is posted at www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuL2-4c6oKI  An acoustic version of the song is at www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvRxF-aFix0 Lany Singer Dua Lipa has not been averse to writing songs about her past relationships. But the boot is on the other foot now as her broken romance with Lany singer and songwriter Paul Klein is laid bare on the American indie-pop trio’s forthcoming sophomore album, Malibu Nights. Paul described writing the songs on Malibu Nights as a “cathartic experience.” It was his way of dealing with the heartbreak he suffered from Dua ending their relationship. The raw emotion expressed in lead single, Thru These Tears, perfectly captures the torment of a man desperately struggling to cope with losing the love of his life while trying to convince himself he will feel better in the fullness of time. Paul insists the track is “devastating but also really hopeful and optimistic.” There is no official song video as yet but see what you think by checking out the lyric video for Thru These Tears at www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkWTuvdFbJI Galen Weston Band A digital download of the Galen Weston Band’s latest album, The Space Between, is being offered to fans for free. All 14 tracks can be heard in full at the Canadian jazz-rock outfit’s official website. Visit www.galenweston.org/store/the-space-between-digital/ where you will see a photo of the album cover and a name your price box. Type 0 in this to download the album free of charge. Before doing so, scroll down the webpage to find a link to the album. Click on this to hear The Space Between in its entirety. If you enjoy what you hear, Galen Weston’s 2015 debut album, Plugged In, can also be downloaded for free. The free download page is www.galenweston.org/store/plugged-in-digital/ However, the album cannot be heard here. Instead, the 12 tracks are posted at www.galenweston.org/music-media/ The respective webpages also feature information about Galen and both albums. Bellini It was 2009 when Italian/American indie-punk-rockers Bellini released their third album. Although work on new songs began as long ago as 2012, only now has The Precious Prize of Gravity finally been followed up by their fourth LP, Before The Day Has Gone. Both albums, along with their second LP, 2005’s Small Stones, can be found at (no www) bellini.bandcamp.com/ Click on the cover artwork to access each album and then scroll down the resulting webpages to find the tracklistings. Click on the arrow against each title to hear the songs. Bellini’s 2002 debut album, Snowing Sun, is not on their bandcamp page. However, it can be heard in full on the Spotify or Deezer streaming websites.

The African music industry is one that has always stood the test time. Sounds emerging from the continent that has a billion people living in more than 50 countries, is the ancestral home to American genres like Jazz and the Blues. From Jazz which was used as the music of resistance, to Kwaito which spoke for the township youth and now the millennials who are revamping the African music notes by infusing sounds from the past with futuristic sounds of today’s time. Africa’s reputation as a musical powerhouse has become so strong over a period of time that musicians worldwide are turning to Africa for an abstract inspiration of musical instruments used and the sound notes employed. A diverse gathering of expatriates, overwhelmingly from African countries, recently enjoyed African music at Mövenpick Hotel Doha. The music lovers enjoyed the tunes and electronic beats of African music played by an adept DJ. The music lovers gathered at Jazz Up, sports lounge of the hotel, to attend the evening, dedicated to the up-beat African music.        DJ Dawit Bekele kept spinning some of his best tunes, from reggae, hip hop, dance hall, to R&B and urban. Talking to Community, the DJ said, “I am an independent DJ. I love my job. It is beautiful to play music and to see the crowd having fun. I mostly play African songs. I am from Ethiopia so I also play songs from my country creating a mesh of African music and US soundtracks.” “I have been playing music as DJ for a long time now. I usually play music from East African countries like, Somalia, Eritrea, Sudan, Djibouti, and Kenya. People from different backgrounds come to listen to African music. Some Arabs also come. They like and enjoy it very much. Some of the music is in English. I play songs of well-known African and American singers,” He added, “I am a mechanical engineer. However, I love music and I also plan on doing a singing debut myself soon.” Solomon Abera, organiser of the music event, said, “I invite famous singers from Ethiopia, other African countries and from America. I have been organising African music events in major hotels and gatherings in Qatar.” “I continue to see people really enjoying the African music at the events. I see people enjoying the music especially on weekends after their work, unwinding to some up-beat tunes. The music high in-demand here in Doha because the city has heterogeneous population. I have also invited African-American singers from US.” Kaval Siddhu, Communication Manager at the hotel, said, “Actually, our Jazz Up lounge has been here for a long time. We were thinking to bring something unique and new for people. We ran Bollywood Nights at the lounge for a month that ended just before the Ramadan.” She added, “We are in the process of starting some new initiatives for our Jazz Up lounge. I have not seen much advertisement for African music. So, we thought why not to give an African touch for the music lovers here. I personally like Zumba music. We received wonderful response from the people who attended the Thursday launch. We look forward to welcoming people for this wonderful and entertaining initiative.” Community also spoke to some of the people who attended and enjoyed the music. Abdul Jalil Sultan, an Ethiopian expatriate, said, “I loved being here. I enjoyed the different kinds of music played by the young DJ. I love listening traditional Ethiopian music and would definitely try and come to the African night again.” Mohammad Abdul Rahman, another listener, said, “I really enjoyed the ambience and the dexterity of the DJ. I enjoyed my time listening to the African music. It is a rarity in Doha. People do not get many chances to listen to African music in public. There are a good number of expatriates from African countries. I would like the organisers to improve on the initiative; they need to bring in more variety. A mix of African and American music will do well for those who really want to enjoy jazz and other music genres.” Sharing her experience of the music, Anna from South Africa said, “It was amazing. It was a wonderful experience. I will definitely like to listen to more of such music. It was a refreshing experience. I also want to see more such gatherings of African people in Doha.”

From producing Indian cinema’s first ever film on organ donation to giving an insight into the iconic nuclear test of Pokhran, supermodel-turned-actor-producer John Abraham has proved he is a perfect mix of brains and brawn. He says he wishes to bring about a change in Indian cinema. His last release Parmanu - The Story of Pokhran had a successful run, and he is now gearing up for the Independence Day release of SatyamevaJayate. “We just had five days of promotion of Parmanu... and I am really glad how the film sustained in the theatre for so long, and not only earned money, but respect too. I think the best promotion for a film is the film itself. As an actor-producer, I really want to change our Indian cinema so that people gain that faith to invest time and money on a Friday to go to the theatre to watch a film produced by (my banner) JA Entertainment,” John said in an interview here. After SatyamevaJayate, John has two important projects lined up – Batla House and Romeo Akbar Walter (RAW). He says both the movies will give him the opportunity to prove his potential as actor and producer. “I know for a fact that Batla House is a movie that has a superb story and shows today’s India exactly the way it is. People can either like the film or throw it on my face, but the fact is I am making a statement with that film. As a producer, I know what do I really want to do and associate myself with,” he said. From his 2003 debut film Jism, a thriller, to some successful films like Dhoom, Water, Taxi No. 9211, Kabul Express and Dostana among others, John was most appreciated for his well-built body and strong screen presence. Was that the reason why he wanted to shift the focus of the audience to his intellect by producing some meaningful cinema? “Yes, you can say that. Every time people call me to say how amazing I was looking in the film. As an individual, I am very shy to take the compliment and as an actor, I was not getting films that I wanted myself to be associated with. That was the initial reason why I started working towards becoming a producer,” said the actor, who holds a degree in business management. Asked if having good education helped him to become a better film producer, John said: “If creative people can manage their business well, they would be successful. That is how I manage creative content and commerce. “As a creative person, I go by instinct but then my business knowledge helps me to execute the creative idea in a commercially viable way,” added John, who had taken to film production with National Award-winning film Vicky Donor. – IANS Doing TV show is like having  a relationship: Sourabh Actor Sourabh Raaj Jain says doing a TV show is like having a relationship with someone. His show Mahakali - Anth Hi Aarambh Hai is coming to an end. “Doing a TV show is like having a relationship. Once it’s over for whatever reason, it affects you. A part of you is gone forever. One can even have a rebound and that is scary,” Sourabh said in a statement. “It is good to take some time off, let go of the past attachments, feelings and then move on.” He said the challenge as an actor is to make a character “big, real and loved”. “Once the journey of the show ends, one must then break the mould and once again transform into a completely new character. We actors are ‘transformers’. We must keep reinventing ourselves, shaping ourselves and moulding ourselves according to the need of the hour,” said the actor, known for featuring in mythological shows. He feels an actor has to be a complete package. “So there’s always so much to work on – acting, anchoring, dancing, fitness, action, etc,” he said. “They say mythological shows are challenging, I have done a few. So now I’m looking for a greater challenge to break the earlier mould and to surprise my audience with a new transformation,” said the Devon Ke Dev...Mahadev actor. On the kind of roles that would excite him, he said: “Action-packed thriller roles with the perfect angle of an intense love story.” – IANS Gunjan to host a talk  show in bathroom Actor Gunjan Utreja will host Bubble Baat, a digital talk show set in a bathroom. “We all develop special relationship with our bathrooms. A bathroom has always been the first place where an artiste starts to sing or act. It’s your real world away from lights, glamour and paparazzi,” the show’s creator Ritika Bajaj said in a statement. “This is the place where you are yourself sitting on the thinking pot. So what better place to have ‘unguarded, unabashed and unadulterated conversations’,” she added. The show will feature a mix of celebrity interviews, impromptu gags and musical performances. “I am excited to host a show for the web. Digital is the future and I am glad that I have teamed up with a phenomenal creative team – Indian Storyteller to create a very unique show,” said Gunjan, former host of The Voice. Episode one of the show will feature singer Benny Dayal. It will stream on Indian Storyteller’s YouTube channel on August 10. – IANS Ranvir Shorey joins dark comedy  Hasmukh along with Vir Das Actor Ranvir Shorey has joined the cast of Nikkhil Advani’s upcoming dark comedy Hasmukh. Sameer Nair-headed Applause Entertainment, the content studio from the Aditya Birla Group, is backing the project along with Advani’s Emmay Entertainment. It will also feature comedian-actor Vir Das. As part of Hasmukh, Ranvir will be playing a character by the name Jimmy, whose role is currently a mystery, read a statement. The series promises to be a “perfect mix of a dark thriller and a laughter riot”. They have begun filming the series.  Vir had expressed his excitement about the show on Twitter. “First day begins for Hasmukh. Thank you to the whole team for giving life, passion, and ‘killer’ creativity,” Vir wrote. A post on the official Twitter handle of Emmay Entertainment also read: “A day of new beginnings. For our 12th production, Hasmukh, we venture into the web format! Directed by our dearest Nikhil Gonsalves and starring the brilliant duo of Vir Das and Ranvir Shorey, we’re excited for this one.”  – IANS

Don’t ever question the power of a well-deployed Kate McKinnon. It’s been proven time and again that her specific brand of kooky comedy can elevate anything, from the fun and loopy Ghostbusters remake to the questionable bachelorette-party-gone-wrong dark comedy Rough Night. Wind her up, set her loose and watch her wring laughs out of any flimsy, high-concept premise, like the action-comedy The Spy Who Dumped Me, co-written and directed by Susanna Fogel. All you need to know is right there in the title, a play on the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, which was subsequently parodied with the 1999 Austin Powers sequel The Spy Who Shagged Me. The next logical step in this relationship? A breakup. When the dashing but mysterious Drew (Justin Theroux) dumps Audrey (Mila Kunis) via text, she’s heartbroken, and he’s too busy battling Lithuanian thugs to return her calls. Her best friend, Morgan (McKinnon), an oddball actress whom Drew once referred to as “a little much,” tries to cheer up Audrey with a birthday party and the attention of a Ukrainian man, but all too soon, the girls are ensnared in the remnants of Drew’s failed spy plot. Surfacing briefly, Drew instructs Audrey to deliver a trophy to a cafe in Vienna, and soon, the women are off, globetrotting across Europe as highly untrained yet surprisingly skillful rogue operatives. The spy story itself is the rote, standard-issue spy stuff: double-crossings, handsome MI6 agents, treacherous Eastern European assassins (Ivanna Sakhno), harried car chases and shootouts in picturesque cafes, as well as a distressing disregard for human life. But the heroes are just a pair of clueless gals. The film seems built in part around a gag in which a sniper is instructed to take out two dumb American women, but can’t distinguish who the targets are while scoping out a pairs of female tourists selfie-ing, grinding on ancient statues and puking into a river. It’s a lowest common denominator gag that ends up a cruel jab at the film’s intended audience. But what pleases in The Spy Who Dumped Me isn’t the twists and turns of the plot, it’s what McKinnon fills into the interstitial moments — strange asides about how her teeth are so freakishly strong her orthodontist published a paper, some incredibly bad and prolonged French-speaking jokes about how she went to theatre camp with Edward Snowden. It’s McKinnon’s general clownery — literally, her climactic moment involves a showdown on a trapeze — but it makes the lightweight material sing. Her character may be “a little much,” but that muchness is highly necessary across from Kunis’s Audrey, who is a winsome but empty cipher. The dynamic is reflected in their CIA/MI6 counterparts, the dashing but bland Sebastian (Sam Heughan) and the smack-talking Duffer (Hasan Minhaj), who’s obsessed with his alma mater, Harvard. It’s a silly joke that’s rendered increasingly hilarious with each detail and repetition, a lot like Morgan’s elaborate acting resume. It’s the humour housed in the connective tissue that fills up the otherwise insubstantial The Spy Who Dumped Me. Beloved character actors pop up — Jane Curtain, Paul Reiser, Fred Melamed — but are underused, and although Gillian Anderson cuts a striking figure as an MI6 chief (“M” prequel, anyone?), her screen time is unfortunately scanty. So thank goodness for McKinnon, who launches this middling material to greater heights through her own sheer will. Now that’s a superpower. – TNS

After a turbulent year in Pakistan entertainment industry, release of one film after another, drama serials scoring high and actors going beyond borders for recognition, all eyes were on the main event: the 6th HUM Awards. Time to find out whether crowd favourites left empty-handed or the underdogs swept the show with the winners. As the industry celebrated one of Pakistan’s most cogitated golden statuettes of Pakistan, held in Toronto recently, came with the fair share of snubs and surprises. Well, there’s nothing new about it, you can always expect surprises at this event but knowing where to expect them is tricky. This year they came early, offering some hair-raising spectacles and the others, well, leaving a sour note. From the new sensation on the block who this year has started to make waves in the industry and already stipulated to make a silver screen debut, to the Excellence in Cinema Award for a woman who took over Lollywood with storm during her time; there are lots of surprises and predicted winners with lots of familiar faces in what is arguably, the most definitive selection of entertainment industry.  As expected, political zingers from host Yasir Hussain and Sanam Jung charmed the audiences at their gig. Yasir’s desi comedy did get a reality check and of course in a good way after his abominable and slipping comments last year, that forced the public and media backlash. Similar script and tiredness in content as Yasir gets synonymous with comic acts, but that doesn’t really matter till he’s successful enough in bringing humour to a five hours long show. Isn’t it? Power packed performances, including the young lot of the entertainment industry taking over the stage to Mahira Khan’s performance, it was nice to see all coming together. Not only did our favourite stars push the envelope in their respective nominated categories, but they also stepped it up on the red carpet as well. Although actress Mahira Khan is a really good dancer, and has always proved her raw talent worldwide, but the dress she sported for her performance wasn’t just ‘it’. The deep blue silhouette paired with Kajra and tied up hair, couldn’t really do justice to the current cine queen, who set the stage alight. One could always censure why Lollywood must dance to Bollywood tunes. There is no denying the latter’s influence in the Pakistani pop culture and more so in the entertainment arena but, since Pakistani movies are rolling in with real substance lately, the awards this season was an effort to promote Pakistani content. Even Raees’s Zaalima was re-done as a cover track for Mahira’s performance! Where last year’s award belonged to Sania Saeed’s starrer Sang-e-Mar Mar, this time it was the turn of Alif Allah Aur Insaan and Yaqeen Ka Safar to win big. Where the former won six out of 18 total in television category, the most of the ceremony, including Best Actor in Supporting Role – Male/Female, Best Actor in a Negative Role, Best Writer Drama Serial, Best Director Drama Serial – Jury, Most Impactful Character in Serial and Best Drama Serial – Jury, Yaqeen Ka Safar bagged five on a night of recognition. Where actor Humayun Saeed is considered a regular when it comes to performing, actresses Hareem Farooq, Kubra Khan and Hania Amir were an absolute surprise, and definitely in a good way. It was a fantastic night of racy performers where, Ahad Raza Mir, Hamza Ali Abbasi and Mikaal Zulfiqar, for instance, put in the most rousing act of a resplendent evening.  The Best Female and Male Actor — Popular category had a mix of actors who have perfected their own style. But Mahira Khan and Humayun Saeed continue to get bigger and better every year and their claim to the trophy of Recognition Awards in Film was indisputable. Where Reema took the award for Excellence in Cinema, the night belonged to Sajal Aly however, winning Best Actor(Female) Drama Serial — Jury and Popular. As for Best Actor (Popular), who else could have won but the new fine addition to Pakistan entertainment fraternity: Ahad Raza Mir.

Juice Wrld’s music is difficult to categorise. The young man born as Jared Higgins confuses critics with his brand of rap and singing which has been described as “emo-leaning” and “genre-bending.” But there is no confusion about the success of his songs. Juice’s track, Lucid Dreams, reached number three on Billboard’s Hot 100 and has become a massive international hit. His debut album, Goodbye & Good Riddance, is only marginally less successful having so far peaked at number six on the Billboard 200. Still just 19 years old, Juice’s musical background was not in rap. “My parents divorced when I was three and I was raised by my mother. She is a very religious person who loves gospel music. She stopped me listening to rap. I’d hear some rap thanks to my cousins but not much. I was primarily into pop and rock which my mother considered as more acceptable.” His musical ability manifested itself at an early age. “I started out learning piano. But I also wanted to try other instruments so I moved on firstly to guitar and then to drums.” Despite the influence of his mother, the call of rap was too strong for Juice to resist. He began freestyling and writing material during his freshman year in high school. “My friends said I was good and could become a real rapper so I started taking things really seriously when I was about 16 in my sophomore year at high school. I put my first track on SoundCloud in 2015. It was called Forever and I credited myself as JuicetheKidd. “I wasn’t sure about the name. I used to have a Juice haircut, like Tupac Shakur in the movie, Juice. I knew I wanted Juice in my name but not just Juice. I’m not even sure where Wrld came from. I remember thinking dropping the o from World would make my name more noticeable.” Juice’s biggest musical inspiration was fellow Chicago rapper Chief Keef. “He was, and still is, my favourite rapper. But I was also listening to all the up and coming Chicago artistes. I moved to California last year but Chicago is in my blood. I was born there and lived all my life in the Chicago suburbs so I’m always going to regard Chicago as my town.” Juice’s varied musical upbringing still influences his work. “I’m not someone who only listens to one type of music. My work is inspired by other genres, not just rap. I feel like I’m an artiste who can tap into a lot of different sounds.” Last year saw Juice hook up with Nick Mira. Originally from Richmond, Virginia, Nick co-owns Internet Money Records and has produced tracks for numerous artistes such as Trippie Redd, Retro Spectro and the late XXXTentacion.  Nick and Juice worked together on a pair of EPs, Nothing’s Different and 9 9 9. The latter featured Lucid Dreams. But as much as Juice was increasing his fan following, there was one important person who did not approve of his work. “My mother can’t get into my music. She really flipped when she heard 9 9 9. She actually thought it was demonic but I think it’s the exact opposite of that. “I started out writing songs just to create material. They didn’t really mean anything. But I began writing about real-life experiences. I was going through some hard times so I figured why not make songs from my experiences. “That’s how Lucid Dreams was written. Nick sampled music from Sting’s track, Shape of My Heart. It sounded great so I knew I had to come up with a special lyric. The song is bittersweet about high school heartbreak and the pain I suffered because of the feelings I had for the girl.” “With Lucid Dreams and other EP tracks attracting thousands of SoundCloud hits, it made obvious sense for the songs to be included on Goodbye & Good Riddance. “The major labels came calling when my songs began blowing up online. I wanted to put my best work on the album. Every track has meaning. I’m trying to make music which might help people get through their situations by telling them about some of my own. It’s all genuine, I think people really appreciate that.” in brief David Baddiel/Frank Skinner/The Lightning Seeds Three Lions has established yet another UK singles chart record. Last week saw David Baddiel, Frank Skinner and Lightning Seeds star Ian Broudie top the chart for the fourth time with their England football anthem. Although other songs had previously taken pole position on four separate occasions, Three Lions was the first to do so with the same artiste line-up. This was a record of which David, Frank and Ian could certainly be proud. Their new record is quite the opposite. With England losing in the semi-final and the World Cup over, there was no continuing momentum for the song. So it was that Three Lions now holds the unenviable record of the biggest fall from number one in UK chart history by plummeting to number 97. Only four other chart-toppers have even fallen out of the following week top ten. The worst of these was previous record holder the Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Choir who hit number one with A Bridge Over You on the 2015 Christmas week chart. The song then subsided to number 29. This is nothing compared to the descent of Three Lions. The 96-place drop is so spectacular that it has set a mark which is unlikely to ever be broken. David Bowie A wide range of his material has been released since the death of David Bowie in January, 2016. But Bowie fans will soon have the opportunity to bid for a unique piece of David’s musical history. Back in 1963, the 16-year-old David Jones played saxophone in a band called The Konrads. In the hope of impressing bosses at Decca Records, they recorded a demo tape featuring two guitar instrumentals and an original song, I Never Dreamed. Although singing duties were shared among the band members, it was decided that David was the best person to give the right interpretation of the song. So it is that this recording is the first to feature David performing lead vocals. The Konrads were rejected by Decca and the tape returned to drummer David Hadfield. Bowie left the band a few months later to join The King Bees and the demo recording was forgotten. It was recently rediscovered in an old bread basket when David Hadfield was clearing out the loft in his house. The tape will now be offered for sale in September at Omega Auctions in Newton-Le-Willows, Merseyside. It forms part of a sale which also includes a host of other memorabilia from Bowie’s early career. Interested parties should keep an eye on the Omega Auctions website to determine when the full auction catalogue will be available. Cher It was 2013 when singer and actress Cher issued her 25th solo album, Closer To The Truth. But her role in the newly released film musical, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, has inspired the 72-year-old superstar to record a new album containing nothing but covers of ABBA songs. Cher performs ABBA’s classic track, Fernando, in the film. Actor Andy Garcia, who plays hotel manager Fernando Cienfuegos, also provides additional vocals. An audio posting of the song can be heard at www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQd5wfy-gCc “After doing Fernando, I thought it would be fun to make an entire album of ABBA songs,” Cher remarked. “The film songs obviously had to be true to the original ABBA recordings but I was free to put my own interpretation on the songs for my album.” No official release date has been announced but Cher’s ABBA album will probably be available in September. The Kingdom Choir Any Royal Wedding watchers who enjoyed The Kingdom Choir’s performance at the union of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be pleased to hear they have signed a record deal with Sony Music. The Kingdom Choir’s rendition of Ben E. King’s classic song, Stand By Me, was lavishly praised as one of the Royal Wedding musical highlights. Digital downloads from the wedding soundtrack even propelled the song into the UK singles chart. It will feature on The Kingdom Choir’s debut album, likely to be titled Stand By Me, which is scheduled for release on November 2. Led by conductor Karen Gibson, Britain’s Godmother of Gospel expressed her delight at the recording contract. “The honour of being invited to sing at the Royal Wedding and then the thrill of being signed to Sony. I can’t say it’s all a dream come true because it’s an undreamt dream, one that you wouldn’t even consider because you never thought it could happen. We’re very grateful and very excited about what is to come.” The Kingdom Choir’s Royal Wedding performance can be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyFlLjdNqk8 Ben E King’s original 1961 recording is posted at www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwZNL7QVJjE

Bollywood actor Prateik Babbar, who is playing the character of a terrorist in the upcoming multi-starrer film Mulk, says youngsters tend to get brainwashed and misguided easily and as he is growing mature, he is becoming wiser and a better creative person by heart. Asked if he has taken some reference from his own life to play the character of Shahid, a young Muslim boy, Prateik said: “I went through an internal process to build the character in my head before performing it and yes, I took some reference from my own life. “The character Shahid is a misguided youth, like I was, for the different reason. The fact is, when you are young, if you are mingling with wrong people, you tend to be misguided. You tend to be brainwashed easily.” The actor who went through a solid preparation to get the insight of the world of budding terrorists and how they get trained, also added: “It is unfortunate that they do not understand that they are committing a crime by killing people.  Mulk features some iconic actors like Rishi Kapoor, Ashutosh Rana, Neena Gupta, Manoj Pawa, Kumud Mishra among others, and according to Prateik, it was quite intimidating to perform with a star cast like that. “It was so intimidating and nerve-racking! I mean they are working for years, their performance level is so high that I was on my toes all the time just to do, at least my level of best performance. Otherwise, I would look so out of place used to irritate Anubhav sir for his feedback,” said the son of the iconic actress Smita Patil. Starting his career with the film Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na, Prateik received a lot of appreciation for his acting skill at the beginning of his journey. However, he went through a rehab treatment as he was battling substance abuse. In 2015 he made his feature film comeback with Umrika that received positive response in Sundance Film Festival. Asked about if he identifies with the Prateik he was at the beginning of his career, he said: “Well, I have transformed, but I sure can identify with that young lad. I think I have grown as a better actor, I have learnt more about people and professionalism. I have learnt to respect others opinion more.” Mulk is releasing on August 3. – IANS When Rishi felt uncomfortable  on set of Mulk Director Anubhav Sinha says there was a time when veteran actor Rishi Kapoor felt “very uncomfortable” while shooting for their forthcoming film Mulk. “Rishi Kapoor did a commendable job with getting used to the six camera set-up which he has never experimented with previously. It took him a day to get used to it since he is used to focusing on a single camera set-up on most of his films,” Sinha said in a statement. “I wanted a candid feel for the courtroom scenes hence, I decided we will shoot with six cameras and shoot long takes. This did make Rishiji very uncomfortable as he is used to performing for a single camera or two. But this discomfort dramatically disappeared within a day and then he was volleying to all the six effortlessly like he had never shot with a single camera before,” he added. Presented by Kamal Mukut and Soham Rockstar Entertainment, a Benaras Media Works production, the courtroom drama is produced by Deepak Mukut and Sinha, who has also directed it. – IANS Bharat director to announce  leading lady soon Filmmaker Ali Abbas Zafar announced he will announce the leading lady for his upcoming directorial Bharat soon. “Yes yes yes... We will announce the leading lady of Bharat soon. We have been shooting non-stop and simultaneously preparing for international schedules,” Zafar tweeted recently. The filmmaker announced that actress Priyanka Chopra has opted out of the Salman Khan starrer for a “very special” reason. The first schedule included shooting for a grand circus sequence. The director previously worked with the Dabangg star in blockbusters like Sultan and Tiger Zinda Hai. The film is an official adaptation of a 2014 South Korean film Ode To My Father. It is produced by Atul Agnihotri’s Reel Life Production Pvt Ltd and Bhushan Kumar’s T-Series. Bharat, which will be shot across locations in Abu Dhabi and Spain, besides Punjab and Delhi, is slated for an Eid release in 2019. – IANS Would like to make biopic on Hima Das, says Akshay Actor-producer Akshay Kumar, who is busy promoting his forthcoming sports-drama film Gold, says he would like to make biopic on life of Indian sprinter Hima Das who became the first Indian athlete to win a gold in a track event at just 18 year of age. Interacting with media at an event organised by Edelweiss group recently to support and wish India contingent for Asian Games 2018, Akshay, asked on which Indian sports personality he would like to make a biopic as a producer, said: “I would like to make biopic on Hima Das because she is a track runner. “I think it was very rare feat to achieve because somebody who comes from interiors of India and wins gold medal in track (running) event was really incredible.” “India has been little bit weak when it comes to perform in track events and I feel we should encourage and support that form of sports to show the world that we have great talent when it comes to running as we daily run so fast to catch a bus or a train... so, I would love to make biopic on her life,” he added. Akshay, to a query whether he feels that films can generate importance of sports in the minds of the audience and help India to become a better sports nation, said: “I really liked story of Gold which is due for its release. I thought that this story needs to be told. “It is very interesting and real story. There are some glorious achievements achieved by our people, by our country but it’s not in public domain. “Before doing this film, I didn’t know that we won our first Olympic gold medal in 1948. Most of us don’t know when, how, where and in which circumstances we were able to win that gold medal by defeating, on their own turf, England who ruled us for 200 years... so, this kind of things cinema can represent all this in very nice way. “If we make a documentary on this incident then one might watch it instead of that if we incorporate 4-5 songs, 1-2 fight sequence, hero and heroine in it then, it looks entertaining.” A historical sports drama inspired by India’s first Olympic gold medal, Gold traces the “golden era” of Indian hockey through the journey of Tapan Das, a young assistant manager in 1936, who dreams of playing for an independent nation. The film features Akshay Kumar, Amit Sadh, Kunal Kapoor, Sunny Kaushal, Vineet Kumar Singh and Mouni Roy in lead roles. Directed by Reema Kagti and produced by Excel Entertainment, it releases on August 15. – IANS

Cecil Beaton laboured for much of his life under the terror that he might be considered ordinary. Yet ordinary was the last word anyone would think to apply. Gifted and successful as a photographer, writer and artist as well as a set and costume designer, Beaton, if anything, as he himself put it, “wandered in the labyrinth of choice.” Asked by an interviewer, “Which is your main profession?” at the start of Lisa Immordino Vreeland’s empathetic, involving Love, Cecil,” the subject responds with practiced affability. “I wish I knew,” he says. “That’s been my problem for a very long time.” There was a point in time when Beaton, who published 38 books, won four Tonys and three Oscars and was knighted into the bargain, was a ubiquitous presence on the English language cultural scene. But 38 years after his death, Beaton’s name is not so much on everyone’s lips, and one of the pleasures of this film is to revisit his gifts beyond his best known work, the Oscar-winning production design and costumes for My Fair Lady. Vreeland’s previous documentaries also dealt with artistic figures, including Peggy Guggenheim and Diana Vreeland, her husband’s grandmother, so she is well positioned to take Beaton on. And her subject certainly helped his cause by writing 150 volumes of candid, perceptive diaries, excerpts from which are superbly read by Rupert Everett. The son of unapologetically middle class parents — his father was a timber merchant — Beaton always yearned for the stature and status of upper class life. Theatre-struck as a boy as well as intensely ambitious, Beaton was determined to be a star performer on a stage of his own creation. A self-described “rabid aesthete,” Beaton taught himself photography, using his sisters as models, because that was an art, unlike theatre or film, “I could do without being invited.” The tireless, hell-bent quest for beauty became what Beaton’s life was all about. As he himself put it with certain weariness, “I exposed thousands of rolls of film and wrote hundreds of thousands of words, all in a futile attempt to preserve the fleeting moment.” But that idealistic quest didn’t mean Beaton couldn’t be waspish about other people, or, for that matter, they about him. Jean Cocteau famously called Beaton “Malice in Wonderland” and both Truman Capote and George Cukor, who directed that 1964 My Fair Lady, are featured in vintage footage making dismissive comments. As for Beaton himself, he was hostile toward Noel Coward and Evelyn Waugh, since childhood, despised Elizabeth Taylor for her vulgarity and said of her husband Richard Burton that he was “as butch and coarse as only a Welshman could be.” In the face of all this vitriol, it is a tribute to Beaton’s gifts, and Vreeland’s persuasiveness as a documentarian, that we end up caring about and appreciating her subject. Beaton first came to public notice as a photographer of the artistically daring British socialites between the wars known collectively as “the Bright Young Things.” Beaton took himself to New York, where his photographs and his illustrations caught on at Vogue, and then went to Hollywood, where he made exceptional portraits of movie stars that captured, the film explains, the idea of the person photographed, not the person per se. Though his gifts were obvious, Beaton also had a penchant for sabotaging himself, and he blunted his upward trajectory by printing in Vogue, for reasons no one can adequately explain, illustrations with an anti-Semitic slur embedded in them. It took years, but two things brought Beaton back from ignominy. One was the hard and dangerous work he put into patriotic projects during World War II, and the other was the bond he formed with a big chunk of the British royal family, including Queen Elizabeth II and some two dozen of her relatives. Beaton managed to keep his currency as new kinds of culture came in, and Love, Cecil features new interviews with fellow British artists David Bailey and David Hockney about what interacting with him was like. Beaton famously had a connection with Greta Garbo that might have been romantic. For years, she resisted his desire to take her picture, but when she needed a passport photo, the actress relented. Beaton considered her the most beautiful woman he ever photographed, and coming from him that said a lot. – Los Angeles Times/TNS

Before he tried his luck on the silver screen, he appeared in a couple of drama serials, but it was the silver screen phenomena that set his stars in motion. Sheheryar Munawar Siddiqui has made a name for himself playing big-screen paragon of a chocolate hero as Arhan in Ho Mann Jahan (2016). He went on, of course, to grow as an actor and affix his stardom playing a non-straight character of Tipu in recently released 7 Din Mohabbat In.  Both his films starred him opposite Mahira Khan and the magic they bring together on-screen with uncanny chemistry between the two, speaks for itself as the film takes the box office run. Now Munawar is returning to type – and this time taking over the role of a producer as well with Paray Hut Love, hilarious, scathing and a romantic film. The film is scheduled to go on floors from September and release on Eid al-Adha 2019.  Only a few weeks ago, we heard the news of Mahira Khan being roped in for the upcoming venture, directed by Asim Raza, who is back at directing film after a two-year hiatus. However, it has now been confirmed that Maya Ali of Mann Mayal fame and recently rising to stardom with Teefa in Trouble will be replacing the Raees actor in Paray Hut Love.  Revealing details of his upcoming film, Sheheryar said, “Paray Hut Love is a romantic comedy drama.” Written by Imran Aslam, satirical and ultimately compassionate, the film is an unlikely romance between a young-free willed, commitment phobic man and a beautiful, strong headed woman.  Although we’ve seen Mahira and Sheheryar bringing together an impeccable chemistry on-screen, which also accredits to a strong bond of friendship they share, when asked for whether he and Maya would be able to display the same in Paray Hut Love he responded, “We wouldn’t be working together if we didn’t think we can work well together.”  Don’t lose your heart just now. It has been confirmed that although Mahira Khan is not the leading woman, we would still be catching up with her in the upcoming film. “Mahira is playing a very special part in the film,” Asim said in a statement.  When questioned on why Mahira was replaced, Asim said, “Mahira was facing major date issues but there’s no doubt that she has a very special place in my heart. No-one can ever replace her. As Sheheryar Munawar turns producer for the film, so too his responsibilities for the actor. It is quite strenuous to be on-screen and behind the camera at the same time, whilst making sure everything goes smoothly as planned and with attention-to-detail. But the idea of increased responsibility doesn’t seem to faze the young actor. “Of course, being a producer of a film is a huge responsibility but it also allows me to thoroughly enjoy the film making process,” Sheheryar said.  Apart from Maya and Sheheryar, the all-star cast includes Nadeem Baig, Hina Dilpazeer, Ahmed Ali Butt, Zara Noor Abbas among others. The indomitable trending of black Black always remains the indomitable trend, be it for the red carpet or any unorthodox appearance. Although swathes of colour and sequins remains the order of the day, but it’s black that eclipses any other silhouette or couture in line. Everything, from glamorous gowns, that speaks volumes, to powerful suits, the chic tailor pants and sleek body fitted jackets lends to the colour. Creativity is always a win on the red carpet, well mostly. You need to balance a look between sequins, plunging necklines, edgy colours, clean lines and sultry slits. If you’re on just one side of the spectrum, you’ve lost it. Though gowns are usually a go-to for the celebrities, but an effortless denim and jumpsuits can do wonders, too. Shimmer that lasts for days, fabulous feathers, floral appliques, protuberant flower patterns or a simple silhouette playing around the lines of tailored cuts. Deserving of applause or not, it all depends on how the celebrity trails through with everything on perfect. We note down the two women that recently went through a sea change of girl-next-door to a diva status, trailing all black with their recent appearances.   Maya Ali While riding high on popularity with Teefa in Trouble and bagging another role in Asim Raza’s next, Maya Ali went bold and sassy as she sparkled in silk silhouette by Nomi Ansari for the premiere night of her film. Tailored yet alluring full length gown, in deep-rooted black with jacquard flowers, was a mega slouchy appearance. Clean lines and a classy take on black with applique neckline, and intricate use of flowers to add a hint of personality by Ansari was for one simple reason – to make the woman look like a million dollars as she walks down the red carpet with awaiting paparazzi, keeping an eye on each twirl and the smile of confidence. With loose curls, it was a winner this season.  Sanam Baloch   After being the part of quotidian world of morning shows for about 5 years now, her appearance on a recent television show came as a surprise to us as she channelled a Sania Maskatiya knee length one-shoulder gown, way too effortlessly than imagined. Sanam has always made appearances in very eastern attires, but her recent fashion choices have hailed her as the young bright spark. Clean lines and a classy take on all things, especially the tailored neckline and perfectly structured silhouette in silk with intricate use of geometry and a symmetry of shape have made Maskatiya a talked about collection of sleek evening gowns which one can also carry in a bright sunny day. Sanam took it easy, minimalism taking over the centre stage, having fun with fashion as luxe get comfy, pairing with high black stilettos and rolling down her all puffy hair on one side of the shoulder, not drawing too much attention. Va Va Voom!

There was a time when Tom Grennan believed he was destined for a career in professional football. The Bedford-born singer/songwriter had spells with Luton Town, Northampton Town, Aston Villa and Stevenage. Yet the day on which Tom was told he just wasn’t good enough to play professionally also turned out to be the day when he discovered his true calling. “There was a party that night,” recalled 23-year-old Tom. “I’d had my football dreams shattered. There was a karaoke machine and I thought I’d get up and sing. “I didn’t remember much about it but when I went into school, my mates all said I was really good. In fact, my mates who were doing A-Level music asked if I’d like to help them out with a piece. Once I realised they were serious, I did the work with them and ended up loving it. Everything I have now stemmed from there.” His music friends started a band asking Tom to be their singer. When they decamped to university, Tom followed them. “I hadn’t thought about going to university. I was never particularly good academically. I was more interested in socialising and messing around at school rather than listening to the teachers. I look back now realising how foolish I was and wishing I’d been different. “I’d never been into music so I couldn’t join my mates in studying music. But I needed a course which was non-academic so I ended up studying acting. Not that I did much studying, particularly during my first year. I mostly hibernated in my room, learned guitar by watching tutorials on YouTube and wrote songs.” This was not a happy period in Tom’s life. He was mugged on the street by a gang of strangers and was so badly beaten that four metal plates were needed to hold together the multiple fractures of his jaw. “I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. My jaw still hurts during the cold weather. I was in a very dark place after the attack and felt sorry for myself. One day, I decided to write about what I was feeling. “It all came out in my song, Something in the Water, which was also the title-track on my first EP. I wrote about what I was going through and how I felt. It was therapy for me at that time. But when people got to hear the song, I found they really connected with it.” When Tom finally started solo performing, he spent most of his university years gigging and did so almost every night. “I’d go into clubs asking if I could do a gig. I was never paid much, usually about 20 GBP. But it was all good experience and I managed to build up a following of people who would bring their friends to see me so I was gradually becoming known.” It was after a gig in London that Tom found himself approached by an A&R man from Insanity Records. “I was told they would like to work with me and asked if I would be interested in signing with Insanity. Interested! I couldn’t sign my name on the contract fast enough. It really was a dream come true. “The people at my label have been brilliant. They put no pressure on me. They’ve done nothing but help. I have to give them so much credit for helping me to become the artiste I wanted to be.” Something in the Water was released in October, 2016. This was followed by two more EPs, Release The Brakes in March, 2017, and Found What I’ve Been Looking For last July. Tom also provided vocals for the Chase & Status single, All Goes Wrong, and duetted with grime artiste Bugzy Malone on Memory Lane. But all this is nothing compared to the success of his debut album, Lighting Matches. It has entered the UK chart at number five. “I’ve been doing a UK tour since March and then made a successful attempt this month to break the Guinness world record for number of gigs in different towns during a 12-hour period. I started at 6:45a.m. and did ten shows. I performed songs from the album, as well as some old favourites, during all of my gigs so I guess people were prepared for the album. “Even so, I couldn’t believe it would get into the top five. I felt really emotional and was lost for words. There are so many people to thank. I genuinely feel like I’m on a journey with everyone who has helped me, not to mention the fans who enjoy my music and have bought the album. I also feel like there is so much more to come and our journey together has only just begun.” in  brief David Baddiel/Frank Skinner/The Lightning Seeds England may not have won the World Cup but optimistic fans Cpropelled the Three Lions football song back to number one on the UK chart for a record-breaking fourth time. The track was originally recorded in 1996 by comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner along with Lightning Seeds singer, songwriter and musician Ian Broudie. It marked England hosting the European Championship, the first major tournament in England since the 1966 World Cup. This is how the lyric it’s coming home, football’s coming home was derived. Indeed, the official slogan for Euro ‘96 was “Football comes home” as the modern game of association football was invented in England during the 19th century. Three Lions topped the UK singles chart on May 26, 1996, and then returned to the summit on June 30. A slightly reworked version, to reference the Euro ‘96 penalty shoot-out heartbreak, topped the chart for three weeks in June, 1998, as England played in the World Cup. Further chart success accompanied England’s subsequent appearances in World Cups and European Championships. But Three Lions did not hit number one again until Gareth Southgate’s young squad unexpectedly reached the 2018 semi-final. Although four other songs have topped the UK chart on four separate occasions, Three Lions is the only one performed by the same artists. Frankie Laine’s I Believe had three spells at number one but the fourth was a cover by Robson and Jerome. Singing The Blues hit number one on all four occasions in 1957. Guy Mitchell enjoyed the honour three times but the fourth was a version by Tommy Steele. The Three Lions video can be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJqimlFcJsM Pussy Riot Football fans may have wondered about the identities of the pitch invaders who interrupted the France v Croatia World Cup final. It was not surprising to learn they were members of the Russian feminist protest punk rock group Pussy Riot. Veronika ‘Nika’ Nikulshina, Olga Kurachyova. Olga Pakhtusova and Pyotr Verzilov are currently serving a 15-day jail term for violating the rules for spectators at sporting events and wearing police uniforms illegally. Pussy Riot are known for their outspoken criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Their World Cup stunt was staged as a message to free political prisoners in Russia. The group originally gained international notoriety in 2012 when they performed inside a Moscow church. Their protest was against the Russian Orthodox Church leaders’ support for Vladimir Putin during his election campaign. They were eventually stopped by church security men and later convicted of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred for which they received two-year jail sentences. A number of the band’s songs can be found on their YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/channel/UCQYcCfKYfYMcuCsem8z5CyQ If you enjoy the songs, some of them do have accompanying videos. They can be located by typing Pussy Riot and the song title in the YouTube search box. CKY American rock trio CKY have just released Wiping Off The Dead as the latest single from their 2017 album, The Phoenix. The accompanying video is posted at www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLYIBlZaSc0The Phoenix is CKY’s first album since 2009’s Carver City. The intervening years have seen the band undergo a number of personnel changes. Bassist Matt Deis returned to CKY in 2015. He had left five years earlier and been replaced by Matt Janaitis. Original frontman Deron Miller quit in 2011. He was replaced by Daniel Davies, son of Kinks guitarist Dave Davies. But Daniel’s other commitments meant the time he could spend with CKY was limited. Although the band recorded several songs with Daniel as their singer, the material was eventually scrapped in favour of recording new songs with guitarist Chad I Ginsburg also performing vocals. There are accompanying videos for three other tracks from The Phoenix. Days of Self Destruction is at www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0Hc-9w2vqE Replaceable can be viewed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BJcJalxEdo while Head For A Breakdown is posted at www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzy65cBiJRU

Like all great love stories, Dhadak ends as a tragedy. Which is not to say that it is a great love story. Replicating, almost all the conventions of a love-at-first-sight-doom-at-a-later-stage yarn Dhadak makes all the right noises (includes a super-melodious title song) and is still unable to create a concordant musical symphony. A film about honour killing, it is aptly an honourable failure, giving us some of what is desirable, but largely leaving much to be desired. What goes wrong? Well, for one this Karan Johar production has resolved to do a Kuch Kuch Hota Hai on Sairat, the hardhitting Marathi film on which Dhadak is based. The remake extracts all the juice from the original and then squanders it in irrelevant plot conversions. The changes made in the original made no sense to me. The cricket match that opens Sairat turns into an eating competition in Dhadak so clumsily shot I wondered if director Shahank Khaitan had decided to turn Sairat into a comedy. Before I could exclaim, ‘Burp Re Burp’ after the eating contest big-time passion erupts between the rich politician Ashutosh Rana’s naughty daughter Parthavi (Janhvi Kapoor) and the affable boy next door Madhukar (Ishaan Khattar). Ishaan is all over the place wooing and wowing the girl with all the tricks up his sleeve. He is like a peacock in Udaipur trying to impress his partner during the mating season. And very effective at that Ishaan carries the film which is stricken by underwhelming performances. The heroine’s docile mother in Sairat left a mark in spite of her limited dialogues. Her counterpart in this film is stuck with her artificial anxieties and fake makeup. Janhvi Kapoor has a quiet charm about her but she has a long way to go. She is effective in the scenes after the elopement when she has to cope with ‘poverty’ and ‘hardships’. That is, Karan Johar’s concept of poverty which means the couple has to slum it out in Kolkata with a kindly Bengali couple serving as their guardian originals. This brings me to the cinematography. Vishnu Rao shoots Udaipur and Kolkata like entries on tourist brochure. A mediocre film like Lion captured the brutal dispassion of The City Of Joy. Dhadak changes characters as if they were in Sairat, it was a benevolent Auntyji from the slums who gave the on-the-run couple a room and respite. The rawness and immediacy of the original is completely lost in the remake as the protagonists seem to subscribe to the plot ideas from Sairat without being able to fit them into the environment provided in the remake. The finale which shocked everyone in Sairat here seems force-fed to serve up a brutal lesson on honour killing. If I say, nothing in the film prepares us for the gruesome ending I don’t mean it as a compliment. If Dhadak is still watchable in parts it’s because Ishaan Khattar is constantly injecting his exuberant conviction into every scene. He doesn’t question why things are what they are, he trapezes across the tides of designer wear-and-tear hoping the doomed love story would finally make sense. Tragically, it doesn’t, the situations and incidents seem way too artificial in this south Bombay version of a Marathi film that changed the course of regional cinema. Dhadak changes nothing. It aspires to serenade the status quo with the sole purpose of launching Sridevi’s daughter. But why Sairat? Karan Johar could’ve chose any story. This is a pointless remake, more remarkable for what it fails to achieve with the original than what it actually manages to put forward. – IANS Aamir to be chief guest at Indian Screenwriters Conference Bollywood actor-producer Aamir Khan will be the chief guest at the fifth edition of the Indian Screenwriters Conference (ISC), themed on ‘Where Mind Is Without Fear. Organised by Screenwriters Association, the event will focus on the challenges facing Indian screenwriters today, read a statement. The biennial conference will be held from August 1-3, 2018 at St Andrews Auditorium, Bandra. Veteran journalist Vinod Dua will deliver the keynote address at the inaugural day of the conference, where a large number of screenwriters and established professionals from the film and TV industries, as well as the digital media, will be present. Panels like; Writers Vs Producers – Can they never be allies?, Writing without fear – Is a writer’s mind free of fears?, Web of digital writing: Fearless of Frivolous, Has the daily soap format reached its dead end? and Southern Waves, will see some of the brightest minds in the business share their thoughts. Siddharth Roy Kapur, Akshat Verma, Somen Mishra, Amit Masurkar, Anjum Rajabali, Basharat Peer, Rima Das, Sumeet Vyas, Rajan Shahi, Vetrimaaram, Shridhar Raghavan, Swanand Kirkire, Kausar Munir and Varun Grover are some of the names who will engage in discussions as part of the various panels. Conference Convenor Sanjay Chouhan said in a statement: “This conference is gathering of not only screenwriters but also directors, producers, TV heads, academicians and creative minds. We want to bring people related to screen under one umbrella to share their experience, knowledge, mistakes, brickbats, trolls, rewards and achievement.” – IANS Jimmy wants to do  more comedy films Actor Jimmy Sheirgill is keen to act in more comedy films. In films like A Wednesday, Madaari, Mukkabaaz and many more, Jimmy has been seen in intense roles. Asked what kind of roles interest him, Jimmy told the media here: “I think I have played various kinds of roles in my career but I want to do more comedy films. I like to work in light-hearted films as it makes me feel relaxed, so I would like to do more comedy films.” Jimmy will next be seen in Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster 3. He is happy with the response to the film’s trailer and songs. “The specialty of this series is that first part of the series was well-received by the audience and it also did commercially well at the box-office, and so we made second part of it on a bit larger scale and it also did well. So, the makers of the film thought that we should make a third part of the series, so this time again we have raised scale of the film,” he said. On his experience of working with Sanjay Dutt, Jimmy said: “We have worked with each other in Munna Bhai M.B.B.S., Lage Raho Munna Bhai and Eklavya. This is our fourth film together. I always feel really good working with him. “But this time the interesting thing I wanted to see in this film was how Tigmanshu Dhulia and Sanjay Dutt combination will transpire on big screen, and I think that combination will get lot of appreciation from the audience.” Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster 3, releasing on July 27, is an action thriller produced by Rahul Mittra. – IANS

Welcome back to the magical island of Kalokairi, a sun-strewn rocky outcropping in the azure Aegean Sea, a land where white people can only express themselves with the music of Sweden’s most enduring musical group, ABBA. The sequel/prequel hybrid Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again arrives a decade after the bonkers filmed adaptation of the stage musical Mamma Mia! Vehicles for ABBA’s songs, the films perfectly reflect the music: guileless, emotionally raw and unabashedly cheesy, wrapped in miles and miles of colourful synthetic fabric. This many lovelorn ABBA songs requires quite a story into which to shoehorn the tunes, and Mamma Mia! tripled down on love lost and found with three spurned lovers, Bill (Stellan Skarsgård), Sam (Pierce Brosnan) and Harry (Colin Firth), returning to Kalokairi for the wedding of Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), who hoped to find her father. Now, she’s accepted all three men as adopted dads, and she’s reopening the hotel after her mother’s death (yep, there’s almost no Meryl Streep here). While she gives tours to visitors around the property, she reminisces about her mother’s journey to the island, right out of Oxford. We get the part of the story previously only detailed in a journal, of young hippie Donna (Lily James) and her three wayward lovers. James has proven a winsome presence in Cinderella, Baby Driver and Darkest Hour, but Here We Go Again is a breakout superstar moment for her as the free-spirited, earthy and open-hearted Donna. She’s an inspired singer and dancer, and every time the film cuts away from her story is a bit of a disappointment — even though it’s always entertaining to see what new ways the filmmakers have dreamed up to humiliate Skarsgård and Firth. But young Donna’s story is so much more emotionally engrossing, and the casting of Donna’s friends, the Dynamos (Jessica Keenan Wynn and Alexa Davies) is spot on, as well as her lovers Harry, Bill and Sam (Hugh Skinner, Josh Dylan and Jeremy Irvine). The newcomers all take to the wild rules of this cinematic universe with gusto. Director Ol Parker takes over writing and directing duties from Phyllida Lloyd and Catherine Johnson (who wrote the book of the stage musical). Richard Curtis also gets a story by credit, and it makes sense — Donna is right in his wheelhouse, given his proclivity for writing sensual, carefree American babes. In Parker’s hands, the sequel is far more grounded and melodramatic, lacking some of the rambunctious pop and fizz Lloyd brought to Mamma Mia, the cinematic equivalent of trucker speed. There’s a lot less running and singing, and singing while running, but there is, of course, a flotilla of boats filled with people enthusiastically performing choreography to Dancing Queen. There’s also still enough crackpot insanity to go around: a particularly surreal version of Waterloo is set in a French restaurant, and Christine Baranski gets several crackerjack lines. We haven’t even gotten to Cher yet, who arrives like a benevolent rock deity and turns the last 20 minutes of the film into a personal concert. She’s playing Sophie’s grandmother, but truly she’s just playing herself, and her sheer presence is applause-worthy. Much like its predecessor, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is escapist fluff of the highest order — joyful, filled with beloved pop songs, and incredibly bizarre. Go ahead and treat yourself to this raucous seaside summer confection, you deserve it. — TNS Unfriended: Dark Web is too real to be fun Back in 2014, when the computer-based Unfriended was released, the kind of online menace we could imagine was mostly bullying — an anonymous mob unleashed online. That was even the platform First Lady Melania Trump announced as the issue she was going to tackle in the White House. That all seems so quaint these days. Now, in the summer of 2018, with the release of Unfriended: Dark Web, the online threats to the very fabric of our existence are so much realer, and so much more human. Foreign hackers are being indicted for meddling in United States elections, bitcoin and blockchain are on everyone’s lips (even if no one really understands them), and Unfriended: Dark Web is poised to capitalise on the zeitgeist. The smartly-constructed sequel to Unfriended is written and directed by Stephen Susco, a seasoned horror screenwriter making his directorial debut. He uses the same device as the first film, taking place entirely on a computer screen, populated by a Skype session among a friend group of young adults who live their lives online. The story is woven together from the traces and pieces of themselves they leave smeared on the Internet, stitched together for our entertainment with a sense of the multitasking, attention-deficit way our brains seem to work while surfing the web. It’s game night for the group of college pals who convene on Skype to play Cards Against Humanity and catch up with each other. Our avatar, the person whose screen experience we’re experiencing, is Matias (Colin Woodell). He’s just had a spat with his girlfriend, Amaya (Stephanie Nogueras), via Facebook chat over a program he’s attempting to develop to ease their communication (she’s deaf, and he’s terrible at sign language). But he has high hopes for his program with a new-to-him laptop, as soon as he can sign the old user out. The prior owner of the laptop has left a pesky digital residue. Random, persistent Facebook messages pop up with promises of large amounts of money for a mysterious custom job. Matias is drawn into the realm of the dark web, a journey he takes his friends on with him as they chat together. What they find on the laptop reveals a deep network of individuals willing to trade huge sums of money for hideously cruel and depraved acts. And now that Matias has the laptop and they’ve discovered the group, the targets are on their backs. The storytelling craft of Unfriended: Dark Web is fascinating to watch, as it unspools entirely on Facebook, Skype, FaceTime and other modes of communication on a computer screen. But as a horror film, it’s incredibly grim. There’s no real excitement or cat-and-mouse games to play here. Once the group has been identified, it’s simply a matter of waiting to see how gruesomely the secretive dark webbers will weaponise the Internet against the group of innocent kids. Frankly, it’s just no fun. Perhaps it’s no fun because it’s just too real. There’s never a moment of wondering what is going on. We’re all too aware of the nefarious and evil forces regularly going to work to disrupt our lives daily, and we’ve seen the repercussions of their actions play out on the news every day. While Unfriended: Dark Web is a clever concept of cinematic design and storytelling, it proves to only be a deeply chilling cautionary tale. — TNS

In a country where once the cinema scene had almost desensitised, the duo came, saw and conquered. If you’ve been following Lollywood lately, there’s no way you don’t know who the Filmwala directors are. They gave a new dimension to the silver screen with Na Maloom Afraad (NMA) in 2014, proving themselves to be one of the most prolific filmmaking teams in Pakistan after producing social satire in films like Actor in Law in 2016 and NMA2 in 2017. Now, their fourth film, Load Wedding, is all set for release this Eid ul Azha. Filmmakers Fizza Ali Meerza and Nabeel Qureshi are obviously doing their bit to raise the flag for Pakistani cinema which has seen a substantial revival lately.  The film is as eccentric as the name suggests, offering tongue-in-cheek and chillingly calm humour with Fahad Mustafa and Mehwish Hayat in the lead roles, following a love story set in a small town in Punjab. We’ve seen Fahad and Mehwish share on-screen chemistry before in Actor in Law, bounded by the same comedy genre, but it’s their raw character in Load Wedding that sets them apart from any character they’ve played before. “Mehwish and Fahad are very absorbent and versatile actors, and they don’t seem like starry actors placed merely in a setting where they do not belong. They’re very organic and have gone to a huge extent to make you believe they’re Raja and Miru and not Fahad and Mehwish,” Fizza said recently.   Load Wedding is also the first time Qureshi and Meerza have moved out of Karachi, which provided the backdrop for their previous films. Writer-director Nabeel Qureshi has stepped out of his comfort zone with the film as it gets to and touches the boundaries of a family drama, dealing with societal and family pressures with its own light heartedly punched content and story line. “We always take pop cultural references and knit our stories and humour around it. This film has its own way of pleasing people with an interesting pinch of humour. “It’s a very relatable film with the content taking roots from cultural heritage,” Nabeel said.  The duo has recently collaborated with one of the most reputable and biggest media houses in Asia, Zee Studios, for the global release of the film, including USA, Canada, UK, Middle East, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Mauritius.  About going global, Nabeel said, “The way we’ve shot the film will definitely make Pakistanis living abroad nostalgic about their country and their roots. As a filmmaker, we have a responsibility to tell stories that are relatable to Pakistani audiences and, at the same time, raising the bar for storytelling.” Speaking about this momentous partnership Fizza Ali Meerza noted, “This is a great moment for Pakistani cinema and it just feels phenomenal to be able to take the film to so many new markets with this amazing collaboration. Zee Studios International has an immense reach across the globe, we are just honoured that they felt Load Wedding was the right Pakistani film for them to come onboard with their support and help us reach new territories, markets and audiences - helping us make Pakistani cinema global.” Fashion forward at Pakistan Film Festival – New York Pant sari with dazzling diamante, tassles and floor sweeping metallics or sometimes sunny delight with ocean blue printed flowers on white-on-white, the plethora of couture, redefining the purveyor of subtleness, ‘in-between’ going creative and experimenting with looks has won millennials over a period of time. The bold display of saturated colours is a resounding yes this season. Be it giving the shades of resort collection or sequin-drenched silhouettes, the overpowering smoked look or employing minimalism with poise, everything has now been liberated from confined and ordained appropriate for day or the festive look. If you have what it takes to carry the silhouette, there’s not really any particular precept to follow. The second edition of Pakistan Film Festival kicked off in New York City recently and it was a star-studded affair with many known faces from Pakistan Entertainment Industry. We list down the top celebrity looks, sported by the bigwigs at the festival, down the Manhattan Street, representing myriad fashion aesthetics.  Mahira Khan: Mahira Khan pulled off a psychedelic taffeta pant sari in saturated colours, blending together the finest cuts and craftsmanship of Sana Safinaz and the extravagant touch of animalier. The way zebra printed pallu meshed with exotic printed flowers, formed a perfectly aesthetic clash print; aligned with the recent Muzlin collection of Safinaz. Mahira’s choice particularly stroke luxe as she paired it with blue stilettos to take over the streets of New York City. Ayesha Omar: Sporting Shehla Chatoor’s perfectly structured sari pants, Ayesha Omar went sleek with hair and minimalism taking over the prominence. The ocean blue digitally printed flowers, tassels running down on a high silk sari paired with lace blouse and intricate neckline details is a winner. An extravagant touch of sapphire earrings teamed with silver heels created an irresistible look for Omar.  Shehla’s delicate colours, blended together to add a hint of personality, was a breath of fresh air on a hot day in New York as the white printed silhouette trailed down.  Sonya Hussayn:  Pant Sari dominated the finale of Pakistan Film Festival. Sonya Hussayn went for all gold wash nude off shoulder sari pants with crystal accents and heart neckline translating to a timeless look with a bold vibe, paired with golden stilettos. The long micro-beads blouse did well for the actress as the organza net, structured by Sania Maskatiya trailed down effortlessly creating a timeless look with age old glamour of silks and interlacing vines.

The international success of Latin trap artistes over the last year or so has become nothing short of a pop music phenomenon. Puerto Rican star Bad Bunny has now joined a number of his countrymen in recording a massive world-wide hit. I Like It, a song he co-wrote and performed with American rapper Cardi B and Colombian singer J. Balvin, has reached the top ten in numerous countries and taken pole position on Billboard’s Hot 100. In so doing, the track gave Bunny and J. Balvin their first Hot 100 chart-topper while it is Cardi’s second number one following Bodak Yellow (Money Moves) which held top spot for three weeks last October. Cardi has now become the first female rapper with two chart-topping tracks on the Hot 100. Only four others have ever taken pole position. Lauryn Hill in 1998 with Doo Wop (That Thing), Lil Kim, along with Christina Aguilera, Pink and Mya, with Lady Marmalade in 2001, Shawna, as a guest artist on Ludacris’ 2003 track, Stand Up, and Iggy Azalea with Fancy in 2014. “It’s an amazing experience to be part of a number one song,” said Bunny, real name Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio. “I got a taste for it when Cardi’s Invasion of Privacy album topped the Billboard 200. It was great to be part of that. But I was just on the one album track. It feels extra special to have that track become an enormous hit single. “I’m particularly happy for Cardi who was great to work with. I’ve worked with J. Balvin before and we have a great chemistry together when it comes to making music. I loved the track from the beginning. I knew it was going to be a big hit. “The producers were already working on I Like It before J. Balvin and I were called in. Even Cardi didn’t know about it. The producers told me it would be a surprise for her. Everything was so natural. Working on it together was a genuine pleasure. It’s so rewarding that the fans obviously enjoy hearing the song as much as we enjoyed making it.” Still only 24, Bunny has exploded on the Latin trap scene over the last two years. Music insiders say no other performer has ever developed at such speed in the Latino market. In 2017, he appeared on more than a dozen hit tracks and his songs notched up in excess of four billion views on YouTube. He has certainly come a long way from singing on a balcony at school. “I’m from Vega Baja which is a small beachside area, not a metropolis like San Juan where most Puerto Rican artists come from. I did sing on a balcony at school and people would stand around listening. I always knew I wanted to be a singer since I was five years old. I’ve been writing my own songs since I was 13. Having that audience at school gave me the confidence to know people wanted to hear me.” DJ Luian certainly wanted to hear him. Bunny earned some cash by working as a supermarket bagger while studying for an Audiovisual Communications degree at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo. He used the money to record his music and uploaded a number of songs to SoundCloud. It was these tracks, a mix of rap and singing, which drew the attention of Luian who signed Bunny to his Hear This Music label. Luian paired Bunny with a string of major players on the Latin trap scene. Their collaborations proved so popular that he quickly topped the wish list of most wanted guest artists for virtually every established star. But while Bunny’s own music is hugely popular, few of his songs receive substantial radio play. “A lot of stations have problems with my song lyrics. Many of my songs deal with love and lost love but do so in the rawest form, both good and bad. Those songs are either censored or not played at all. My goal is for trap music to be given the space it deserves in the media without having to be censored.” Was it writing these kind of songs which made Benito choose Bad Bunny as his stage name? “It actually came from a photograph of myself when I was a kid. I was a first grader at school and got forced to wear this pair of rabbit ears as the Easter bunny. “Bunnies are supposed to be cuddly and sweet but I didn’t want to wear those rabbit ears and you can definitely tell how I felt about it when you look at the picture. I was a bad bunny then and I’m Bad Bunny now, it just seemed like a great stage name.” in brief NHS Voices A Bridge Over You, their mash up cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water and Coldplay’s Fix You, gave the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Choir the 2015 Christmas week chart-topping single in Britain. They beat out Justin Bieber’s Love Yourself with the now newly-engaged Justin actually urging his fans to buy the NHS Choir’s charity single. To mark the 70th anniversary of Britain’s National Health Service, the NHS Choir have now released their cover of The Beatles’ classic song, With A Little Help From My Friends. It is another charity single with all proceeds being donated to NHS Charities Together, a group of more than 130 NHS charities which support patients, staff and community initiatives. This time though, the NHS Choir are not alone. The song is credited to NHS Voices because a host of stars from the music world who fully appreciate the work of the NHS are also involved in the project. British artists might perhaps be expected but some American stars have also been keen to participate. These include superstar singer, rapper, songwriter and producer Timbaland. He co-produced the track along with BRIT Award-winning producer Jon Cohen. Chic star Nile Rodgers is one of the performers. He feels his appearance on the song is some sort of very small repayment for the help he has received from the NHS. “It’s my honour to support NHS Voices,” Nile remarked. “The NHS saved my life many times back in the day. It’s a total pleasure for me to be part of the song.” More than 30 artists perform on the track. These include Rick Astley, Alexandra Burke, Marina and The Diamonds, Seal and Beverley Knight. The With A Little Help From My Friends video can be viewed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQS-V9MZtDA Shakira It’s been a mixed time for Colombian superstar singer Shakira. She has made a triumphant return to the concert stage with her El Dorado world tour. This was after fearing that a vascular lesion might have left her unable to ever sing again. But the house she shares with her Spanish footballer partner Gerard Pique was burgled on the second night of her tour. The thieves stole valuables such as watches and jewellery. Gerard and his fellow Spanish stars were bundled out of the World Cup by hosts Russia and Shakira’s own Colombia team were beaten by England. To cap it all, an item of merchandise sold at her concerts was withdrawn from sale after complaints that it closely resembled an important Nazi symbol. The necklace designed to commemorate Shakira’s tour was based on Pre-Columbian imagery. Unfortunately, it is virtually identical to the sun wheel emblem which dominates the floor of the SS Generals Hall in Wewelsburg Castle. Owned by SS chief Heinrich Himmler, the 17th century three-sided castle was to have become a Nazi version of King Arthur’s Camelot. It is now one of Germany’s most popular tourist attractions with part of the building being converted into a museum devoted to the history of the SS. Mel B / Lily Allen One person probably pushing hard for a Spice Girls reunion is singer Melanie Brown. Better known as Mel B, she recently revealed she owes America’s Internal Revenue Service hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes and is unable to pay her debts. Where all the millions have gone from her days as a Spice Girl is anyone’s guess. She has also been employed as a judge on NBC Television’s America’s Got Talent for the past five years. This job must surely have earned Mel a substantial salary. Not that Mel’s debts compare to those of singer / songwriter Lily Allen. She informed anyone who would listen that she was more than one million GBP in debt. Lily gave this information while in the process of promoting her aptly titled latest album, No Shame. Perhaps her revelation was intended to persuade fans to help her out by buying the album. It debuted at number eight on the U.K. chart for June 15 but immediately fell to number 46, then to number 78 in week three and is now out of the top 100.

Dhadak director Shashank Khaitan says that he is impressed by the professional commitment of the film’s lead actress Janhvi Kapoor, a debutante, who finished shooting it on time, even after the sudden demise of her mother and legendary actress Sridevi. “I think the whole credit goes to Janhvi and her family who supported me to finish the shoot of my film. I was ready to go back on set whenever Janhvi felt emotionally ready because at that time, for all of us, nothing was more important than her emotional security. But I am more than impressed to see her professionalism,” Khaitan told IANS. Sridevi had passed away on February 24 when the shooting of Dhadak was still going on. “Even we were heartbroken. Imagine what she went through,” recalled the director. “So my immediate question was not when will we be able to finish the film, but how will she recover from her emotional loss. I think on the 13th day, she geared up to shoot and I was so impressed,” he added. Remembering her mother, Janhvi said: “Mumma said that I have a sweet voice. She did not watch the full film as we were only halfway through. Before any big event of my life, Mumma used to be the most involved person. Before my exams, I used to study till late at night and she would stay awake with me. She would wake up to see me off to school every day.” Asked if she recalls her conversation with her mother before the first day of her shooting, Janhvi said: “Mumma just said one important thing, ‘Your performance should come from the place of feeling and no pretention. The camera captures everything’.” Dhadak, also featuring Ishaan Khatter, is releasing on July 20. – IANS Nawabzaade actress  Isha feels fortunate with  her Bollywood debut Actress Isha Rikhi, who is making her Bollywood debut with romantic comedy film Nawabzaade said she was very lucky to get such opportunity. Isha told IANS on phone that she was feeling lucky to be a part of this film. “I know many actors who are equally hard working like me but yet to get the opportunity in Bollywood. I am very happy to make my debut with a rom-com.” The trailer of the film was released this week and also a very special song which is composed by Guru Randhawa featuring Varun Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor. While Isha is getting a positive response from various online platforms asked about if she was worried about the audience’s reception, as she has popularity in Punjabi films the actress said: “Yes I was little worried how people will accept the film and me in the film.” “This is my first ever Bollywood film which has a bigger exposure than my earlier Punjabi films, so I expected people to like me. thankfully it is happening.” Isha started modelling at a young age and worked in some of the Punjabi films like Happy Go Lucky, Jatt Boys Putt Jattan De among others. The story of Nawabzaade revolves around three boys who are running after one girl. Asked about her on-set experience, Isha said: “Before the film, I did not know anyone and that was the reason I was quite nervous. Whenever we make a film as an actor we need full support from the co-actors, crew members and ofcourse director. Thankfully at the end of the shooting, we really become a close-knit family.” The actress, soon to appear on popular rapper Badshah’s upcoming music video song titled Bamb, said that she wishes to work with Imtiaz Ali and Rajkumar Hirani in future. – IANS Farah Khan poses with  ‘lovely ladies’ from Housefull 4 Choreographer-filmmaker Farah Khan posed with actresses Kriti Sanon, Pooja Hegde and Kriti Kharbanda, whom she calls “lovely ladies”. Farah on Saturday shared a photograph of herself from the sets of Housefull 4. “With the lovely ladies of Housefull 4, who really do get along because heroines fighting is so passe,” she captioned the image. Produced by Sajid Nadiadwala, Houseful 4 marks the return of Sajid Khan as the director for the franchise. The film will also see Bobby reuniting with Akshay, with whom he has previously worked in four films — Ajnabee, Dosti: Friends Forever, Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Sathiyo and Thank You. Housefull 4 is set for a Diwali 2019 release. – IANS Anupam ‘panicked’ after losing Twitter followers Veteran actor Anupam Kher says he was panicked and questioned his eyesight after losing 130,000 followers on Twitter. Anupam on Saturday tweeted: “Losing almost 130,000 followers on Twitter had its initial side effects. Panic, memory loss, disbelief, anxiety, questioning my eyesight. Even though I was explained patiently that it is part of cleaning up policy. But I felt like they expelled me from their wealth.” Twitter decided to sanitise the platform by removing inactive and locked accounts. So, a lot of popular names from the film industry ended up with reduced followers. Twitter earlier this week announced it will remove locked accounts — which are disabled owing to suspicious activity — from follower counts across profiles globally. The locked accounts are different from spam or bots and in most cases, these accounts were created by real people. Other big names, who lost their followers on Twitter, include Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan, among other film celebrities as a result of the ‘sanitisation’ of the micro-blogging platform. The micro-blogging platform was yet to come up with an official statement on this. – IANS