Sharmeen Obaid brings home an Emmy

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's documentary A Girl In The River has won the Best Documentary award at the 38th annual news and documentary Emmy Awards. She announced the good news from New York, where the award ceremony took place. The documentary triumphed over four others, including Children of Syria, Welcome to Leith, Thank You For Playing and The Look of Silence, to win the award.

A Girl in the River, which is the story of a young survivor of an honour killing attempt, was also nominated in two other categories at this year's Emmys – Outstanding Short Documentary and Outstanding Music and Sound. In 2016, the documentary earned Sharmeen her second Best Documentary Short Oscar after she won Pakistan's first Academy Awardfor Saving Face in 2012. She has also won Emmys for Children of Taliban and Saving Face.

Syra Shahroz joins the cast of Jawani Phir Nahi Ani 2

Director Nadeem Baig already called it, and Syra Shahroz has now confirmed it, too. The Chalay Thay Saath actress has signed on to the much-awaited Jawani Phir Nahi Ani sequel. Syra revealed, "Fahad Mustafa and I will be paired together. If you've watched JPNA, you know this will be super fun." The prequel was 2015's runaway hit; a comedy based on the misadventures of a group of friends on a vacation in Bangkok away from their wives. While little is known about the plot of the second installment, Baig has shared that its shoot will begin in London soon.

Apart from Syra and Fahad (who is said to replace Hamza Ali Abbasi), JPNA 2 will star original cast members Humayun Saeed, Ahmed Ali Butt and Vasay Chaudhary. Reports have also revelaed that Bollywood veteran Rishi Kapoor was approached for a role as well in the sequel but he turned it down. The film will release in 2018.

Mathira is back with a supernatural serial

Mathira might have disappeared after her last film Blind Love tanked at the box office, but she is back with a project that is definitely something new for the Pakistani TV screens. The actress-host will next be seen in supernatural serial Nagin, which she describes as "Pakistan's own little Game of Thrones."

"The show is very different. It is a supernatural show with a lot of politics and games for power," Mathira elaborated. About her character, she revealed, "I'm playing the role of Mastaani. She's the type who acts dumb but is very clever. She loves drama. She wants to take over, she wants power for herself." Mathira added that the show features plenty of cool animation and even the costumes, styled by Khawar Riaz, are going to be very different so as to suit the theme of the show.

Nagin will also star Kashif Mehmood, Jana Malik, Harib Farooq, Gia Durrani, Zia Khan and Fizza Ali. Mathira promised that the show will be about “a tight battle kind of situation, with nagins, witches and many other supernatural beings. The show has greed, power, beauty love, a bit everything, really."

Hot Pursuit

MAG’s favourite picks of the week

Glued to the Screen

Aik Thi Rania

Sumbul Iqbal has returned to the screen after a short hiatus following her last drama Ghayal. She has paired up with Syed Jibran for this one, who has already given three back to back hits with Noor-e-Zindagi, Bhooli Bano and Gairat. Just a couple of episodes in, Aik Thi Rania is written by Madiha Shahid, known for her hit drama Digest Writer, while the OST of the show has been performed by Ahmed Jahanzeb, who is known for the popular OST of Khuda Aur Mohabbat. The cast includes names like Munawar Saeed, Manzoor Qureshi, Madiha Rizvi, Humaira Bano, Sundas Tariq, Beena Chaudhary and Paras Masroor. With such a strong team, expectations are high from this one. It is yet to be seen how Aik Thi Rania turns out.

The Right Note

A fan of classic tunes? Enjoy contemporary covers of old songs? Then you will definitely find this one interesting to say the least. Lend your ears to Ali Hamza’s take on the oldie where he fuses the classic nuances with pop rock to give it a young feel. He paired up Humera Arshad with Aima Baig and Rachel Viccaji to give the song a twist everyone, including young and old, is sure to enjoy!

Around Town

More power to women!

A three-day festival focusing on the women of Pakistan was organised in Karachi recently. The festival kicked off with women empowerment seminars which culminated in Pakistan Women Festival Awards, and was followed by health seminars. Concurrently, an all-day art exhibitions took place, as well. Cooking show and free yoga classes were also organised. The festival ended with different concerts on all three days where the attendees enjoyed perfromances from Ali Zafar, Mai Dhai, Natasha Baig, Ahmed Jehanzeb and Stereo Nation. The objective of Pakistan Women Festival 2017 was to honour women, recognise their contributions to society and discuss their issues, whether empowerment or health related.

Treasure Trove

Have you seen the poster for Malala’s biopic?

Gul Makai, a biopic based on the life of Malala Yousufzai, is in the works in Bollywood. The film's poster has been shared by Wazir actress Reem Shaikh, who will play the Pakistani activist, and it seems magnificent! The movie will chronicle the journey of Malala from Swat Valley to being the youngest Noble Peace Prize winner who stood up against terrorism. It also stars Divya Dutta (who plays Malala’s mother) and the late Om Puri. Though the release date for biopic isn’t decided yet, its shooting is half complete. 

Where, what, when

Acting Workshop for Teens

Twice-a-week workships for teens (12-18 year olds) is being conducted by Tulin Khalid Azim and Ibrahim Jehangir Khan, starting from Oct 16 at The London Book Company, 3, Kohsar Market, F-6/3, Islamabad.

Pakistan Behind The Headlines

Pakistan Behind The Headlines is a photo exhibition by Sa’adia Khan that explores the lives and stories of people of Pakistan from rural areas as well as big cities like Peshawar and Karachi. Catch it on Oct 16 at Alhamra Arts Council, Mall Road, Lahore.

Basic Communication Skills for Teachers

A three-day workshop is being organised for teachers of all levels on basic communication from Oct 18-20 at ERDC Head Office, North Nazimabad, Karachi. For details and registration, contact: 03363099390