by Editor | May 25, 2021 | Opinions
By Azhar Iqbal,
Pakistani Cinema and Indian Bollywood Industry have a plenty of similarities like a common language, music lyrics, themes, highlighting social and domestic issues, action and romance, poetic verses in dialogues, anger and love etc. You have certainly watched many of the Bollywood and Lollywood feature films in which the plot of the movies are exactly same or with a slight difference. Pakistan and India have many of the historical events and folk stories in common. If we go through the film industries across the border we would be surprised that hundreds of movies have been featured with same name and titles with same or different plot and scripts. But there are some movies which were made on the same stories or scripts with different music, directors, actors, and crews both in India and Pakistan.
Here are top 10 movies that were made more than once but Title and Story were not changed both in Pakistani and Indian movies.
1- DEVDAS
Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s blockbuster “Devdas” is all time mega hit of Bollywood romantic drama film. Devdas was based on 1917 Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s novel Devdas, released in 2002 starred by Shah Rukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai. The plot of this movie surrounds the central character Devdas and Paro who is childhood love of Paro, later on, marries to an aged widower with two adult children. Devdas dies in the end due to excessive alcohol drinking in the memory of his ex. Paro. Devdas has been made several times in India and Pakistan. Pakistani film director Iqbal Kashmiri’s Devdas was released in 2010 in Karachi, Pakistan. Leading roles were played by Zara Sheikh, Meera, and Nadeem Shah. This movie was also made in 1965 in Urdu in Pakistan by a Pakistani director Khawaja Sarfaraz. It was featured in the Hindi language for the first time in Bollywood after the partition, in 1955. The leading roles were played by Legendary Dilip Kumar, Vyjayanthimala, and Suchitra Sen. It was produced and directed by Bimal Roy. Devdas has also been made several times in Bengali, Tamil, Hindi, Urdu, and Punjabi before partition and after independence in Pakistan, Bangladesh and India.
2- UMRAO JAAN
Bollywood classic “Umrao Jaan” was also based on Urdu novel Umrao Jaan Ada, released in 1981. It was produced and directed by Muzaffar Ali. Bollywood all-time iconic Rekha played the lead role of Umrao. Other leading roles were played by Seema Sathyu Farooq Shaikh Naseeruddin Shah and Umme Farwa. This is the story of Lucknow courtesan and her rise to fame. She is kidnapped early in her childhood and then sold to a brothel in Lucknow. This film was also made in Pakistan with the original name of the Urdu Novel “Umrao Jaan Ada” starring Rani and Shahid and directed by Hasan Tariq. This Pakistani film was released in 1972, 9 years before Bollywood Umrao Jan. Later on, in 2006, this film was released once again with new cast and crew. Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachan were starred for main roles.
3- HEER RANJHA
Based on Sufi Saint Waris Shah’s classic folk love story of Punjab, Heer Ranjha was a super hit Lollywood film released in 1970. Pakistani Heer Ranjha was directed by Masud Pervaiz. Lollywood stars Firdaus and Ejaz Durrani played the roles of Heer and Ranjha. The story revolves around Heer the daughter of a wealthy family and Ranjha who became their servant. Heer Ranjha was also made in India in 1970 starred by Priya Rajvansh as Heer and Raaj Kumar as Ranjha. Later on, this movie was released in 1992, this time Heer Ranjha was directed by Harmesh Malhotra. Bollywood Queen Sridevi and Anil Kapoor were cast as Heer and Ranjha. More than a dozen, Heer Ranjha has been featured in India and Pakistan from 1928 to 2017.
4- ANARKALI
Based on Imtiaz Ali Taj’s Urdu drama Anarkali has also been films plenty of times in India and Pakistan. In 1953, an Indian historical drama film was released with the title of Anarkali. This film was the top Indian grossing film of the year. Pradeep Kumar, Bina Rai, and Noor Jehan were the main cast of this movie and directed by Nandlal Jaswantlal. This story revolves around the Mughal Prince Jahangeer (Saleem), his father emperor Akbar and a girl Anarkali. This film was also made in Pakistan in 1958 in which the legendary Noor Jahan played the lead role of Anarkali.
5- LAILA MAJNU
Based on an Arab/Persian historic love story, Laila Majnu has been the title of many films made in Pakistan, India and some other countries also. Bollywood 1976’s Laila Majnu is also based on this historic love story of Qais and Laila. Rishi Kapoor was cast as Qais and Ranjeeta Kaur was the heroine as Laila. This film was directed by Harnam Singh Rawail. Laila Majnu was also made and released in Pakistan in the year 1974. It has been made many times not only in Pakistan and India but in many other countries with different regional and local languages.
6- MIRZA GHALIB
The tribute to the great Urdu Poet Mirza Asad Ullah Beg Khan Ghalib was given both in Indian and Pakistani cinemas. The first film was made with the title of Mirza Ghalib in India in 1954 in which Bharat Bhushan plays Ghalib and Suraiya plays his courtesan lover, Chaudvin. Later on, this film with the same title was made in Pakistan starred by Sudhir and Noor Jehan in 1961.
7- SOHNI MAHIWAL
The tragic love story of Mirza Izzat Beg and Sohni of Punjab is also a famous love story usually known as Sohni Mahiwal. This is the story of Prince Izzat Beg who comes to India and falls in love with a Punjabi girl Sohni. Sunny Deol and Poonam Dhillon were starred in pivotal roles in Bollywood Sohni Mahiwal in 1984. This film was also made in Pakistan where Yousuf Khan and Mumtaz were starred for pivotal roles. Sohni Mahiwal also made in 1958 and the years before partition.
8- SASSI PUNNO
Hassan Askari’s “Sassi Punnu” was released in Lahore, Pakistan in 2004 starred by Moammar Rana, Sana Nawaz, and Veena Malik. This film was based on a Sindhi love story originally written by Sufi Saint Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai (1689-1752). This film was initially made in the Sindhi language in 1958 in Pakistan and Akbar Ali was the director. Punjabi version of this story was featured in 1977. The movie with the same classic story and name was also made in India in 1983 in Punjabi directed by Satish Bhakhri. It was also made in India in 1965.
9- MIRZA SAHIBAN
The tale of Mirza Sahiban is part of popular Punjabi culture. On the title of “Mirza Sahiban” feature films have been made more than once in both Hindi and Punjabi languages in Pakistan and India in the years, 1947, 1956, 1957 and so on with different stars, directors, and languages.
10- SHIRIN FARHAD
This is an Iranian Love story and films were made in 1956 in India and later on in Pakistan in the year 1976 on the title of “Shirin Farhad”.
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(Azhar Iqbal is an International Graduate Fellow of Cross-Cultural Communication at Ural Federal University, Russia; Second Master Degree in Communication Studies from Institute of Communication Studies, University of the Punjab, Lahore Pakistan. Co-founder of The Educationist a Pakistan-based monthly English newspaper. Research interests are media, communication and journalism. New media technologies in the fields of education, politics, culture and society. Also writing for Feedback Russia (A Russian Portal), Maeeshat (An Indian Magazine), Our Russia (A Russian Journal) along with The Educationist (A Pakistani Newspaper) and SizingUpTheSouth.com. Society of Professional Journalists
by Editor | May 25, 2021 | World
By Gaurav Sharma,
Beijing : China on Tuesday told the “outside world” to stop guessing about its reported plans to build a military naval base near Pakistans Gwadar in the Arabian Sea.
Under the $50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Beijing is developing Gwadar port, the last point of the economic route that begins from Chinese city Kashgar.
A Beijing-based military analyst Zhou Chenming was quoted as saying in a media report that “China needs to set up another base in Gwadar for its warships because Gwadar is now a civilian port.”
“As you know the building of CPEC is an important part of the Belt and Road initiative and China and Pakistan are also making efforts to build the CPEC, which is in the common interest of the countries along the route,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said.
“So, I don’t think it is necessary for the outside world to make too many guesses in this regard.”
According to a Pakistani news outlet, officials in Islamabad denied reports that a Chinese naval base was coming up.
Gwadar is strategically located in the Arabian Sea and some 70 km away from Iran’s Chabahar port being developed by India.
China last year opened its first military overseas base at Djibouti in the Horn of Africa.
—IANS
by Editor | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
By Arul Louis,
New York : Taking the strictest action against Pakistan, the US has announced that it was freezing most security aid and the delivery of military equipment because Islamabad continues to shelter terrorists despite several warnings from President Donald Trump and other leaders.
“We will not be delivering military equipment or transfer security-related funds to Pakistan,” State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said on Thursday.
The freeze will be enforced “until the Pakistani Government takes decisive action against groups, including the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network”, she said.
Nauert said that Pakistan’s failure to take action against Lakshar-e-Taiba leader Hafeez Saeed was not a factor in the action.
“To my knowledge, that has nothing to do with that.”
Thursday’s announcement was in addition to the $255 million in foreign military assistance that the Trump administration in August said it was withholding, she said.
However, Nauert did not give the size of the assistance that was now being suspended.
“We are still working through some of those dollar numbers right now.”
Asked about the types of military equipment covered by the freeze, Nauert said: “I’m not going to be able to get into the specifics of that. A lot of that is under DoD (Department of Defence), so I just won’t have the details about that.”
She said that some exceptions could be made to the suspensions if it was determined that portions of the frozen aid were “critical to national security interests” or “required by law”.
Nauert said that if Pakistan took decisive action against terrorists, it “has the ability to get this money back in the future”.
“We have been clear with Pakistan what they need to do… A lot of this would fall under some of the private diplomatic conversations that the US government is having with Pakistan, so a lot of that stuff I’m not going to be able to share because that would give away information to people we don’t want to have that information.”
In another action against Islmabad, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson placed Pakistan on a “special watch list for severe violations of religious freedom”.
The US depends on Pakistan for ferrying supplies to its troops in landlocked Afghanistan.
Asked at a separate news conference on Thursday if he was concerned that Islamabad might shut down access routes to US troops in Afghanistan, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said: “We have had no indication of anything like that.”
He declined to comment when he was asked if he favoured cutting off aid to Pakistani.
Nauert added that Pakistan had been given adequate notice to shut down the terrorist networks.
She recalled Trump’s speech in August in which he warned Pakistan against giving sanctuary to terrorists.
“It has been more than four months since the President’s speech, and despite a sustained high-level engagement by this administration with the government of Pakistan, the Taliban and the Haqqani Network continue to find sanctuary inside Pakistan as they plot to destabilise Afghanistan and also attack US and allied personnel,” she said.
In his first tweet of the New Year, Trump said that the US had given Pakistan $33 billion in aid over 15 years and accused Pakistan of harbouring terrorists while making “fools” of US leaders with lies and deceit.
“No more,” he said, of Washington’s aid to Pakistan.
Hours before the tweet, a US Special Forces soldier had been killed in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, which borders Pakistan, and four were injured in a terrorist attack.
(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)
—IANS
by Editor | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Muslim World
Islamabad : Pakistan’s central bank has allowed the Chinese yuan to be used for bilateral trade and investment activities, ensuring that imports, exports and financing transactions can be denominated in the Chinese currency.
In a statement late Tuesday, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) stated that the Chinese yuan was an approved foreign currency for denominating foreign currency transactions in Pakistan, reports Xinhua news agency.
“SBP has already put in place the required regulatory framework which facilitates use of yuan in trade and investment transactions,” the statement said.
In terms of regulations in Pakistan, the yuan is at par with other international currencies such as US dollar, euro and the Japanese yen.
Indicating deepening economic ties between the two nations, the central bank said regarding recent local and global economic progress, specially an increase in trade and investment with Beijing under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), it “foresees that yuan-denominated trade with China will increase significantly going forward; and will yield long term benefits for both the countries”.
Last month during the launch of Long Term Plan for the CPEC 2017-30, Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said that the government was examining a proposal to use the yuan for trade between China and Pakistan.
—IANS
by Editor | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington : President Donald Trump began the New Year on Monday with a stinging attack on long-standing ally Pakistan, saying it will get no more US aid as it was giving “safe haven to terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan”.
“The US has foolishly given Pakistan more than $33 billion in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies and deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools,” Trump tweeted in his strongest denunciation of Islamabad.
“They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!” he added.
The Pakistan government vowed to respond soon.
“We will respond to Trump’s tweet shortly Insha Allah… Will let the world know the truth… Difference between facts and fiction,” tweeted Foreign Minister Khwaja M. Asif.
Trump’s announcement follows an increasingly tense back-and-forth between Washington and Islamabad after the US President unveiled his administration’s National Security Strategy.
He had then reminded Pakistan about its obligation towards helping the US because it got “massive payments” from Washington every year.
“We have made it clear to Pakistan that while we desire continued partnership, we must see decisive action against terrorist groups operating on their territory,” Trump had said. “They have to help.”
Pakistan is also accused by Afghanistan and India of harbouring terrorists ranged against the two countries. Islamabad routinely denies such charges.
—IANS
