Haaf Playt at Karachi Arts Council

    For the 2nd time in this year I have won a free ticket for a stage play 'Haaf Playte' going on at the Karachi Arts Council by participating in JubileeLife's  #JubileeKiHaafPlayte contest on twitter, first one was for the 'Avanti Returns'. Apart from Tribune review I have read so many positive reviews about the play that's why I was so excited to see this play.

My free ticket for the play

The play is an adaptation of a Tele Theater PTV classics comedy drama 'Half Plate' Staring: Moin Akhter, Khalida Riyasat, Jamshed Ansari, Latif Kapadia, Arshad Mehmood. Written by Anwar Maqsood. For theater its produce by KopyKat Producitons and directed by Dawar Mehmood.

    The play starts 15mins. late due to some special guests were late due to traffic jam in the city and Anwar Maqsood short his curtain raiser speech to save time for the play. The hall was house-full most of the people are sitting on the stairs and even on the floor in front of the stage. The writer kept the script modern by touching upon current issues like terrorism and poverty. There was a dialogue like 'Yeh Dasti Bumb nahi balkay Tangdasti Bomb hai'. Overall brilliant performance by everyone especially Yassir Hussain as Mirza Nafis Barelvi, Maryam Saleem as Bano, Zahid Ahmed as Butt Sahib & Tamanna Begum played by Alizeh. I've seen Yassir Hussain's performance before in Sawa 14 August back in August which was also a KopyKat Production and also written by Anwar Maqsood. He is such a great stage actor. From beginning to the end the audience was in fits of laughter. The play was ended with a standing ovation by the audience and they deserve that too.

Anwar Maqsood with the cast of Haaf Playt

  

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Unexpected Astronomy session with Ramiz

       Ramiz Qureshi is my astro friend he has a keen interest in astronomy & he is also a member of Karachi Amatuer Astronomers Society. I have attended 2 public astronomy sessions so far organized by KaAS.  Few days back he got his own telescope. On the night of 12th oct. at 12.23am Ramiz called me & said 'are you free if yes get ready I am coming to pick you up'. I was so excited as he pick me up Zain Bhai who is also a member of Karachi Amatuer Astronomers Society told me that in the morning there will be a lunar eclipse on Jupiter so we will be tracking it via telescpes. So as I reached his place after some time Ramiz setup his telescope on his roof Orion Costellation along with Jupiter (second brightest planet visible with naked eye) is visible with many other stars are visible. In winter more stars are visible with naked eye. While everyone in Karachi is busy with their sacrificial animals and here we are busy in stargazing. So first we started with Jupiter, Ramiz callibrate his telescope so we can see the Jupiter clearly.

       The picture above is planet Jupiter, shot taken by Ramiz with my camera and on the left is his telescope and on the right is the sun with its spots. 

       As you can see the picture above of the sun two spots are visible but in other picture there are some clouds passing by. To see the Sun you need a special filter cos if you watch it without any filter through the telescope Sun rays will damage the lens. Also we have seen NGC 2244 cluster, Polaris (doubles) , Mars, Orion Nebula and in the afternoon we see the Sun and its spots. Ramiz also answered my questions related to astronomy too and above all our very own Hina Aapi aka @eshal_ made it more awesome as always :) I had the most memorable time with both my best friends. Thank you both! And here is my tweet after this unexpected astronomy session.

 

      If you are interested in astronomy you can visit Ramiz blog at here or info on astronomical events happening in Karachi you can visit KaAS facebook page here These days planet Venus & Jupiter are visible at night in Karachi's skies. You can see planet Venus right after sun sets in west-southwest near the horizon. It is the brightest planet visible from Earth with naked eye & planet Jupiter is visible in gemini constellation after 12am below the orion constellation as yellowish bright star. 

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Reviving Lollywood ?

  Few months back I've seen Chambaili which is directed by Ismail Jillani. Movie was all about patriotism and they released it when election campaign was going in throughout the country. They've showed modern day Pakistan filled with corruption and to change this country we have to change ourselves that is the main message of the movie. I remember people giving standing ovation when Moosa gives his motivational speech in the movie. Recently it has been selected by Amnesty International for their film festival 2013.

 Then I've watched Josh which is written & directed by Iram Parveen Bila. Another great movie with great performance by Aamina Sheikh.The movie is all about unity & hope. Josh world premiered at the 2012 Mumbai International Film Festival and was one of the Top 15 Recommended Films at IFFI Goa's Film Bazaar Viewing Room after winning the 2012 Women In Film Award

   Recently I've seen Main Hoon Shahid Afridi or MHSA at atrium cinemas. The movie is all about passion for cricket if you are a cricket fan you should watch this movie. Humayun Saeed who played role of Akbar is a coach of Sialkot Shaheens who wants his under 19 cricket team to win cricket cup but his dark past  keeps coming his way to haunt him and stop him which also includes Mahnoor Baloch. Overall its a great effort audience were screaming, clapping like they are at the stadium. Shahid Afridi and Ayesha Omar has special appearance in this movie.

   Still we are waiting for Zinda Bhaag, Waar & Jami's Moor. Waar is now delayed till October, Zinda Bhaag will be releasing this week on 20th September and its also been nominated for Oscar consideration from Pakistan. Moor has been written, directed by Jami, music has been done by Strings. Its a tragic story a family pulled apart through corruption and circumstances out of their control. We have Alhamdulillah so much talent in this country and finally some people from private production houses have taken steps to make good movies on different topics no more Shaan with his false mostouche playing same role again and again in different movies and here is my tweet after watching all 3 movies Chambaili, Josh & MHSA.

 

 

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Jumma Hafta Art Bazaar 3.0 at T2F

Its a 2 day exhibition featuring young artists from Karachi and some artists from Sindh featuring their traditional work like pottery form Hala, Sindh. Paintings, sketches, miniature art has been displayed at Jumma Hafta Art Bazaar 3.0 at T2F (the second floor) . On day one there was pottery workshop by Khalid and live sketches by artist Tahir Bhatti. There was street screening of 'LOVE MARRIAGE' by Amin Gulgee and Saba Iqbal outside T2F.

 More photos are at http://goo.gl/G5cG2. My favorite artist are Saad Irfan, Shanzay Subzwari and Nazar-ul-Islam.  

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