From ‘Salaam Bombay’ to ‘Chakalaka Baby’ to the alluring tune of ‘Chaiyya, Chaiyya’ Chaiyya’, Bombay Dreams – Andrew Lloyd Webber and R.R. Rehman’s musical – manages to keep the audience engrossed in a melodrama based on fabled Indian movie themes of the fight between the good and the evil.

It’s probably not all that remarkable that a young American went to Pakistan and found fascinating the traditions that define daily life there, from the calls to prayer to the garishly decorated transport trucks.

Not all that remarkable, except that somewhere along the trip the young girl turned from tourist to commentator, conducting formal interviews with 10 Pakistani women she met.

This was the experience of Chiara Angela Kovarik, a Mendota Heights teenager who with her parents spent a month in Pakistan in summer 2001. Now, at 17, she has published her work in a 174-page book titled “Interviews with Muslim Women of Pakistan.”

Dir: Sabiha Sumar
Cast: Kirron Kher, Aamir Malik, Shilpa Shukla

In conversation with a friend, a visibly disappointed Ayesha (Kher) casually mentions, “If your son cannot be yours; who can be?”

She obviously refers to her once innocent and sweet boy Salim (Malik), who’s turned a religious fanatic. Also, her supposedly protective Sikh family in pre-partition India, who had preferred to abandon her, force her to commit suicide, lest she face the horrors of being a non-Muslim girl left behind in Islamic Pakistan.

Cast: Eric Bana, Brad Pitt, Claire Forlani, Emilio Estevez, Michael Clarke Duncan, Orlando Bloom, Rose Byrne, Sean Bean, Peter O’ Toole, Julie Christie, Garrett Hedlund, Diane Kruger

Director: Wolfgang Petersen

Throughout time, men have waged war. Some for power, some for glory, some for honor - and some for love. Troy canvassed such a war that is termed as longest in the history of men.

THERE’S a first time for everything as singer Khadija Hayder proved with her debut album ‘My First Time’.

My First Time has been released by AP Productions and offers a variety of musical styles including pop and bhangra.

Khadija collaborated with lyricist Akhtar Hussain and producer JKD to bring out her first solo work. The result is uplifting and refreshing - a sure fire hit.

Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Alfred Molina, James Franco, J.K. Simmons, Rosemary Harris
Directed By: Sam Raimi
Producer: Laura Ziskin, Avi Arad
Screen Writer: Alvin Sargent, Michel Chabon, Steve Ditko
Cinematographer: Bill Pope
Composer: Danny Elfman
Executive Producer: Joseph M. Caracciolo Jr., Stan Lee
Story: Micahel Chabon

Synopsis:

In the latest installment in the blockbuster ‘Spider-Man‘ series, based on the classic Marvel Comics hero, Tobey Maguire returns as the mild-mannered Peter Parker, who is juggling the delicate balance of his dual life as a college student and a superhuman crime fighter. Spider-Man’s life becomes even more complicated when he confronts a new nemesis, the brilliant Otto Octavius, (Alfred Molina) who has been reincarnated as the maniacal and multi-tentacle “Doc Ock.”

Ali Azmat’s latest offering Social Circus has firmly reaffirmed Ali Azmat as the king of Rock n’ roll in Pakistan. Breaking away from the traditional aura of Junoon, Ali has gone all guns blazing in this latest offering of varied moods and personal life experiences. In fact it seems that Ali has tried hard to stay away from traditional Junoon territory and in doing has fallen flat on its face with glaring moments of mediocrity. However, the major portion of Social Circus stands out as original and inspiring musical extravaganza.

Starring: Will Smith, Bridget Moynahan, James Cromwell, Bruce Greenwood, Alan Tudyk, Chi McBride, Shia LaBeouf
Director: Alex Proyas
Producer: Topher Dow, John Davis, Laurence Mark, Will Smith

Under the Chicago skyline of 2035, as envisioned by director Alex Proyas and production designer Patrick Tatopoulo, and shot in a monochromatic palette of gun-metal grays by cinematographer Simon Duggan, the movie appears both cool and ominous from the very first moment.

Director Alex Proyas’ film was inspired by the most famous and justly admired robot stories in all of science fiction, Isaac Asimov’s ’40s series (later collected in his 1950 book “I, Robot”) about U.S. Robots, the company that produces these beings and Asimov’s legendary Three Laws of Robotics, which govern their behavior.

The lead vocalist of Junoon - a radical rock band of the last decade, Ali Azmat, has launched his first solo album titled ‘Social Circus’. The album is released by Sadaf Stereo.

Addressing a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Thursday, Ali Azmat who is famous for his vocal powers and stage performance, said he had been planning to launch this album since the release of Junoon’s last album, Deewar - a flop album as compared to the band’s earlier ones.

Describing his album’s theme, he said it was a personal expression — a kind in which philosophical moods and thematically expressed events of his life are included.

Devdas is being remade again — this time, in Pakistan, by producer Nadeem Sha and veteran Pakistani director, Iqbal Kashmiri. Music is by Vajahat Atrye and is arranged by Uttam Singh.

The songs for the film will be sung by Indian singers, including Asha Bhosle, Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal, Kavita Krishnamurthy and Alka Yagnik. The film will star Nadeem as Devdas and Reema as Chandramukhi. The role of Paro is yet to be finalized.

Says Sonu, who was about to start Riyaaz for the song recording when we called him; “Uttamji asked me to sing a song”.