{"id":17631,"date":"2016-09-19T12:36:10","date_gmt":"2016-09-19T11:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/?p=17631"},"modified":"2016-09-19T12:36:10","modified_gmt":"2016-09-19T11:36:10","slug":"malala-loves-janaan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2016\/09\/19\/malala-loves-janaan\/","title":{"rendered":"Malala Loves Janaan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monday 19th<\/sup> September 2016, Birmingham, UK \u2013 The world\u2019s youngest Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Malala Yousafzai, was full of praise for Pakistani film, Janaan, after seeing it at a special screening in Birmingham attended by the film\u2019s lead actors, Bilal Ashraf and Ali Rehman Khan.<\/p>\n

Speaking after the screening, Malala said, \u201cI\u2019m really excited that I saw this beautiful film, Janaan, and I ask all of you to see this film; it has a huge message about girls\u2019 education, about women\u2019s rights, about our Pashtun culture and I\u2019m really proud of it, and it is amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Honouring Pakistan\u2019s rich heritage in film, the arts and storytelling, Janaan (\u2018Beloved\u2019 in Pashto) presents a colourful and emotional observation of contemporary Pakistan. Filmed in the breathtaking Swat region among other locations, the film is helmed by a team of young creatives, directed by Azfar Jafri and written by Osman Khalid Butt. Rising stars of Pakistani cinema, Bilal Ashraf, Armeena Rana Khan and Ali Rehman Khan, feature in the lead roles in a film that is emblematic of a burgeoning Pakistani film industry, consistently making waves internationally. The soundtrack by Ahmed Ali, Taha Malik and Bollywood composers, Salim Sulaiman has been dominating the airwaves since release, most notably the title track rendered by Bollywood singing sensation, Armaan Malik, with an unplugged version performed by popular female vocalist, Shreya Ghosal.<\/p>\n

Janaan has also set a new precedent for Pakistani cinema in the UK and overseas, breaking previous Box Office records. The film reached number 8 in the UK Box Office Top 10 after its opening weekend \u2013 the first time ever that a Pakistani film has reached the UK Box Office Top 10.<\/p>\n

In cinemas now, Janaan is presented by IRK Films, Munir Hussain Films – UK (Pepe’s Piri Group) and ARY Films.<\/p>\n

Join in the conversation on #Janaan<\/p>\n

Film synopsis:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Janaan is a romantic comedy that tells the story of Meena\u00a0(Armeena\u00a0Rana\u00a0Khan)\u00a0who, having\u00a0lived in Canada for 11 years following the death of her mother, returns\u00a0to\u00a0her homeland in\u00a0Swat, Pakistan\u00a0for her cousin\u2019s wedding. Meena is initially apprehensive about the trip\u00a0but simultaneously finds herself missing the family dynamics and unbridled love she had left behind.\u00a0On reaching Swat, trying to adapt to her ethnic roots leads her into often-hilarious situations.<\/p>\n

Meena soon realises that her family is secretly setting her up to marry either one of her cousins: Daniyal (Ali Rehman Khan), a cool Islamabadi boy and mischievous but irresistible charmer; or Asfandyar (Bilal Ashraf), an arrogant Pathan with whom she shares a love-hate relationship. Meena\u2019s family further comprises an assortment of entertaining and\u00a0colorful characters.<\/p>\n

Daniyal flirts with Meena every chance he gets but, despite the bravado, he\u00a0is innocent at heart, with gentle and subtle\u00a0character shades revealed as the story progresses. Asfandyar is reserved, blunt and\u00a0boorish, consistently caught in crossfire of\u00a0words with Meena. Though they initially appear\u00a0to be polar opposites, it transpires that the two share much in common. Meena wants to become a teacher, while Asfandyar has set up a school in Swat for\u00a0underprivileged children.\u00a0Animosity turns to respect,\u00a0which, in turn paves the way for love between the two of them.\u00a0In the months\u00a0preparing for cousin Palwashay\u2019s wedding, Meena\u00a0discovers a lot about her family and herself.\u00a0The journey entrenched in dichotomies that Meena takes forms the crux of Janaan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monday 19th September 2016, Birmingham, UK \u2013 The world\u2019s youngest Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Malala Yousafzai, was full of praise for Pakistani film, Janaan, after seeing it at a special screening in Birmingham attended by the film\u2019s lead actors, Bilal Ashraf and Ali Rehman Khan. Speaking after the screening, Malala said, \u201cI\u2019m really excited that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":17633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,112],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-desixpress","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}