All's cool with Atif Aslam, says Farhan Saeed

It's been a quite a number of years that Aatif Aslam left the band Jal to create his own identity here in Bollywood as a playback singer.

And now recently, Farhan Saeed who was the lead vocalist of Jal too has quit the band. When B-S asked Farhan if he was in touch with Aatif, the singer who was in Mumbai recently said, No, we're not in touch.

He has a busy life and I lead a busy life as well. Out of 365 days, I live 265 out of my suitcase. But whenever we have met in Pakistan, it has been cordial. I haven't met him after parting with Jal though. We're both mature people and it's all cool between us.

The feeling's mutual we hope!

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Raj Thackeray permits airing of Sur Kshetra featuring Pakistani artists

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray Thursday gave the green signal to airing of the show "Sur Kshetra" featuring Pakistani artists after the officials and producers of the channels met him here, party officials said.

Earlier this week, Thackeray had reiterated the party's threat to disrupt shooting of "Sur Kshetra" stating that he does not favour the same. 

The show will be go on air Saturday on Colors and Sahara channels. The music reality show will have two teams - one is mentored by Indian composer Himesh Reshammiya and the Pakistani team will have Atif Aslam as their guru.
Indian singing legend Asha Bhosle, popular Bangladeshi crooner Runa Laila and acclaimed Pakistani Sufi singer Abida Parveen will judge the show. 

Raj Nayak, the CEO of Colors and Boney Kapoor, director of Sahara One Media and Entertainment Ltd, met Thackeray Thursday and requested him stating that they have already shot many episodes. 

"We met with Mr. Thackeray and told him that we have shot over 15 episodes of the show and that we are really looking forward to air the show as scheduled," Kapoor told media persons after the meeting. 

Thackeray told them that he stands by his views and that it is wrong to entertain Pakistani artists when Indians are not welcomed in their country. He, however, gave them the green signal to air the show, a party official said. 

"Both Boney Kapoor and Raj Nayak met Raj Thackeray and requested him not to disrupt the show's airing or its subsequent shooting. 

Raj saab, however, said that he will surely give them a go ahead, but they should ask their souls whether or not it is right to entertain Pakistani artists, while Indians are not welcome in Pakistan," said Shalini Thackeray, secretary of Maharashtra Navnirman Chitrapat Karmachari Sena (MNCKS), the film wing of MNS.

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Pass or fail - the motto of Sur Kshetra

Either 'pass or fail' seems to be the motto of 'Sur Kshetra', a musical reality show which will be aired on Colors and Sahara One channel simultaneously

The show will have two teams, one from India and the other from Pakistan, competing with each other. The musical reality show will be judged by legendary singers Asha Bhosle, Abida Parveen and Runa Laila, while Himesh Reshammiya and Atif Aslam will be mentoring the Indian and Pakistani teams respectively.

The show promises to be different from the rest in terms of judging the participants - they will either be given a zero or a ten for their performances. "The concept of the show is very unique. Either pass or fail. It was very tough, all the contestants sing so well," Asha Bhosle said at the launch of the show, held at a suburban hotel here Thursday.

The lack of any points between zero and ten made it very difficult for the judges, contestants and mentors, but they have taken the challenge in the right spirit. After having done almost six reality shows, music director Himesh Reshammiya said this concept makes the show different from the rest.

"The concept of the show is very different. Due to this, the level of singing will be very high. If a singer sings well, he gets 10 and if he is sings anything less than that, he gets a zero. This is the next stage of reality show," he said.

Legendary singer from Bangladesh, Runa Laila who seems to be the neutral judge in the show said that this made it tougher for her to judge it.

"Asha ji is from India and Abida ji is from Pakistan. I am neutral and this became tougher for me. I had to balance things. This zero and ten marking scheme made it harder," Laila said. "But the plus point was that in case we gave someone zero, they didn't get disheartened and tried harder," she added.

Similarly for the third judge, Abida Parveen, marking contestants with either a zero or a ten was a bit of a challenge. The show will be hosted by Bollywood actress Ayesha Takia.

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Same Indo-Pak music show on two different channels!

Channels may be battling with each other for higher viewership ratings but two of them have decided to air the same show!

The long-in-the making Indo-Pak television show captained by Himesh Reshammiya and Atif Aslam will finally go on air on Colors as well as on the channel which had conceived the show.

The judges include Asha Bhosle, Abida Parveen and Runa Laila and will be hosted by Ayesha Takia. Considering the bottlenecks the show faced during its shooting schedules, this is sweet music to the ears for the makers.

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