Sheila's script quickly caught the attention of Henri Falconi who helped update the script and jumped on as Director. Together they wrangled a passionate and talented crew that worked to produce the 15 minute short film, Nadia Jaan.
In this 15 minute short film, we're telling the story of Nadia, who is a 28 year old Afghan-American woman who, for the first time, steps outside of the boundaries of her culture and embarks on a journey of self-discovery through her sexual identity.
With this narrative, we're shining a bright light on an under-represented community, and one that often struggles to deal with the social stigmas that are placed on them. At its core, Nadia Jaan is a story that explores identity and what it means to go beyond typical expectations.
Up until this point, we've been self-funding the film, as well as fundraised through our #Notafraidtobe LGBTQ Identities Panel Discussion, which brought together LGBTQ people of the Middle Eastern community to explore their experience in the context of their respective cultural and religious backgrounds.
With your help, we'll be able to get Nadia Jaan in front of a wide audience, highlighting a vastly-underrepresented community in media, while also giving more people the opportunity to watch a kickass film (if we do say so ourselves).
In a discussion that covered a range of topics from coming out, to connecting their faith and sexuality, and some of the toxicity that lives within being Middle Eastern, we aimed to open up conversations and expand minds.
Through conversations like our panel discussion and Nadia Jaan, we're aiming to change the narrative of the Middle Eastern diaspora in media. It's time to showcase human stories that live within the diaspora.
Bajrangi Bhaijaan is the soundtrack to the 2015 Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film of the same name directed by Kabir Khan from an original story written by V. Vijayendra Prasad, starring Salman Khan, Harshaali Malhotra, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui. The film's soundtrack features eleven songs: with seven original, three reprises and an alternative version. All those songs were curated and composed by Pritam and written by Amitabh Bhattacharya, Shabbir Ahmed, Kausar Munir, Mayur Puri, Neelesh Misra and Badshah. The soundtrack was released by T-Series on 17 June 2015.
A. R. Rahman was initially considered to score music for Bajrangi Bhaijaan, but Rahman did not sign the film.[1] Then Kabir turned to his usual collaborators: Pritam for composing the songs and Julius Packiam for the score.[2] The title song for Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (2016) was eventually composed for the film, with another song "Tu Jo Mila".[3] As Pritam had two options for the romantic song featuring Salman and Kareena, he chose the latter.[4] Salman Khan was intended to sing one of the tracks, which had an "R. D. Burman kind of energy", according to Pritam. However, he did not contribute to any of the tracks in the album.[5]
The first single from the album "Selfie Le Le Re" was released on 24 May 2015, coincided with an event held during the 2015 Indian Premier League final between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians, with Salman and Kabir participating.[6][7] The song was picturised on Salman's character worshipping Hanuman at the Hanuman Jayanti celebration.[8] The second song "Tu Chahiye", a romantic number picturised on Salman and Kareena, released on 2 June 2015.[9][10] The third single track "Bhar Do Jholi Meri" was released on 10 June 2015;[11] it is a revamped version of the qawwali song "Bhar Do Jholi Meri Ya Muhammad" originally written by Purnam Allahabadi and composed and sung by the Sabri Brothers. Adnan Sami provided vocals for the song, while the track partly includes "Dam Ali Ali" from "Dama Dam Mast Qalandar".[11] The fourth song "Aaj Ki Party" was released on 16 June 2015;[12] this song was however not featured in the film.[13] The soundtrack album consists of eleven tracks, was released on 17 June 2015.[14]
In a four-star rating, critic based at India.com said that the film has "songs of high quality" describing it as a "big hit".[15] Rukmini Chopra of Bollywood Life called it as a "versatile and creative album" giving three-and-a-half stars.[16] Joginder Tuteja of Bollywood Hungama wrote "Bajrangi Bhaijaan has a couple of chartbusters which are there for the taking when it comes to being designed for Salman Khan".[17] Vipin Nair of Music Aloud wrote "Pritam ends his long break presenting one of the better Salman Khan movie soundtracks in quite a long time."[18] Aelina Kapoor of Rediff.com gave three stars and said, "Bajrangi Bhaijaan is not quite an out-and-out Salman Khan soundtrack but songs like Selfie Le Le Re and Aaj Ki Party keep energy levels high."[19]
In contrast, A reviewer based at The Indian Express criticized the music being "run-of-the-mill" as "they vapourise just as they leave the speakers"; he rated one-and-a-half-star to the album.[20] Surabhi Redkar of Koimoi described it as a "mixed bag" giving two-and-a-half out of five.[21]
EMI Pakistan and Amjad Sabri, heir to the Sabri Brothers, sued the producers of the film and the music label as they did not obtain the rights from the original artists and the label to use the qawwali song "Bhar Do Jholi Meri Ya Muhammad".[36] They sent a legal notice regarding the same, which barred the producers from using the song in the film.[37][38]
With the stress levels increasing with each passing day, we need more and more people to make us laugh. Which is why, we are thankful that people like Varun Thakur exist. How else would we have gotten such kickass jokes?
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