Latest news with #Maqsood
Express Tribune
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Pakkay Dost' earns Sajal's seal of approval
Singer-songwriter Bilal Maqsood released a second volume of nursery rhymes from children's puppet show Pakkay Dost on YouTube on Tuesday. The first volume came out in 2023 and the show's vibrant visuals and engaging narratives garnered widespread acclaim, fostering a love for Urdu and enriching the lives of countless young viewers. Actor Sajal Ali lauded Maqsood's work on social media, penning, "Bilal Maqsood, you are doing a great job!" She appreciated the show's reignition of Urdu language amongst the youth, "Urdu is a beautiful language and it's high time we stop running away from it." The actor reminded us that it's cool to embrace our mother tongue, "It was always cool! Let's own it, celebrate it and make it even cooler!" On Wednesday, Maqsood took to Instagram to promote the new episodes, "I make Pakkay Dost for kids. I have always longed to make quality content for children and have finally gotten the opportunity to do it after Strings ended. I believe the entertainment industry has stopped focusing on children since the last two decades." Being a father himself, the singer observed, "Our kids are being raised on foreign content, which is out of our control. We cannot limit their screen time but the least we can do is to introduce them to shows that teach them good values, are safe and keep them connected to their culture and language." Expressing why he chose Urdu, Maqsood stated "I made Pakkay Dost because I wanted to make Urdu cool. Kids and parents often run away from Urdu and I wanted to change that. I want to request all parents and teachers to make sure that kids around them watch Pakkay Dost." The show has been captivating young minds with playful storytelling and colourful visuals, fostering a love for the Urdu language while imparting valuable life lessons. This makes it an enjoyable experience for children and a meaningful one for parents who want to instill cultural and linguistic pride in their children. Each episode offers laughter, lessons, and an opportunity for children to connect with their roots. The show has garnered acclaim from parents and educators alike. In January, Maqsood announced partnership with ConnectHear to make Pakkay Dost accessible to the hearing-impaired community through the integration of sign language interpretation. "We are very excited to partner with ConnectHear," said Maqsood. "Our mission is to bring joy, learning and cultural enrichment and create a brighter childhood for all children. This collaboration is a significant step towards making Pakkay Dost truly inclusive and ensuring that every child can experience the magic of our show." "At ConnectHear, we believe in creating a world where no one is left behind," said Arhum Ishtiaq, CTO and Co-Founder, ConnectHear. "This alliance with Pakkay Dost allows us to bridge the gap in children's entertainment and education for the Deaf community. We're not just adding sign language to the show, we're adding joy, imagination, and inclusion to every deaf child's life."
Express Tribune
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Sajal Ali applauds ‘Pakkay Dost' for making Urdu fun for kids
Singer-songwriter Bilal Maqsood released a second volume of nursery rhymes from children's puppet show Pakkay Dost on YouTube on Tuesday. The first volume came out in 2023 and the show's vibrant visuals and engaging narratives garnered widespread acclaim, fostering a love for Urdu and enriching the lives of countless young viewers. Actor Sajal Ali lauded Maqsood's work on social media, penning, 'Bilal Maqsood, you are doing a great job!' She appreciated the show's reignition of Urdu language amongst the youth, 'Urdu is a beautiful language and it's high time we stop running away from it.' The actor reminded us that it's cool to embrace our mother tongue, 'It was always cool! Let's own it, celebrate it and make it even cooler!' On Wednesday, Maqsood took to Instagram to promote the new episodes, 'I make Pakkay Dost for kids. I have always longed to make quality content for children and have finally gotten the opportunity to do it after Strings ended. I believe the entertainment industry has stopped focusing on children since the last two decades." Being a father himself, the singer observed, 'Our kids are being raised on foreign content, which is out of our control. We cannot limit their screen time but the least we can do is to introduce them to shows that teach them good values, are safe and keep them connected to their culture and language.' Expressing why he chose Urdu, Maqsood stated 'I made Pakkay Dost because I wanted to make Urdu cool. Kids and parents often run away from Urdu and I wanted to change that. I want to request all parents and teachers to make sure that kids around them watch Pakkay Dost.' The show has been captivating young minds with playful storytelling and colourful visuals, fostering a love for the Urdu language while imparting valuable life lessons. This makes it an enjoyable experience for children and a meaningful one for parents who want to instill cultural and linguistic pride in their children. Each episode offers laughter, lessons, and an opportunity for children to connect with their roots. The show has garnered acclaim from parents and educators alike. In January, Maqsood announced partnership with ConnectHear to make Pakkay Dost accessible to the hearing-impaired community through the integration of sign language interpretation. "We are very excited to partner with ConnectHear," said Maqsood. "Our mission is to bring joy, learning and cultural enrichment and create a brighter childhood for all children. This collaboration is a significant step towards making Pakkay Dost truly inclusive and ensuring that every child can experience the magic of our show." "At ConnectHear, we believe in creating a world where no one is left behind," said Arhum Ishtiaq, CTO and Co-Founder, ConnectHear. "This alliance with Pakkay Dost allows us to bridge the gap in children's entertainment and education for the Deaf community. We're not just adding sign language to the show, we're adding joy, imagination, and inclusion to every deaf child's life.' Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below.
Indian Express
21-07-2025
- Indian Express
‘His daughter has grown up without her father': Families of men acquitted in 2006 Mumbai train blasts case recount years of struggle
Family members of the 12 men acquitted in the 2006 Mumbai local train blasts case Monday expressed relief and highlighted the hardships they faced during the lengthy imprisonment of their loved ones. As they rush to complete paperwork to get those acquitted released from various jails in Maharashtra, they say they believed in their relatives' 'innocence from the beginning'. The case concerns explosions on seven western suburban coaches in Mumbai, killing 189 commuters and injuring 824 on July 11, 2006. The Bombay High Court Monday overturned a 2015 verdict by a special court under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act (MCOCA) that awarded death sentences to five men and life terms to seven others. Dr Tanveer Ansari, who was serving life imprisonment, was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti Terorrist Squad (ATS) in 2006 when his daughter was six months old, said his brother Maqsood. Tanveer, a resident of Agripada, had completed his Unani medicine from Nagpur and was working at a hospital at the time of his arrest, with the ATS claiming that he had surveyed the trains for the blasts. 'He was at a clinic and was picked up by the police without any proof. We were informed two days later, and my father went to meet him and found that he had been brutally assaulted and tortured. My father was deeply affected by it. My mother passed away two years later and Tanveer was permitted to visit only for half an hour. We continued to fight for justice, knowing that he and others booked in the case were innocent,' Maqsood said. He added that their father also passed away in 2018, awaiting Tanveer's return. 'My father required surgery, but Tanveer was not granted parole. His daughter has grown up without her father,' Maqsood said. Maqsood stated that over the years, the families of the convicted men have remained each other's hope, staying in touch through a group called Innocent Families. Besides Tanveer Ansari, the others awarded life imprisonment in 2015 are Mohammed Majid Mohammed Shafi, Shaikh Mohammed Ali Alam Shaikh, Mohammed Sajid Margub Ansari, Muzammil Ataur Rahman Shaikh, Suhail Mehmood Shaikh, and Zameer Ahmed Latifur Rehman Shaikh. Kamal Ahmed Mohd Vakil Ansari from Bihar, Mohammad Faisal Ataur Rahman Shaikh from Mumbai, Ehtesham Qutubuddin Siddique from Thane, Naveed Hussain Khan from Secunderabad, and Asif Khan Bashir Khan from Jalgaon in Maharashtra were awarded the death penalty in the case. Kamal Ahmed Mohd Vakil Ansari died in prison in 2021. One of the accused, Wahid Shaikh, was acquitted by the trial court in 2015 after spending nine years in jail. He continued to advocate for justice on behalf of the others. 'From the first day, we have been saying that the whole case is bogus and that wrong persons were arrested and tortured into giving false confessions. Even after I was acquitted, the fight continued to ensure that the wrongly arrested are released. We have been saying that justice will not be done to the victims till the correct perpetrators are arrested,' Shaikh said. He also founded an organisation called the Innocence Network, not only for this case, but also to provide legal services and assistance to those who have been wrongly arrested. During a programme organised to mark the 19th anniversary of the blasts, on July 11, Shaikh said families spoke of the impact the wrongful arrests had on their lives, including facing poverty with the sole breadwinner arrested, and loss of loved ones during the pendency of the trial and later the appeal.
Express Tribune
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Playing the strings of peace
Amid the Indian outrage over Diljit Dosanjh's traitorous collaboration with the irrefutably Pakistani Hania Aamir in Sardaar Ji 3, there are two men who once melted away that geopolitical line like butter in a heated pan. And as music-loving millennials may have guessed, those two men were none other than Bilal Maqsood and Faisal Kapadia. Banding together to form the pop tour de force that became Strings (can hits such as Sar Kiye Yeh Pahar and Duur ever be erased from the cultural stream of consciousness?) Maqsood and Kapadia proved that any heartstrings across any border can be conquered, if you pluck them just right. Now, during a resurfaced clip on The Rafay Mahmood Podcast, Maqsood recalled the sheer force of love Strings received from their Indian fans, and how they never once compromised their principles across the border despite being given every inducement to do so. Launching pad "I think we got a bit lucky in the sense that in 1992, Sar Kiye Yeh Pahar was a huge hit - but what was when we disbanded Strings and took a break," recalled Maqsood. "We had some idea that we were a big hit in India — but we didn't know just how big." The musical duo not knowing 'how big' they were in India became something of a recurring theme during their 2000 comeback with the Duur album. "We made the album behind closed doors. We never thought music would be our profession. I had my own job, Faisal had his family business," noted Maqsood. "We just decided to make some music, and that we would see what would happen. It was only later that we decided that we should burn all our bridges and focus on our music." The first indication that anyone across the border was taking any notice was when Indian Network Doordarshan sought their record company's permission to air their music. Maqsood recalled being stunned at learning that Indian clubs and discos still resorted to Sar Kiye Yeh Pahar. "We still didn't realise how big we were; Faisal and I were both busy with our studies," remarked the singer. "But when we released Duur - all the label companies asked, 'Are you the same guys who sang Sar Kiye Yeh Pahar?'" It transpired that teenaged fans of 1992 had now grown into adults who worked at label companies — a turn of events that opened up doors for Strings. "We had maybe 12 or 13 companies that we could choose from to release it [in India]," explained Maqsood. "That is how the legacy of Sar Kiye Yeh Pahar worked in our favour." Love from India The Indian promotion of the Strings comeback album inevitably led to a whirlwind tour of the country. "When Duur got released there, we stayed there and promoted and travelled all over India," said Maqsood, looking back. "We lost count of how many cities and towns (big and small) that we visited. We played at clubs, at colleges — everywhere!" One moment of an almost electric connection with a 10,000-strong chanting Indian crowd, however, has become cemented in Maqsood's memory. "There was this one time when we were playing in a Delhi Park singing this medley of Indian songs that we did in our set [...] and there were these 10,000 Indian youths just chanting along for Pakistan!" said Maqsood in awe. "Faisal and I couldn't believe it. There was this Indian audience, there was Strings, and there was nothing else in between. Zero boundary. No political or geographical line — in that moment, India and Pakistan were just one." Upon returning to Pakistan, the duo had started to get an inkling that perhaps stardom could be on the cards for them after all, despite the Pakistani musical landscape of the time wedded to more 'dhol'-oriented music (think Abrarul Haq) and less of Strings' signature pop sound. "We had no idea what was going to happen, but we knew that this is the music we want to make," said Maqsood. "We had the trailer, so to speak, of success. Success was not even on the cards at the time, but we could feel this buzz around us. And that buzz? It was pretty inviting. So we decided to quit our jobs and focus on this." Bollywood boundaries That buzz, as we all now know with the benefit of hindsight, gave birth to a catalogue of music forming the bedrock of early 2000s Pakistani pop - although once again, it was not just Pakistan paying attention. Bollywood, too, entered the equation, recruiting Strings to compose what ultimately became the song Yeh Hai Meri Kahani from the film Zinda starring John Abraham and Sanjay Dutt. Through it all, however, the band remained committed to staying true to their principles — and if that meant walking away from a potential Bollywood moneymaker, so be it. "We never tried to reinvent ourselves," insisted Maqsood. "We always gave priority to our aesthetics — people realised this, and that is why they liked Strings." Maqsood recalled being offered to compose a track for the 2006 Bollywood film Kabul Express — although that particular partnership dissolved before it could begin. "Everything was sorted, and then I said, show us the script," said Maqsood. "I asked, what is the Pakistani angle in this? And then we saw the script, and knew that we couldn't do this. We said no." To a man who loves the country he has grown up in, maintaining such a balance is no difficult task. "When you already have these things ingrained in you, you don't have to 'balance' anything out," You just know that there are some things you cannot do. It becomes muscle memory." Being staunchly patriotic is not the only principle the Strings pair stuck to. Guns and cigarettes, too, remained a big no-no. "In Aakhri Alvida [from 2007 Bollywood film Shootout at Lokhandwala], there was a scene where they wanted to pick up these guns and look at them - and we said we wouldn't do it," stated Maqsood. "They said, 'It's a video, just pick it up!' But we said no. This had nothing to do with being Pakistani, but sixteen-year-olds could be watching this!" The same principles applied to smoking. "There was this other shot in Zinda where John [Abraham] puts down his keys and picks up a cigarette pack. We asked them to move it. There are some things where we would have to tell them, this is how we want to do it." There was one other boundary that principle-loving Strings swore they would never cross, no matter how tempting the prize: recording a song written by someone else. "In [Bollywood 2008 film] Dostana, they wanted me to sing it — but we said no, because we did not sing other people's compositions!" mandated Maqsood. "These were our principles, and people respected us." In other words, for any aspiring musicians searching for the blueprint to success, Maqsood has the answers you seek. Create music that speaks to you, and let nobody sway you from what you believe.
Express Tribune
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
We had an Indian audience chanting for Pakistan: Bilal Maqsood
Amid the Indian outrage over Diljit Dosanjh's traitorous collaboration with the irrefutably Pakistani Hania Aamir in Sardaar Ji 3, there are two men who once melted away that geopolitical line like butter in a heated pan. And as music-loving millennials may have guessed, those two men were none other than Bilal Maqsood and Faisal Kapadia. Banding together to form the pop tour de force that became Strings (can hits such as Sar Kiye Yeh Pahar and Duur ever be erased from the cultural stream of consciousness?) Maqsood and Kapadia proved that any heartstrings across any border can be conquered, if you pluck them just right. Looking back, during a resurfaced clip on The Rafay Mahmood Podcast, Maqsood recalled the sheer force of love Strings received from their Indian fans, and how they never once compromised their principles across the border despite being given every inducement to do so. Launching pad 'I think we got a bit lucky in the sense that in 1992, Sar Kiye Yeh Pahar was a huge hit - but what was when we disbanded Strings and took a break,' recalled Maqsood. 'We had some idea that we were a big hit in India - but we didn't know just how big.' The musical duo not knowing 'how big' they were in India became something of a recurring theme during their 2000 comeback with the Duur album. 'We made the album behind closed doors. We never thought music would be our profession. I had my own job, Faisal had his family business,' noted Maqsood. 'We just decided to make some music, and that we would see what would happen. It was only later that we decided that we should burn all our bridges and focus on our music.' The first indication that anyone across the border was taking any notice was when Indian Network Doordarshan sought their record company's permission to air their music. Maqsood recalled being stunned at learning that Indian clubs and discos still resorted to Sar Kiye Yeh Pahar. 'We still didn't realise how big we were; Faisal and I were both busy with our studies,' remarked the singer. 'But when we released Duur - all the label companies asked, 'Are you the same guys who sang Sar Kiye Yeh Pahar?'' It transpired that teenaged fans of 1992 had now grown into adults who worked at label companies - a turn of events that opened up doors for Strings. 'We had maybe 12 or 13 companies that we could choose from to release it [in India],' explained Maqsood. 'That is how the legacy of Sar Kiye Yeh Pahar worked in our favour.' Love from India The Indian promotion of the Strings comeback album inevitably led to a whirlwind tour of the country. 'When Duur got released there, we stayed there and promoted and travelled all over India,' said Maqsood, looking back. 'We lost count of how many cities and towns (big and small) that we visited. We played at clubs, at colleges - everywhere!' One moment of an almost electric connection with a 10,000-strong chanting Indian crowd, however, has become cemented in Maqsood's memory. 'There was this one time when we were playing in a Delhi Park singing this medley of Indian songs that we did in our set [...] and there were these 10,000 Indian youths just chanting along for Pakistan!' said Maqsood in awe. 'Faisal and I couldn't believe it. There was this Indian audience, there was Strings, and there was nothing else in between. Zero boundary. No political or geographical line - in that moment, India and Pakistan were just one.' Upon returning to Pakistan, the duo had started to get an inkling that perhaps stardom could be on the cards for them after all, despite the Pakistani musical landscape of the time wedded to more 'dhol'-oriented music (think Abrarul Haq) and less of Strings' signature pop sound. 'We had no idea what was going to happen, but we knew that this is the music we want to make,' said Maqsood. 'We had the trailer, so to speak, of success. Success was not even on the cards at the time, but we could feel this buzz around us. And that buzz? It was pretty inviting. So we decided to quit our jobs and focus on this.' Bollywood boundaries That buzz, as we all now know with the benefit of hindsight, gave birth to a catalogue of music forming the bedrock of early 2000s Pakistani pop - although once again, it was not just Pakistan paying attention. Bollywood, too, entered the equation, recruiting Strings to compose what ultimately became the song Yeh Hai Meri Kahani from the film Zinda starring John Abraham and Sanjay Dutt. Through it all, however, the band remained committed to staying true to their principles - and if that meant walking away from a potential Bollywood moneymaker, so be it. 'We never tried to reinvent ourselves,' insisted Maqsood. 'We always gave priority to our aesthetics - people realised this, and that is why they liked Strings.' Maqsood recalled being offered to compose a track for the 2006 Bollywood film Kabul Express - although that particular partnership dissolved before it could begin. 'Everything was sorted, and then I said, show us the script,' said Maqdood. 'I asked, what is the Pakistani angle in this? And then we saw the script, and knew that we couldn't do this. We said no.' To a man who loves the country he has grown up in, maintaining such a balance is no difficult task. 'When you already have these things ingrained in you, you don't have to 'balance' anything out,' You just know that there are some things you cannot do. It becomes muscle memory.' Being staunchly patriotic is not the only principle the Strings pair stuck to. Guns and cigarettes, too, remained a big no-no. 'In Aakhri Alvida [from 2007 Bollywood film Shootout at Lokhandwala], there was a scene where they wanted to pick up these guns and look at them - and we said we wouldn't do it,' stated Maqsood. 'They said, 'It's a video, just pick it up!' But we said no. This had nothing to do with being Pakistani, but sixteen-year-olds could be watching this!' The same principles applied to smoking. 'There was this other shot in Zinda where John [Abraham] puts down his keys and picks up a cigarette pack. We asked them to move it. There are some things where we would have to tell them, this is how we want to do it.' There was one other boundary that principle-loving Strings swore they would never cross, no matter how tempting the prize: recording a song written by someone else. 'In [Bollywood 2008 film] Dostana, they wanted me to sing this song - but we said no, because we did not sing other people's compositions,' mandated Maqsood. 'These were our principles, and people respected us.' In other words, for any aspiring musicians searching for the blueprint to success, Maqsood has the answers you seek. Create music that speaks to you, and let nobody sway you from what you believe. Have something to add to the story? Share it in the comments below.
