Say Hello! to Pakistan's glamorous side

[CaptainJackSparrow]

Say Hello! to Pakistan's glamorous side​

The editorial staff of Hello magazine address a news conference during its launching ceremony at National Press Club in Islamabad, Pakistan on Saturday, March 24, 2012. Pakistan is better known for bombs than bombshells, militant compounds than opulent estates. A few enterprising Pakistanis hope with the launch of a local version of the well-known celebrity magazine Hello! (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash) (B.K. Bangash)


ISLAMABAD — Pakistan is better known for bombs than bombshells, militant compounds than opulent estates. A few enterprising Pakistanis hope to alter that perception with the launch of a local version of the well-known celebrity magazine Hello!.

They plan to profile Pakistan's rich and famous: the dashing cricket players, voluptuous Bollywood stars and powerful politicians who dominate conversation in the country's ritziest private clubs and lowliest tea stalls. They also hope to discover musicians, fashion designers and other new talents who have yet to become household names.

"The side of Pakistan that is projected time and time again is negative," said Zahraa Saifullah, the CEO of Hello! Pakistan. "There is a glamorous side of Pakistan, and we want to tap into that."

But celebrating the lives of Pakistan's most prosperous citizens is not without its critics in a country where much of the population lives in poverty. Advertising one's prosperity could be risky as well since kidnappings for ransom are on the rise and attracting attention from Islamist militants can mean death.

Wajahat Khan, a consulting editor at Hello! Pakistan, said they were cognizant of the sensitivity of publishing a glamour magazine in a conservative Muslim country where many people are struggling and planned to be "socially responsible and culturally aware."

"We are trying to be happy in a war zone," Khan said Saturday at a news conference with Saifullah and other members of the magazine's editorial staff. "We are trying to celebrate what is still alive in a difficult country."

Khan said they would do everything they could to protect the security of the people they profile, but he wasn't overly concerned.

"I don't think terrorist networks are going to be reading Hello! anytime soon," he said.

Pakistan already has a series of local publications that chronicle the lives of the wellheeled in major cities like Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, especially as they hop between lavish parties. But the producers of Hello! Pakistan hope the magazine's international brand and greater depth will attract followers.

Hello! was launched in 1988 by the publisher of Spain's Hola! magazine and is now published in 150 countries. It's well-known for its extensive coverage of Britain's royal family and once paid $14 million in a joint deal with People magazine for exclusive pictures of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's newborn twins.

The market for English-language publications in Pakistan is fairly small. Most monthly and weekly magazines sell no more than 3,000 copies, said Khan, the consulting editor. But they hope to tap into the large Pakistani expatriate markets in the United Kingdom and the Middle East as well.

Hello! Pakistan will be published once a month and will cost about $5.50, twice as much as what many poor Pakistanis earn in a day. The first issue will be published in mid-April and will focus on the Pakistani fashion scene.

Saifullah, who grew up watching her mother and grandmother read Hello! as she hopped between London and Karachi, said it took her two years to convince the magazine to publish a local version in Pakistan.

"They were concerned about whether Pakistan was ready for a magazine like this," she said.

But Saifullah thinks the timing is perfect to showcase Pakistan's too often hidden treasures, citing Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, who recently became the first Pakistani filmmaker to win an Oscar for a documentary about the plight of female victims of acid attacks in the country.

"We want to tap into the aesthetically beautiful, the athletic, the fashionable," said Saifullah. "There is so much going on a daily basis that nobody ever covers. It's totally unexplored."

Say Hello! to Pakistan's glamorous side - CBS News

 

[RazPaK]

This is news? Only ignorant people would close their minds to believe Pakistan is one dimensional. These people are better off thinking this way and never coming to Pakistan.

 

[Dance]

Hello! to launch Pakistan edition

Pakistan may be best known around the world for religious extremists, political unrest and its recent devastating floods.
But behind the miserable headlines is another world of Bollywood actresses, cricketing superstars and a wealthy elite that jets from Lahore or Karachi to Dubai, London and Toronto.
Next week, Hello! magazine is to launch a Pakistan edition to tap into the country's growing appetite for celebrity news.
Its publisher, Zahraa Saifullah said she wanted to promote a more upbeat image of the country.
"The heart of our culture is vibrant, effusive and cosmopolitan," she said in a publisher's note announcing the new venture.
It is unfortunate that, of late, Pakistan's image has been dulled by the shadow of bad press. But this is not a reality for Pakistanis, who feel misrepresented by the ubiquitous fire and brimstone of media hype." Instead, she promises that Hello Pakistan – the latest franchise of the long-running Spanish magazine Hola! – will tell upbeat stories of the country's rich and famous, their homes, artwork and favourite getaways.
"We now have fashion weeks, Oscar nods, and celebs that flourish internationally," she said. "Moreover, our expat community is out there doing exciting things, most of which go undocumented."
There will be no shortage of readers.
Bina Shah, a writer based in Karachi, said Pakistanis had a deep love of celebrity news dating back to the visit of Jackie Kennedy in 1962.
"Ever since then people have been hungry for celebrity news," she said.
"The UK version of Hello! sells out in the supermarkets every week." She added that whatever the role of religious leaders, there was a vibrant party scene in Lahore and Karachi that would help fill Hello! Pakistan.
"Pakistan is just the same as anywhere else, in terms of having super rich and super famous people living their glamorous lives no matter what else is going on," she said.
Hello! Pakistan, with its celebration of luxury lifestyle, is certain to fall foul of religious leaders who waste no opportunity to denounce creeping Westernisation.
Professor Khursheed Ahmed, a senior figure in the hardline Jamaat-e-Islami party, said the magazine would run into trouble if it went against Pakistan’s conservative religious values.
“I’m a religious man and this does not sound like my cup of tea,” he said.
“If it violates the norms of our society then it could well attract anger.”
Away from the lawless tribal belt along the Afghan border, where the Pakistan Taliban has attacked cinemas, CD shops and barbers who shave beards, this is a country with a voracious appetite for gossip and a sensationalist media only too happy to oblige.
Every weekend newspapers carry party supplements, packed with photographs of glamorous guests at restaurant launches, fashion shows and club openings.
The antics of a small number of actresses who have made it in Bollywood are a staple of the celebrity pages.
At the end of last year, Veena Malik filled acres of newsprint when she apparently posed naked for an Indian magazine. If that was not controversial enough for a conservative country, she also had the letters ISI stencilled on her arm in a cheeky reference to the Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency.
The weddings of cricket stars are also covered in minute detail.
And Jemima Khan, the former wife of Imran Khan, is always a massive draw for local journalists whenever she visits.
Details of the first edition of the monthly magazine, due to reach news stands next month, have been kept secret.
But a dummy front page promises an exclusive interview with Nargis Fakhri, a model who recently made her Bollywood debut in the smash hit film Rockstar, and has made headlines ever since amid rumours of a romance with one India's most popular actors.

Hello! to launch Pakistan edition - Telegraph

 

[RayKalm]

The more we progress and allow people the right to do anything within a free law - the better our country will be.

Allah is the final judge, we have no authority to force anything upon anyone.

 

[Dance]

They should have a Vogue Pakistan too

 

[PAKBARBIE]

Hello Nargis Fakhri is HOT. must be that pakistani blood.

those who feel that a fashion magazine is more offensive and degrading for a society than mullah's touching kids in madrassas can just and get their minds examined

 

[RazPaK]

Hello Nargis Fakhri is HOT. must be that pakistani blood.

those who feel that a fashion magazine is more offensive and degrading for a society than mullah's touching kids in madrassas can just and get their minds examined

I hope you're not implying all Mullahs touch children otherwise you would win the award for most foolish comment on the thread.

 

[PAKBARBIE]

no but usually people who try to suck the fun out of everything and ban everything including fashion magazines like this one are the also the who love to ignore or deny that phenomenon....which is alive and bustling in our nation and shud be more offensive to muslims than a fashion magazine.

 

[DRaisinHerald]

There should be a degree of freedom to chose such matters, whether you wanna be a monk or tharkee, but a limit to such things is a must.
Allowing these sort of magazines is fine I guess, as long there's a clear line that must not be crossed.