Opinion

PakistaniArt publishes bold, independent perspectives on Pakistani art, culture, and society. We welcome criticism, commentary, and argument from writers who are not afraid to take a position and back it up.

The Pakistani showbiz industry is currently experiencing a dynamic shift, driven by major celebrity updates, massive local television productions, and critical policy debates surrounding foreign content. As a vibrant ecosystem encompassing television dramas, high-fashion modeling, cinema, and digital media, the landscape thrives on active fan engagement and heavy cross-platform digital presence.🎭 Major Celebrity & Wedding NewsHigh-profile celebrity milestones and personal updates heavily dominate current headlines across local media platforms:Mawra Hocane & Ameer Gilani: The popular television duo officially married in a grand wedding ceremony hosted in Lahore, trending heavily across digital platforms.Kubra Khan & Gohar Rasheed: The long-time celebrity peers celebrated their Nikkah ceremony during a religious pilgrimage to Makkah.Nimra Khan: The actress celebrated her birthday by achieving a personal milestone, fulfilling her dream of performing Umrah alongside her husband.Dur-e-Fishan Saleem: The actress captured immense social media attention while celebrating and documenting her brother's recent wedding festivities.🎬 Television Drama & Digital Media TrendsTelevision dramas remain the foundational pillar of Pakistan's entertainment economy, supported by growing digital streaming outlets like tapmad Entertainment and FUCHSIA Magazine:Streaming Era Proliferation: Original digital series like Shamsher (starring Farhan Saeed and Hareem Farooq) are driving viewership straight to localized streaming platforms over traditional television sets.Rising Industry Debates: On-screen content boundaries are drawing active fan scrutiny, such as recent public critique leveled at the romantic on-screen physical proximity of university student characters in ongoing television serials.The Stand-Up Boom: Narrative themes are broadening out, as seen in projects like Green Entertainment's Standup Girl starring Zara Noor Abbas, which explores creative performance arts outside conventional soap-opera tropes.⚖️ Industry Policy & Economic ChallengesBeyond the glamour, the administrative side of Lollywood faces intense friction:Foreign Content Tax Battle: In late June 2026, major local entertainment bodies fiercely opposed a federal proposal to remove the advance tax on imported television serials and international advertisements. Industry leaders warn that rolling back these protective taxes risks mass local crew unemployment and threatens decades of industrial rehabilitation.Infrastructure Deficit: Prominent performers have voiced structural concerns, stating that while Punjab and other regions produce an abundance of creative talent, industry demand remains bottlenecked, treating showbiz like a localized community rather than an open, structured industry.

Pakistan's Showbiz Workers Are Right to Panic Over the Foreign Content Tax Rollback

A clause buried in the Finance Bill 2026-27 threatens to undo ten years of hard-won recovery for local television professionals who already know what cheap foreign imports did to their industry once before

Zoya Mahroosh ZulfiqarJUN 25, 2026
The National College of Arts (NCA) Lahore stands as Pakistan's premier, federally chartered public art university and the second-oldest art institution in South Asia. Founded in 1875 as the Mayo School of Industrial Arts to safeguard and document regional craftsmanship under the British Raj, the institution's pedagogical roots were deeply influenced by the global Arts and Crafts Movement. Its inaugural principal, British artist and curator John Lockwood Kipling, established a curriculum that uniquely fused traditional Punjabi and Mughal craft techniques with European perspective-drawing methods. This design-and-craft ethos crystallized architecturally in the college's historic campus on Mall Road. Designed by the pioneering master builder Bhai Ram Singh and constructed by the legendary engineer Sir Ganga Ram, the iconic campus features red-brick, Indo-Saracenic facades, protective verandas, structural arches, and ornamental chatris. The historic Kipling Block, whose foundation stone was laid in 1880, serves as a physical anchor directly adjacent to the Lahore Museum, which was originally curated alongside the school to provide students with raw reference material.Following Pakistan's independence, the facility underwent a radical modernization in 1958 under the guidance of its first Pakistani principal, Mian Barkat Ali. Restructured into the National College of Arts, the university successfully decolonized its curriculum by importing global design methodologies and integrating experimental, non-conformist practices. Today, the institution organizes its academic scaffolding across the faculties of Art, Design, Architecture, Film & Television, and Performing Arts. It accommodates diverse specializations ranging from traditional Miniature Painting and Ceramic Design to contemporary Musicology and Visual Communication Design. Entrance is exceptionally competitive, drawing talent nationwide via a strict, multi-tiered provincial quota system, written testing, and rigorous live drawing examinations. This immersive, studio-centric cultural melting pot has birthed generations of visionary changemakers. Its alumni include modern art pioneers like Zahoor ul Akhlaq and Salima Hashmi, alongside prominent contemporary cultural icons like Ali Zafar and Ayesha Omar. Expanding its national reach, NCA also hosts specialized satellite campuses—including its Rawalpindi Campus and the newly inaugurated Gilgit-Baltistan Campus—solidifying its role as a monumental pillar of artistic scholarship, creative freedom, and cultural preservation across the region.

How to Get Admission at NCA in 2026, From Someone Who Made It

A Fine Arts student walks through the real drawing test, the interview myths, and every date you need for 2026

Awais ShaukatJUL 14, 2026

Latest in Opinion

OpinionJUL 14, 2026

How to Get Admission at NCA in 2026, From Someone Who Made It

Awais Shaukat
The National College of Arts (NCA) Lahore stands as Pakistan's premier, federally chartered public art university and the second-oldest art institution in South Asia. Founded in 1875 as the Mayo School of Industrial Arts to safeguard and document regional craftsmanship under the British Raj, the institution's pedagogical roots were deeply influenced by the global Arts and Crafts Movement. Its inaugural principal, British artist and curator John Lockwood Kipling, established a curriculum that uniquely fused traditional Punjabi and Mughal craft techniques with European perspective-drawing methods. This design-and-craft ethos crystallized architecturally in the college's historic campus on Mall Road. Designed by the pioneering master builder Bhai Ram Singh and constructed by the legendary engineer Sir Ganga Ram, the iconic campus features red-brick, Indo-Saracenic facades, protective verandas, structural arches, and ornamental chatris. The historic Kipling Block, whose foundation stone was laid in 1880, serves as a physical anchor directly adjacent to the Lahore Museum, which was originally curated alongside the school to provide students with raw reference material.Following Pakistan's independence, the facility underwent a radical modernization in 1958 under the guidance of its first Pakistani principal, Mian Barkat Ali. Restructured into the National College of Arts, the university successfully decolonized its curriculum by importing global design methodologies and integrating experimental, non-conformist practices. Today, the institution organizes its academic scaffolding across the faculties of Art, Design, Architecture, Film & Television, and Performing Arts. It accommodates diverse specializations ranging from traditional Miniature Painting and Ceramic Design to contemporary Musicology and Visual Communication Design. Entrance is exceptionally competitive, drawing talent nationwide via a strict, multi-tiered provincial quota system, written testing, and rigorous live drawing examinations. This immersive, studio-centric cultural melting pot has birthed generations of visionary changemakers. Its alumni include modern art pioneers like Zahoor ul Akhlaq and Salima Hashmi, alongside prominent contemporary cultural icons like Ali Zafar and Ayesha Omar. Expanding its national reach, NCA also hosts specialized satellite campuses—including its Rawalpindi Campus and the newly inaugurated Gilgit-Baltistan Campus—solidifying its role as a monumental pillar of artistic scholarship, creative freedom, and cultural preservation across the region.
OpinionJUN 25, 2026

Pakistan's Showbiz Workers Are Right to Panic Over the Foreign Content Tax Rollback

Zoya Mahroosh Zulfiqar
The Pakistani showbiz industry is currently experiencing a dynamic shift, driven by major celebrity updates, massive local television productions, and critical policy debates surrounding foreign content. As a vibrant ecosystem encompassing television dramas, high-fashion modeling, cinema, and digital media, the landscape thrives on active fan engagement and heavy cross-platform digital presence.🎭 Major Celebrity & Wedding NewsHigh-profile celebrity milestones and personal updates heavily dominate current headlines across local media platforms:Mawra Hocane & Ameer Gilani: The popular television duo officially married in a grand wedding ceremony hosted in Lahore, trending heavily across digital platforms.Kubra Khan & Gohar Rasheed: The long-time celebrity peers celebrated their Nikkah ceremony during a religious pilgrimage to Makkah.Nimra Khan: The actress celebrated her birthday by achieving a personal milestone, fulfilling her dream of performing Umrah alongside her husband.Dur-e-Fishan Saleem: The actress captured immense social media attention while celebrating and documenting her brother's recent wedding festivities.🎬 Television Drama & Digital Media TrendsTelevision dramas remain the foundational pillar of Pakistan's entertainment economy, supported by growing digital streaming outlets like tapmad Entertainment and FUCHSIA Magazine:Streaming Era Proliferation: Original digital series like Shamsher (starring Farhan Saeed and Hareem Farooq) are driving viewership straight to localized streaming platforms over traditional television sets.Rising Industry Debates: On-screen content boundaries are drawing active fan scrutiny, such as recent public critique leveled at the romantic on-screen physical proximity of university student characters in ongoing television serials.The Stand-Up Boom: Narrative themes are broadening out, as seen in projects like Green Entertainment's Standup Girl starring Zara Noor Abbas, which explores creative performance arts outside conventional soap-opera tropes.⚖️ Industry Policy & Economic ChallengesBeyond the glamour, the administrative side of Lollywood faces intense friction:Foreign Content Tax Battle: In late June 2026, major local entertainment bodies fiercely opposed a federal proposal to remove the advance tax on imported television serials and international advertisements. Industry leaders warn that rolling back these protective taxes risks mass local crew unemployment and threatens decades of industrial rehabilitation.Infrastructure Deficit: Prominent performers have voiced structural concerns, stating that while Punjab and other regions produce an abundance of creative talent, industry demand remains bottlenecked, treating showbiz like a localized community rather than an open, structured industry.

Most Popular

  1. 1KATSEYE's Manon Bannerman Controversy, Explanation
  2. 2Brad Pitt Reveals He's Drinking Again and Opens Up About Suicidal Thoughts in Rare Esquire Interview
  3. 3Why Drake's Kick Stream Became the Internet's Favorite Meme This Weekend
  4. 4'Tamasha' Season 5 Kicks Off With a Day One Fight That Already Has Fans Talking
  5. 5Durefishan Saleem's 'Dar-e-Nijaat' Performance Draws Sharp Online Criticism

Advertisement

PakistaniArt uses cookies to remember your preferences, keep the site running smoothly, and understand which stories our readers care about most. We never sell your data. See our Cookie Policy for exactly what we collect and why.