The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is the regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union of states in South Asia. Its member states are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. SAARC comprises 3% of the world's land area, 21% of the world's population and 5.21% of the global economy, as of 2021.
Abida Parveen is a Pakistani singer, composer and musician of Sufi music. She is also a painter and entrepreneur. Parveen is one of the highest paid singers in Pakistan. Her singing and music has earned her many accolades, and she has been dubbed as the 'Queen of Sufi music'.
Salakhain is a Pakistani Lollywood film which was released in 2004. Stars included Ahmed Butt, Zara Sheikh and Meera. The music was composed by M Arshad. Sajid Hassan and Saud were cast as villains with Shafi Muhammad as their boss.
Ghunghat is an Urdu language Pakistani film released in the summer of 1996. It marked Shaan's comeback into the Pakistani film industry and won the actor many plaudits for his performance as the scheming villain.
Zara Sheikh is a Pakistani model and actress. Sheikh has acted in films such as Tere Pyar Mein (2000), Salakhain (2004) and Laaj (2003). She won the Nigar Award for Best Actress for her performance in film Tere Pyar Mein and Lux Style Award for Best Actress for her performance in ‘Laaj’.
Jawed Sheikh is a Pakistani actor, film director and producer who works in Lollywood and Bollywood. He is best known for working in the Hindi films Om Shanti Om, My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves , Namastey London, etc.
Cinema of Pakistan, popularly known as Lollywood, refers to the filmmaking industry in Pakistan. Pakistan is home to several film studios centres, primarily located in its three largest cities – Karachi, Lahore, and Faisalabad.
Udaya Prasanna Vithanage is a Sri Lankan filmmaker. He is considered one of the pioneers of the third generation of the Sri Lankan cinema. He has directed eight feature films including Death on a Full Moon Day (1997), August Sun (2003), Flowers of the Sky (2008) & With You, Without You (2012) and won many prestigious national and international awards and have also been commercially successful in Sri Lanka. In his early theatre work, he translated and produced plays by international writers, adapted works of world literature to film. He has battled against the censorship in Sri Lanka and worked as an educator of cinema who has conducted many Master classes in the subcontinent for young filmmakers and enthusiasts.
Iman Ali is a Pakistani actress, model, and singer who appears in Urdu films. Ali made her film debut with a leading role in the 2007 thriller film Khuda Kay Liye, for which she won a Lux Style Award for Best Actress. She has also starred as the main female lead in the 2016 film Mah e Mir, and had a supporting role in the 2011 social drama Bol.
Mohabbataan Sachiyaan is a 2007 Pakistani Punjabi language musical romance film directed by Shehzad Rafiq and produced by Shafqat Chaudhary. The film was distributed by Geo Films in cinemas nationwide on October 14, 2007.
Pakistan–Sri Lanka relations refer to bilateral relations between Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Both countries are located in South Asia. The earliest proper diplomatic and trade contacts between Pakistan and Sri Lanka date back as early as 1948. In 2013, the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif said that there were strong bonds of friendship between the two countries.
Ahmed Shehzad is a Pakistani international cricketer. He is an opening batsman who made his One Day International and Twenty20 International debut for Pakistan in April 2009 against Australia.
Humaima Malick is a Pakistani actress who works in Pakistani films and serials. She is known for Ishq Junoon Deewangi as Pares Usmani and social-drama Bol in 2011.
Ishq Khuda is a 2013 Pakistani Punjabi-language romantic film directed by Shahzad Rafique and produced by Shafquat Chaudhry. It stars Shaan Shahid, Meera, Saima, Ahsan Khan, Humaima Malick, Wiam Dahmani and Shafqat Cheema. The film was released on 9 August 2013 and was declared a commercial success.
Mansoor Aslam Khan Niazi, known professionally as Sami Khan, is a Pakistani actor and model who appears in films and television dramas. He started his career with film Salakhain and then moved to television.
Dasun Pathirana [Sinhala]), is a model and an award-winning actor in Sri Lankan cinema, theater and television. He won an award at Indie Fest 2014 as best actor in a leading role. He received his first Sarasaviya award in 2018.
Prasanna Jayakody is a Sri Lankan film director and screenwriter, internationally recognized for his cinematic accomplishments in contemporary Sri Lankan cinema. His movies primarily explore the human state of mind. They are fusions of human emotions, senses and thoughts set against the fractured socio-economic, cultural and religious environments of Sri Lanka. In the global context, Jayakody’s cinema represents the psycho-biological realities of mankind and arbitrariness of human cognition juxtaposed against the larger concept of civilization. Jayakody’s eccentric cinematic world, in the absence of a flowing story, capitalizes on subtle but detailed images and intense characters.
Countries and territories in South Asia have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The first South Asian country to report a confirmed case was Nepal, which documented its first case on 23 January 2020, in a man who had returned from Wuhan on 9 January. As of 2 July, at least one case of COVID-19 has been reported in every country in South Asia. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Maldives have implemented lockdowns, Sri Lanka has responded with quarantine curfews while India and Nepal have declared a country-wide lockdown. Countries have also instituted various levels of restrictions on international travel, some countries have completely sealed off their land borders and grounded most international flights.
