DINNER WITH THE PRESIDENT by Sabiha Sumar

Entertainment Showbiz Pakistan , Bollywood & World Entertainment
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JUST FOR YOUR INFO…IN CASE YOU MISSED IT!

**DAWN - the Internet Edition **
May 20, 2008 Tuesday Jamadi-ul-Awwal 14, 1429

Pakistani documentary nominated for award

By A Correspondent

ABU DHABI, May 19: A Pakistani documentary, Dinner with the President, has been nominated for an award in the first international documentary competition, our Talent, being held here.

The documentary, produced by Sabiha Sumar, is among 14 shortlisted by the jury from among 115 entries from the UAE and 21 other countries on diverse subjects science, nature, society, history and politics.

The competition, with a total prize money of Dh 10 million, has been divided into two categories, Shaikh Zayed and Free Choice.

Dinner with the President is in the Free Choice category.

Sabiha has earned acclaim for her films which deal with political and social issues such as effects of religious fundamentalism on society, especially on women.

The competition has been organised by Anasy Media Production Company in cooperation with Sama Dubai TV.

The grand jury for the awards comprises Saudi media personality Muna Abu Sulayman, Indian film actress Madhuri Dixit, Toufik Founi of Al Jazeera documentary channel, Khaled Chouket, director of Arab Film Festival, Rotterdam, and journalist Riz Khan.

The 14 nominated documentaries are Shaikh Zayed category: DarZayed Hidden Treasures and Nation Shattered Legacy from the UAE; and Free Choice category: Guevera (Egypt), Dinner With the President (Pakistan), Al Ghazali (UK), A Woman from Khyranis (Tunisia), Sugar Dolls (Tunisia), Casablanca: One Way Ticket to Paradise (Tunisia), Shadow of Absence (Palestine), Al Hamdoulillah Thank My God (UAE), For That (France), Baghdad in Love (Iraq), Fingerprints (Saudi Arabia) and Al Azhar Al Sharif (Egypt).

Sabiha’s Dinner with the President, which has been directed by Sachithanandam Sathananthan of Sri Lanka, takes the temperature of Pakistani culture on issues from politics to womens rghts. The documentary presents a personal journey and explores Pakistan, a country markedly different from the images projected by the international media.

It probes the varied and diverse mindsets of the people of Pakistan; their understanding and meaning of democracy and their opinion of what the country’s political system offers. What is democracy? What is the place of women in Pakistan’s political system? Have the people of Pakistan ever experienced true democracy?

Set against the background of General Pervez Musharraf’s 1999 coup and the general’s claims to democratise Pakistani society, the film engages the president in a discussion about his vision and his intentions.

The country is wrought with feudal and tribal mindsets and varied interp retations of a religion that people believe dictate regional laws. The majority is blindly loyal to dynastic leaders irrespective of their governing ethics. The common man’s viewpoint of democracy is not about true democracy the primacy of individual rights.

The journey goes beyond the dinner table conversation into an encounter with the religious parties alliance, MMA, to a tribal parliament, to truck drivers, to young elite party-goers, to a Sindhi peasant woman and the general public on the streets.

The DAWN Media Group
Haroon House, Dr. Ziauddin Ahmed Road, Karachi 74200, Pakistan.

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Re: DINNER WITH THE PRESIDENT by Sabiha Sumar

Great! :k:

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Re: DINNER WITH THE PRESIDENT by Sabiha Sumar

i hope they show it on tv :D

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Re: DINNER WITH THE PRESIDENT by Sabiha Sumar

Zabardast :)

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Re: DINNER WITH THE PRESIDENT by Sabiha Sumar

Watch here;

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Re: DINNER WITH THE PRESIDENT by Sabiha Sumar

sabiha sumar is married to some srilankan guy and she lives in india. howcome , she's calling herself a pakistani? it's just like saying I'm a muslim but I also believe in christianity.

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Re: DINNER WITH THE PRESIDENT by Sabiha Sumar

I get what you feel, but ironically such is deemed chic :smiley:

http://www.dawn.com/2008/05/25/nat5.htm
btw She won the Gold award worth Dhs 500,000/=

Good for her, the Pres and Pakistan.

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SHE IS PAKISTANI by all counts! She hails from the famous SUMAR family..where Farooq Sumar manages the famous MUHAMMAD FAROOQ TEXTILE MILLS at Karachi. He is her first cousin.

Indeed she may have married a Srilankan...but that does, by no way, deprive her to be a Pakistani....or Muslim......does it?

We boast a lot on Dr. Abdus Salam having won the NOBEL Prize...do we?

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Re: DINNER WITH THE PRESIDENT by Sabiha Sumar

Hi uncle arjay i read the article in the newspaper quite impressive....i just cam back from karachi soem days back and i got meet Mr and Mrs. Hameed Adamji....and Muqati anty and her daughter hameeda i believe u know them too

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uncle, sabiha sumar ka dr. abdus salam is kya muqabla? dr. abdus salam to bohat bari shaksiyat hain. It's unfair to compare such a great pakistani scientist with an indian resident aka sabiha sumar.what has she done for pakistan that you're comparing her with abdus salam?

I know dr. abdus salam is qadiani but that doesn't make him a lesser pakistani. I respect him immensely for the contributions that he has made for my country.

I don't like sabiha sumar. You cannot be a pakistani and indian resident at the same time. It looks like a joke. Her film khamosh pani was against islam. it was a propagandist film that showed practicing muslims as hardliners.

Is her husband a non-muslim? If he is, I hope he embraces islam otherwise, Allah hi bakshay sabiha ko. waise religion is not your personal diary jis mein pasand ki cheez likh li aur jo acha na laga woh discard kar diya. religion mein koi zabardasti nahi hai. it's all about your imaan aur khauf-e-khuda. agar aapke dil mein khauf-ekhuda khatam ho jaye tab hi apa uski nafarmaani karengay.

I don't care what family she belongs to because I don't believe in judging people based on their caste.it's inconsequential to me.

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QUOTE:
ABU DHABI, May 19: A Pakistani documentary, Dinner with the President, has been nominated for an award in the first international documentary competition, our Talent, being held here. UNQUOTE

ZORRE KIS PE HUA ?????

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tera pakistan hai na mera pakistan hai
yeh uska pakistan hai jo sadr-e-pakistan hai

zor hua sadr-e-pakistan pe.

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Re: DINNER WITH THE PRESIDENT by Sabiha Sumar

yaar yeh sabiha sumar aur shoaib mansoor aik hi thali k chuty baty hain.kafi paisay kahry keay hon gy dono ny apni ghati movies sy.

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Re: DINNER WITH THE PRESIDENT by Sabiha Sumar

it never ceases to amaze me...even in this day and age, how very narrow our vision is...i.e tunnel vision. this woman makes an amazing documentary which sheds Pakistan in a positive light finally (after all the negative hype in the foreign media) and yahan ppl are upset because she lives in india and over her choice of spouse!! these are personal inconsequential things...see her work, judge her work, learn to look at the BIG picture!

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Agree

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double standards anyone ? all this lecture on "oh this doesn't matter blah blah " should be applied in your personal life first. go and broaden up your mind so you can have the patience to listen to others opinions.

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Re: DINNER WITH THE PRESIDENT by Sabiha Sumar

shouldn’t it be titled as dinner with the dictator or something…and why this sri lankan didn’t go with an issue more local to sri lanka like tamil tigers and their freedom or terrorism [depends whose side you are on]…or how the arabs treat sri lankan workers in ME and stuff…or maybe such issues matter nothing to these people. and also why the heck madhuri dixit is on the judges panel? to do thumkay on her 1-2-3 or dhak dhak karnay laga spicy numbers?..since when she has become an authority on documentaries and such… :chai:

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ZINDABAD…PAINDABAD ! Khush Rahein Aap !!!:bb:

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Re: DINNER WITH THE PRESIDENT by Sabiha Sumar

Sabiha Sumar's amazing interview with Bushra Ansari on 'brunch with bushra' last sunday...introduced by bushra as a talented 'PAKISTANI' filmaker. shukar hai her nationality has been cleared for ppl here.