Adil Najam

A movie based on the life of a fictional former Pakistani rock star who now sells coffee from his push cart on the streets of Manhattan, with a Pakistani-American playing the lead role, has emerged, according to Dennis Lim of the New York Times as “among the most striking American independent movies of the past year” (video trailer below).

He is not alone is lavishing uncommon praise on the independent film ‘Man Push Cart’, produced by Nuroz Films, written and directed by Iranian-American Ramin Bahrani, and with Pakistani-American Ahmad Razvi playing the lead role. Roger Ebert, the doyen of US film critics, says: “I loved it…it is an experience.,” and Alex Crawford of the BBC calls it “a terrific film, with acres of heart and humanity.”

According to the movie’s website:

Man Push Cart tells the story of Ahmad (Ahmad Razvi) a former Pakistani rock singer who ekes out a living selling coffee and donuts to morning commuters from his push cart in Midtown Manhattan. Ahmad supplements his income by selling bootleg porn DVDs, carefully saving his money to afford a place where he might be able to live with his estranged young son. It is a harsh, often humiliating life, but Ahmad carries on with a stoic dignity and sensitivity, seemingly determined to find his way. Then the dull routine of his life is brightened by two developments: the arrival of a young Spanish woman (Leticia Dolera) working down the street in a newspaper kiosk; and an offer of assistance from a wealthy fellow Pakistani (Charles Daniel Sandoval), who remembers Ahmad’s former life as a rock star.

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Bilal Zuberi

An interesting news item crossed my attention this past week. It was reported (in The Nation and many other places) that sermons delivered in Pakistani mosques before the Friday prayers will now be recorded by police. Under the Loudspeaker act, the government has mobilized the Police forces to clamp down on mosques where Friday sermons are being used to incite hatred against other sects, religions, or especially against the government. According to an AKI/Dawn report:

A source in a law-enforcement agency told the Pakistani daily Dawn that police officials would be deployed in mosques across the country to film the Friday sermons. The move was aimed at ensuring that hate speeches were not delivered from the pulpit. Pakistan’s provincial home secretaries and senior officials of the country’s law-enforcement agencies attended a meeting on Saturday to chalk out a strategy to keep close tabs on the Friday sermons -sometimes employed to foment sectarian unrest.

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Adil Najam

UPDATE: Watch video clip from President Musharraf on ‘Daily Show’ here.

Most readers of this blog would already know that Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s President and Chief of Army Staff, will be in the United States in the second half of this month; i.e., soon. The key stops in the trip will be a speech at the United Nations General Assembly (Sep. 21), the launch of his autobiography (Sep. 25), a meeting with US President George Bush (Sep. 21 and later), and possibly another with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (Sep. 21 or 22). There will, of course, also be various community and think tank stops across the country.

Also see ATP poll on ‘Grading Gen. Musharraf’s Performance’. Updated story on his media engagements and book tour, here.

However, the stop I am looking most forward to is his appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (See here) – the late night ‘fake news’ comedy show on the cable TV channel Comedy Central, on September 26. It should be an interview to remember and I am not planning to miss it (actually, I try never to miss The Daily Show anyhow; see video clip below).