Zulfi Bukhari should get an award for being in the limelight for the most diverse and disconnected range of reasons; just yesterday he was out partying with Rihanna and Drake.
He is more officially in primetime news channels due to an investigation led by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against him regarding his establishment of offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). Thus he officially is prevented from being a part of the elected government as he allegedly holds a dual-nationality. So Imran Khan’s futile attempt of appointing him as a special assistant on overseas Pakistanis and human resource development- Just btw if this job description requires rubbing shoulders with Rihanna and Drake; where should I apply? However, this time limelight on the infamous Syed Zulfiqar Abbas Bokhari is due to Reham Khan throwing much unnecessary and non-sensical shade his way for his role as the producer for the movie Cake. Reham Khan shared her criticism in a tweet over the selection of the film Cake to be nominated for the Oscars in 2019 in the foreign film category. She unsuccessfully linked Mr. Bukhari with the present political status quo of the country. According to her the committee got influenced by Imran Khan and selected this film only because the producer of the film Zulfi Bokhari is a close friend of PM himself.
Who says you can’t have your ‘cake’ & eat it too?
Zulfi Bokhari friend of the PM now gets his film selected to be sent in as Pakistan’s entry to the Oscar’s too. — Reham Khan (@RehamKhan1) September 19, 2018
Actor Adnan Malik has also shared his views, he tweeted, “What an odd & unfair assertion, completely disregarding the integrity of the respectable Oscar committee members with diverse political ideologies, as well as the calibre of the film itself, which was critically acclaimed across the board (including 4 stars in The Guardian, U.K.)”.
The film’s ‘exceptionally talented’ director Asim Abbasi who truly unequivocally did a stupendous job with his movie also responded to Reham’s tweet by saying, “I understand that our storytelling (unlike her storytelling) lacked drama and masala. But still, what a strange insinuation, discounting our hard work and the committee’s decision making,” He further shared how he teamed up with Zulfi Bokhari and how much faith his friend had in his vision and capabilities, “In 2016, when I showed the script of Cake to one of the leading TV channels of Pakistan, they laughed me out of their offices. That is when Zulfi came in to help me produce it with one condition: Make a film that we can be proud of.
Ugh. I never tweet. To think I have spent the day talking about that wannabe GQ model @sayedzbukhari — but before I close this topic forever and ever, here is a little apolitical bedtime backstory for ya’ll. #CakeTheFilm pic.twitter.com/lwNHFtxamj — Asim Abbasi (@IllicitusProduc) September 19, 2018
Over the last two years, hundreds of voices whispered in his ears: What is this film you’re making? No song? No dance? No drone shots? No gori chiti actresses? Think about the box office. Masses! Masses! Masses! Not once did Zulfi ask me to change…”
He ended his tweet by stating humorously how he never tweets and how he can’t believe he was forced to waste his time by praising a wanna-be GQ model and on a lighter note ended with encouraging skeptics about watching Cake and realizing just how fine a piece of work it is! Asim Abbasi’s Cake was announced to be Pakistan’s official submission for the Oscars in 2019, and rightly so, we all hope the Oscar’s recognize the genius of the director and give him his due! As for Reham, we would like to remind her that even Kamila Shamsie who sat on the Oscar committee and is the award-winning novelist of Home Fire, responded to Reham’s criticism by saying that she did not know that the producer was friend of PM all she knew was that Cake was the best film in the running!
I was on the selection committee. I had no idea (and wouldn’t have thought it relevant if I had) that anyone involved was a friend of the PM. I just knew ‘Cake’ was the best movie in the running. https://t.co/Ydb1BV9NwF — Kamila Shamsie (@kamilashamsie) September 19, 2018