Khabarnaak


Khabarnaak is an Urdu and Punjabi comedy television show hosted by Ayesha Jahanzeb alongside Mir Mohammad Ali that airs on GEO News.

Concept

The series, which is styled after TV news talk shows, focuses on the satirical discussion of politics, current affairs, and society's problems, typically in the Punjabi language. Mir Mohammad Ali dresses up as a celebrity and Ayesha Jahanzeb as the presenter and co-host, while several comedians add comments and analysis. It used to feature a section "Zabaan o Bayaan" where host Ayesha Jahanzaib corrects the wrong use of the Urdu language that is common among the people. Sajjid Bhai guesses the composer, lyricists, and actors by listening to songs which are suggested by the hosts as well as the audience. Cartoonist Imran Bobby depicts political scenarios through his cartoons.

Cast

Khabarnaak has often done parodies or mimicries of well-known Pakistani public personalities like Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad, Rehman Malik, Tariq Aziz, Shahbaz Sharif, Anwar Maqsood and pop artist Ali Azmat.

History

Aftab Iqbal used to host the show Hasb-e-Haal starting in January 2009 – 2010. He left this show in April 2010. Due to his fall out with Hasb-e-Haal producers, Aftab surprised viewers by showing up on GEO TV show Choraha. The first episode of Khabarnaak was aired on 11 September 2010. The first episode's cast included popular stage artists like Naseem Vicky, Nasir Chinyoti and Badr Khan along with Amanullah Khan and Sakhawat Naz. Later, Sakhawat Naz and Amnullah Khan became the regular cast and they were joined by Honey and Saleem Albela in 2011. Iftikhar Thakur joined the show just before the 2013 General Elections.
In another surprise break-up, Amanullah Khan, Sakhawat Naz and Iftikhar Thakur left the show in August 2013 due to undisclosed reasons and started appearing on Dunya TV in the program Mazaaq Raat. Sakhawat Naz and Amanullah Khan were part of the show since its inception. In place of this trio, Agha Majid a.k.a. Aroo Grenade, Rubi Anum, Wajid Khan and Farhat Abbas Shah were added to the regular cast. Lucky Dear, Majid Jehangir, Abid Farooq and Akram Udaas also appear on some shows.
In May 2014, Aftab Iqbal had a falling out with GEO administration and left the show. Parody star Mir Mohammad Ali took over as the host. After a period of 2–3 weeks, Iqbal re-joined Geo News and started hosting the show again.
As of August 2015, Aftab Iqbal left the show. Mir Muhammad Ali hosted the show for a week before Naeem Bokhari was hired as Iqbal's permanent replacement. With Iqbal, cast members Agha Majid, Rubi Anam and Honey Albela also left the show. Iqbal started hosting the show Khabardaar on Express News. They were replaced by Hasan Murad, Sherry Nanna, Saba Gul and Lucky Dear.
Majid returned to the show in January 2017.
In 2016, Naeem Bokhari was replaced by Ayesha Jahanzeb as host. Reham Khan, former wife of Imran Khan did one episode but Geo TV management decided not to air this episode. Jugnu Mohsin replaced Jahanzeb in May 2017 for a few episodes after which Jahanzeb returned to host the show.

Segments of the show