CHEF MAKES US PROUD

We often hear that Pakistanis are a talented lot and can excel in every walk of life on a global scale. For those of us who think of it as a patriotic hyperbole, check this out: a young woman of Pakistani origin, Saliha Mahmood-Ahmad, has won the famous television reality cookery show Masterchef UK 2017.

Saliha is a 29-year-old doctor who is extremely passionate about cooking.  After a long, arduous season in which aspiring chefs are tested and examined on multiple levels, the two judges of the show — Gregg Wallace and John Torode — decided that Saliha’s cooking was a class act. What a proud moment for all of us!

Keep cooking girl, and give some of your recipes to our local TV chefs to spice up their programmes … and lives.

MEESHA’S TRIBUTE TO MOTHERS

It’s nice of Meesha Shafi to be part of, nay lead, a song that’s meant to pay tribute to mothers all over the world. The song was made to celebrate Mother’s Day.

The good thing about it is that Meesha S sang it with a bunch of other talented young vocalists and did not try to upstage them. The only thing that’s a wee bit disappointing is the composition of the track. It starts off in a bit ballad-like manner and then moves on to sound more popish. A lilting melody would have served the purpose better.

But hey, who are we kidding? Moms don’t mind any kind of appreciation.

IT’S FRIVOLOUS

There was a time when the uber-talented Kangana Ranaut was a social media admirer. She would upload her pictures on Instagram and post comments on Twitter. But not anymore.

Ever since her spat with Karan Johar on his show Koffee with Karan resulting in a heated cyberspace debate, the actress has had a change of heart. She is now off soc-med (social media, for the uninitiated). When someone asked her about it she said we need to understand the frivolous nature of the platform and not take it too seriously.

And appearing on K-Jo’s show was an intellectually stimulating exercise, we suppose?

THE ROCK IN THE WHITE HOUSE?

Don’t be surprised. This was bound to happen. Wrestler-turned-actor Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock is seriously considering to run for President in the 2020 elections. He expressed his desire recently while talking to a GQ journalist.

Apparently, he started entertaining this thought after being crowned the sexiest man alive by People magazine in 2016. To be honest, after Donald Trump’s arrival in the White House, even John Cena wouldn’t be a bad bet as the American President.

PROMISING PROJECT

Some people believe that you can judge a book by its cover. That’s not the case with movies. But watching an upcoming Pakistani film Project Ghazi’s 30-second teaser has filled many of us with the hope that Pakistani cinema, slowly but surely, is coming of age.

The film starring Shehryar Munawar, Humayun Saeed and Syra Shehroz comes across as intelligently shot and smartly edited. That being said, 30-second teasers are not often the best indicator of a film’s eventual box-office performance. Fingers crossed.

THE ENGLISH ADVANTAGE

Talk about being sly! The gorgeous Katrina Kaif apparently doesn’t get along well with her female colleagues (not that her association with the men in Bollywood is always hunky-dory). She seldom even takes Indian actresses’ name in her interviews.

In her latest interview Katrina K has said that if a ‘good film offer’ from Hollywood comes her way, she wouldn’t feel reluctant about doing it. Besides, she claimed, English being her first language, it would be an added advantage for her to hear English scripts.

Hmm … so Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone hear Hindi translations of Hollywood screenplays? Imagine Baywatch being narrated in Hindi!

LONDON *THUMAKDA*

Ranbir Kapoor is a true mama’s boy. I say this in the sense that despite being such a huge movie star, he’s left it to his mother Neetu Singh to pick his bride-to-be.

Tongues wagged big time on May 10 when the news came of the mother-son duo’s sudden visit to London. Insiders say they’d gone there to see a girl who belongs to a distinguished business family as Ranbir K’s prospective wife. Whether they gave her the nod of approval is still a matter of conjecture.

Point to ponder: one of his ex-girlfriends is also from London, her father is a businessman and her name and surname begin with the letter ‘K’.

Published in Dawn, ICON, May 21st, 2017