It’s been done before

The Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif’s announcement of giving a ‘welfare package’ to our film industry has, in general, had a favourable response from the showbiz community. They seem to be happy.

But not film producer and importer Sohail Khan. Talking to an Urdu daily he’s said that in 1992 the government in a notification had given the ‘industry’ status to the same film fraternity. And back then, too, it was Nawaz Sharif’s government that held the country’s reins. He bemoaned the unawareness (la ilmi) of government officials and leaders of film associations. Hmm … the man has a point, but so does the Prime Minister.

TV ain’t for him

He’s not even an A-lister yet, but check out the airs that he’s put on. Bollywood actor Sidharth Malhotra has an okay amount of work at this point in time in his career (only two film projects, to be precise — Ittefaq and A Gentleman). This means he’s not awfully busy. And he has the cheek to turn down a lucrative TV offer.

When a television channel approached him for a reality show, details of which are sketchy, he replied by saying he doesn’t have time for the small screen, and will only do a TV programme that “matches my personality.” We get it: he wants to do a show about the life of a mannequin.

Apprehensive PC

Even after becoming a true global star, the sultry and super-attractive Priyanka Chopra is as desi a gal as they come. You talk to her and you’ll know that her fears and ambitions are downright subcontinental.

Last week, the actress took to Twitter for a question-answer session with her admirers. When someone asked the Baywatch star about her most apprehensive phase as an actress, she said she gets apprehensive about everything ‘new’ but ‘courage and conviction’ is what she goes with. This is probably going to be taken by Bollywood gossip-rags that marriage is on the cards! You know, ‘new’, ‘courage’, ‘conviction’ and all that.

Nice gesture

It was nice to see Bollywood stars — Sushmita Sen, Farhan Akhtar, Ranveer Singh, Abhishek Bachchan, to name a few — congratulating the Pakistani cricket team on winning the ICC Champions Trophy through their Facebook and Twitter posts.

It served two purposes: one, it once again proved that the artist community anywhere in the world doesn’t see things in black-and-white terms; two, it took away the resentment caused on our side of the Wagah border by Rishi Kapoor’s mindless pre-final comment-cum-claim. It has to be mentioned here that, subsequently, the veteran actor himself graciously conceded that he was wrong and Pakistan defeated India in every department of the game.

Good on you, sir. Grace is always more appealing than arrogance.

Collapsed!

It’s sad to know that legendary actor Dilip Kumar’s ancestral house located near the historic Qissa Khwani Bazaar in Peshawar has collapsed.

According to an official of the cultural heritage council, who confirmed the news on June 15, Dilip sahib’s wife Saira Bano was informed about it. She was ‘dejected.’ The authorities intend to construct a replica of the house at the same place.

The thing is: the house was in a pretty bad shape. Why didn’t the local authorities take measures to restore it? Why do we always react to situations and don’t try and be proactive about them? The answer, perhaps, is: art and culture is at the bottom rung of our priority list.

Weed and death

Full marks to pop star Miley Cyrus for speaking her mind on Jimmy Fallon’s talk show.

During her candid discussion with the comedian, who is fast becoming America’s top-ranked chat show host, the singer confessed that there was a time in her life when she was into marijuana, but then a dream enabled her to quit it. “I had a dream that I would die during my monologue on Saturday Night Live … that I would just get so stoned that I just died …”

Good on you, girl! Stay clean. But we hope you now don’t have a dream in which you pass out during one of your concerts. Because in that case you might also have second thoughts about your singing.

Are they back together?

On June 16, Indian filmmaker Imtiaz Ali celebrated his 46th birthday at a swanky restaurant in Mumbai. The Bollywood bigshots that came to sing ‘happy birthday’ for him included Shah Rukh Khan, Rajkumar Hirani, Alia Bhatt, Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone.

Insiders say Ranbir K and Deepika P remained together for as long as they stayed at the party, and were even spotted whispering into each other’s ears. It appears to be a case of rekindled old flames. Dousing out the passionate feelings of Ranveer Singh.

Published in Dawn, ICON, June 25th, 2017