THE REAL NA MALOOM AFRAAD

It is mind-boggling, to put it mildly. On Oct 6, the film Na Maloom Afraad 2 was banned from screening in Punjab after it had already been in theatres for five weeks. The issue was picked up by the media which prompted the makers of the movie to hold a press conference in Karachi on Oct 7.

In another interesting turn, a few hours after the presser, the film was allowed to be shown in Punjab again. Apparently the ban was imposed because ‘complaints’ against NMA 2 had been received, though now no one is willing to take responsibility. Talk about real na maloom afraad. This is how arbitrarily the custodians of our cinematic morality function. One can only shake one’s head in disbelief.

Frieha’s feat

Frieha Altaf is one of Pakistan’s best known social figures and fashionistas and is considered one of the pioneers of event management. In the past 29 years she has orchestrated over 3,000 events for A-List celebrities and organisations across Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America. Here’s another feather to her already well-decorated cap.

Last week she was invited as a speaker to Planners Xtraordinaire, a closed-door boutique platform to talk about the challenges of global event management. The event, held in Dubai, had luminaries such as Teena Barretto, Kathy Wang and Sofia Crokos as her co-participants. Congrats Frieha A! Hope you keep representing the country on similar forums and, yes, keep cat-walking the way you do!

Bankable Mahira

The teaser and song Sambhal Sambhal from Shoaib Mansoor’s upcoming film Verna have generated a great deal of excitement among movie-goers. Some cine cynics are raising their bushy eyebrows about the fact that in both promotional bits the director has highlighted only Mahira Khan as the project’s main attraction (who, by the way, is looking stunning).

It is understandable. Mahira K is a fine actress, and after doing a movie with Bollywood A-lister Shah Rukh Khan is now all the more bankable. And there’s nothing wrong with keeping the commercial aspect of the movie business in mind, even if the director is Shoaib M.

Arjun trolled

Sheesh! Social media is turning into a Frankenstein of sorts. Actor Arjun Kapoor is thought to be one of the less show-offy guys in Bollywood. And even he has become a victim of vicious trolling: a girl on Twitter called him a ‘creep’ who gives off ‘vibe of a rapist.’

What? Arjun K remained cool and termed the troll ‘saddening.’ Surely, the girl’s command over the English language is dodgy. She gave a new meaning to the word ‘vibe’, as did Arjun K to ‘saddening.’

Ben in rehab, again

Something is awfully wrong in Hollywood big shot Ben Affleck’s life. Everybody knows that he has had problems with drinking, because of which he went into rehab in March this year. Some of his colleagues thought that dating Lindsay Shookus had changed him. Nope. He’s back to his old tricks and was found drinking like a fish at the Emmys … with his girlfriend.

Things have gone out of hand, so much so that Ben A, according to a report, was recently seen “arriving at an outpatient addiction treatment centre in Los Angeles” where he might have to stay for three to four weeks. Hmmm … perhaps he needs the kind of support only his ex-wife Jennifer Gardner can provide.

Don’t give him money

Now how does one react to this! He is one of the richest actors in the world, who has also been on the Forbes list of richest men on the planet on a couple of occasions, and yet he says that he has never done anything in his life for the love of moolah.

The reference is to Shah Rukh Khan. In a recent interview the Indian actor has said, “People may think that I’m an entrepreneur, but I have never done anything for the love of money. I do things because I love doing them.” So, SRK must really like performing at strangers’ weddings, right?

Published in Dawn, ICON, October 15th, 2017