Going places

Congratulations to our very own Hameed Sheikh for bagging a role in a film titled The Man from Kathmandu. Directed by a Nepali filmmaker Pema Dhondup, who is based in the US, the movie tells the story of a boy who comes to Nepal looking for his father.

As the story progresses, the boy finds out that there’s more to the country than just his father, and thus his quest for his roots begins. Hameed S is playing the part of a Hindu priest who has strong political ambitions. If the trailer for the film is anything to go by, then Hameed S’s work will definitely earn him laurels. After Moor, it is great to know that his talent has finally been recognised on a global scale.

Way to go, buddy!

Running into Fakhr

Once-upon-a-time-rap singer Fakhre Alam’s car was hit last week by a vehicle that was part of the security escort team for a police officer. As often happens, instead of feeling remorse or being regretful about it, one of the security team’s members got off his car and, according to the musician, was about to harass him. But when the team sensed that it was confronting a known person, the officer, who “was in the lead car, ran away”.

Fakhr A narrated the whole incident online and it became a point of discussion for a couple of days. This takes one back to the days when the rapper, along with his other colleagues, requested the government to provide security to the artist community. Remember that?

Not a good name

What’s with Priyanka Chopra? Ever since she got engaged to singer Nick Jonas, the actress has gone a tad zanier than she was. Here’s why. On Sept 7, Nick J was a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

As the chitchat began, the host asked the vocalist whether he and his fiancée have a celebrity couple nickname. Before he could reply, Priyanka C screamed from behind the stage: “Prick!” Funny as it may be, one would think the Quantico star would want to keep a lid on that, lest it catch on.

Oscar’s U-Turn

It had taken quite a few film critics and a great many movie buffs by a not-so-pleasant surprise when in August the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) announced that, for the next year’s Oscars, it is going to introduce a new ‘popular film category’. Wits asked if that wasn’t what the Oscars already awarded.

Thankfully, better sense has prevailed. The Academy issued a statement on Sept 6 saying it’s postponing the idea because it “seeks additional input regarding the category.” This clearly means that the wise heads who run the AMPAS do not seek much input before taking important decisions. Perhaps it’s time they started doing that.

Kanye for President?

Well folks, it turns out that Kanye West does not kid us when he expresses the desire to run for president of the United States of America in 2020. Not at all. This has been confirmed by his friend and fellow musician John Legend during a podcast. He saysKanye W is seriously considering running for the top post, though he hasn’t confided in him whether he’ll run as a party (Republican or Democrat) candidate or as independent.

John L sees in Kanye W “some aspects of Donald Trump” and that “Trump winning makes it feel like he could do it too”. To be honest, there’s one more common factor between the rapper and the current US President: both have wives who are more photogenic than their husbands. That should be all it takes to leading a global superpower, shouldn’t it?

Second time lucky?

Once bitten twice shy seems to be Bollywoood actress Kalki Koechlin’s favourite proverb. She got married to filmmaker Anurag Kashyap in 2011 and two years later got divorced.

Now that she has earned, through her discreet acting choices, a distinct place in the Indian film industry, speculations are doing the rounds that she might tie the knot again. Well, not happening. Talking to a journo Kalki K has said that she doesn’t think she’ll get married again. Well dear, don’t be sure about it. Life throws strange surprises at you, sometimes in the form of second marriages. Sometimes more …

Published in Dawn, ICON, September 16th, 2018