Family Ties

To be honest, when actress Maya Ali told a journalist that her father did not talk to her for eight years after she joined show business, it shouldn’t have come as a big surprise.

Our society still hasn’t resolved issues that should have been laid to rest a long time ago. However, the good thing is that her father did, before his death, come to terms with her profession, and even predicted that she’s going to win an award for her performance in the play Mann Mayal. It’s thoughtful of Maya A to have talked about it because it will help other girls, and boys, who want to pursue a career in the entertainment industry and who find themselves under family pressure.

Not Affected by Bollywood Bans

Before tensions between India and Pakistan made the Indian film industry decide not to work with Pakistani artists, Atif Aslam was arguably the busiest singer from across the border in Bollywood.

Some of us think that lack of work in Mumbai may have financially hurt our actors and singers. Nope, not Atif A anyway. He says that his main source of income has always been live concerts, and they’re still happening successfully for him, therefore not working in Bollywood hasn’t affected him. That’s the spirit! It’s their loss. Especially after the chart-busting success of Dil Diyan Gallan from the film Tiger Zindah Hai, they must be feeling, ‘Shucks, what has our government done!’

It Ain’t a Choice

Last year Salman Khan, being Salman Khan, gave an irresponsible statement about depression, pointing out that he couldn’t afford that ‘luxury’. It went largely unchallenged. Someone had to respond some day, though.

So on August 5, dimpled doll Deepika Padukone, in an interview, referring to the Bollywood star (without naming him) argued that a male star said he didn’t have the luxury to be depressed, “as if depression is a choice … The word that best describes my experience with the illness is struggle.” Well done, Deepika P. This will definitely make Salman K ‘struggle’ with his response to your befitting explanation. Now if she can also educate the Hocane sisters who believe depression is only caused by what food you have.

Anurag Says It Like It Is

It is baffling how callously actor Anupam Kher reacted to the scrapping of Article 370 of the Indian constitution, and the studious silence on the chaos in India-held Kashmir maintained by a majority of Bollywood stars was equally depressing.

Thankfully, director Anurag Kashyap broke the pattern on August 6 by tweeting something that gave us an indication that there still exist a few voices of sanity in India. “You know what is scary,” wrote Anurag K, “that one man thinks he knows exactly what’s the right thing to do for the benefit of 1,200,000,000 people, and has the access to the power to execute it.” Anurag K, respect for you.

Secret Petition

That’s how you do it! On August 6, a little more than 100 models signed a petition asking Victoria’s Secret to ‘protect its talent from sexual harassment and abuse.’

Led by actress and model Milla Jovovich and filmmaker Christy Turlington, an open letter implored the company to join hands with the RESPECT Programme, an initiative that aims to lessen (and then eliminate) mistreatment in the workplace. Great idea! By the time these lines went to print, VS hadn’t responded. We sincerely hope their response will be positive.

Broken Again

Supermodel Bella Hadid and musician The Weeknd (real name Abel Tesfaye) met at Coachella in 2015 and started dating. Ever since, they’ve broken up with each other at least a couple of times. But in 2018, the musician asked Bella H to move in with him in his new condo in New York, which she did. Talk of marriage was even in the air.

Now, news is that the two have parted ways again, and this time round it seems to be for good. Apparently all because The Weeknd is busy with his new album and hasn’t been giving his girl enough time. You might wonder what kind of weekend he has to diss Bella H.

Published in Dawn, ICON, August 18th, 2019