The Naseebo Slip

The 6th Hum TV Awards held in Canada last week was an event that won’t be forgotten for a long time. On one occasion actor and producer Angelene Malik was to announce the name of the play that had won the award in the ‘soap’ category. The play that won was Naseebo Jali. But what Angelene M announced was Naseebo Lal, who is a renowned singer. Interesting na! Perhaps, she is making a drama on the singer and it was a Freudian slip. Hope she doesn’t call the singer Naseebo Jali now.

Hum Nahin Dekheinge

Despite the last two editions’ unsatisfactory performance, Coke Studio, it seems, hasn’t learnt any lessons. The Hum Dekheinge version that the Studio released before the new season’s formal start left many questioning the understanding of poetry of the two new producers of the programme — Zoheb Kazi and Ali Hamza.

Originally sung by the inimitable Iqbal Bano, Hum Dekheinge is a poem by Faiz Ahmed Faiz and considered to be one of the most revolutionary pieces of poetry in Urdu literature. The Studio made it sound and look like a diluted, sanitised paean to national diversity, leaving out its most hard-hitting verses about overthrowing thrones.

Let’s hope it’s just a bad miss and the season will surprise us with quality music and a more judicious understanding of poetry.

Look What She Did

Pop icon Taylor Swift had a well-attended concert on July 26 at the Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. And the crowd didn’t just comprise young boys and girls; there were also a big number of law enforcement personnel (police officers and firefighters) in attendance. No, not because they anticipated trouble.

The reason for it was that two weeks ago a police officer Michael Chesna in Weymouth had been killed while performing his duties. So, Taylor S gave away hundreds of tickets to the town of Weymouth, and a large number of its official employees turned up for the lively gig.

Who ever said she was cold-hearted? Good on you, Taylor S!

Model Citizen

Known as the ‘Jesus’ model because of his signature long hair-and-beard look, fashion model and winner of two Lux Style Awards, Abbas Jafri won a seat (PS125) in the Sindh Assembly in the recently-held elections. He contested on a PTI ticket and got 30,687 votes, proving that a well-groomed beard goes a long way. Jafri has one more thing in common with the chairman of his party: the new legislator started his career in cricket. He played in the Pakistan Under-19 cricket team for a few years before switching to modelling. After his election, Jafri told the press “I get to experience the sufferings of the middle and lower class on a daily basis. I can see the high rate of street crime. Hence, I have decided that I will focus on eliminating that as a priority.” Who said models can’t be model citizens?

Another Harasser

The issue of harassment does not appear to go away. On July 27, the New Yorker magazine published an article that accused CBS chief Les Moonves of sexual misconduct. Six women who had worked with him over the last two decades in different capacities told the magazine that he had sexually harassed them.

After the news broke, CBS directors initially hemmed and hawed on the subject but later said they’re investigating the matter. Now the question is, after film producers, actors and now a channel head: who’s next?

Tit for Tat

Well done, Taapsee Pannu. That’s how you give trolls a shut-up call! The actress recently received some really nasty comments on Twitter, when someone wrote that she’s the worst-looking woman actress and after two or three movies, she will be out of Bollywood. Taapsee P replied rather calmly that she is already involved in three films and has signed two more, so “thorra tau aur jhelna padega” [you will have to tolerate me a bit more.] You go, girl! I mean, don’t go from Bollywood … more power to you!

Published in Dawn, ICON, August 5th, 2018