SUFI SAL’S INSENSITIVE TWEET

Making fun of someone when they’re mourning the loss of their parent is totally uncalled-for, even if the mourner is your political opponent. On April 2, Maryam Nawaz Sharif posted a picture of her parents Nawaz Sharif and Kulsoom (who died on Sept 11, 2018) on their 48th wedding anniversary, captioning “Your loss is painful beyond words but your death will not destroy the love that connects us all.”

To this Junoon’s Salman Ahmed mocked her, saying she should act like a leader not a melodramatic actor. This did not go down well with the Twitterati and they criticised Salman A theek thaak. No wonder he has the habit of falling out with his bandmates.

TEEFA PARTY

On April 5, a get-together was held at a swanky restaurant in Karachi to celebrate the success of the film Teefa in Trouble. The invitees were asked to show up at 5pm. But when no member of the cast and crew turned up until 7pm, it took a bit of the shine off the event.

Still, it was a good bash for a movie that was released nine months back. The attendees enjoyed it. The question needs to be asked is: for how long the success will be celebrated? Not that we mind it, mind you.

DOG LOVE

It’s no secret anymore that actor/director Farhan Akhtar and actress/TV anchor Shibani Dandekar are seeing each other. Tongues had been wagging for long about their hook-up but both had been keeping mum about it.

Last week, Farhan A posted a picture on Instagram of his dog in someone’s lap with a few hashtags such as #takeapaws. To which Shibani D responded with a heart emoji, prompting him to remark ‘lucky dog’. It was a giveaway that it was her lap that the dog was resting in. Obviously Farhan A wasn’t calling his dog lucky. Rumours are they may, in fact, be tying the knot as early as this month.

HEART TO HEART

On April 4, legendary frontman of The Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger, underwent heart surgery in a New York hospital. The news disturbed his millions of fans the world over. Thankfully, the very next day, the man known for his great vocals and stage antics, released a message: “I’m feeling much better now and on the mend, and also a huge thank you to all the hospital staff for doing a superb job.”

Good to know that, Mick J. Keep rocking! We can’t get no satisfaction without it.

RAP OF LOVE

Well done talented sisters Bushra Ansari and Asma Abbas for rapping a Punjabi poem penned by their other sister, poet Neelum Ahmad Bashir. The song, Humsaye Maa Jaaye, performed as duet between a Pakistani and an Indian rural woman, aims to show the pointlessness of Indo-Pak hate and underlines the importance of focusing on the more pressing issues bedeviling the people in both countries.

The moment the video — directed by Iqbal Hussain and produced by Bushra A — hit cyberspace, it went crazy viral … in a good way. It has already racked up more than 750,000 hits on YouTube and earned plaudits from both sides of the border. This is exactly the kind of effort that artists need to do on a regular basis, for they are the conscience of society. Any society. Something for Bollywood bigwigs to learn a lesson from and, if possible, emulate.

RETURN TO CELLULOID

Thank heavens, Irrfan Khan has fully recovered from his neuroendocrine tumour and is back in action after almost a year. On April 5, the actor was seen filming an upcoming movie Angrezi Medium (which I guess is the sequel to the extremely successful Hindi Medium) along with the very talented Deepak Dobriyal.

The film, directed by Homi Adajania, is slated to release next year. We’re so happy to see you back in action, Irrfan K! Explore all the mediums (Hindi, Angrezi, Urdu, Zulu) the way you do because you are the only actor who can do that.

Published in Dawn, ICON, April 14th, 2019