Wedding Trolls

Whoever thought that these unprecedented times, when we are required to remain indoors, would have made us better human beings, needs to revisit the notion. On May 31, the internet was abuzz with the news of actor Shahroz Sabzwari and model Sadaf Kanwal’s marriage. It set off a series of unwarranted, unsavoury comments on social media with reference to the former’s separation and eventual divorce from actress Syra Yousuf a few months back. People, we should respect others’ private lives, just as we’d like them to respect ours. And congratulations to the newly-wed couple.

Fab Colab

Extraordinary times call for extraordinary efforts. Pakistani music composer Kashan Admani has achieved a great feat which should be commended wholeheartedly. He has managed to bring together 40 musicians from more than half-a-dozen countries, including Pakistan, for a collaborative track called Ay Khuda. It is a stellar line-up, with the likes of Grammy-winning Charlie Bisharat and renowned Russian guitarist Roman Miroshnichenko displaying their talent alongside Pakistan’s Khaled Anam, Farooq Ahmed of Aaroh and some prominent other artistes. And the message of the song is: hope, togetherness, spirituality and social harmony. Great, it’s the need of the hour.

Cheerier Bells

Not all is doom and gloom folks. On May 28, it was announced that actors Daniyal Raheal and Faryal Mehmood were married in a simple but joyous ceremony. The event was attended by members of the bride and groom’s families. Daniyal R himself let their admirers know about the marriage in a message that he shared on his Facebook page. Congratulations to the couple! We hope that the pandemic will end sooner rather than later so that you two lovebirds can fly out to wherever you want for a honeymoon.

Wolfman Ryan

Ryan Gosling is known mostly for playing romantic parts in movies. Well, he is now foraying into the supernatural. The actor will essay the role of Wolfman (remember the 2010 film with Benecio Del Toro playing the same character?). It’s said that the actor himself floated the idea for the remake of the story to a big studio, which was green-lighted in no time. Only the director needs to be roped in now. Ryan G as Wolfman? When he came up with the idea, was he sure he’s not still in La La Land?

Madonna, Say What?

Last week, the entire world was shaken by the brutal murder in the US of a black man, George Floyd, at the hands of a white policeman. Check out how Madonna paid tribute to the deceased. The queen of pop, Madonna, put up a video of her 14-year-old adopted son David on social media, dancing to Michael Jackson’s song They don’t really care about us. This unleashed a barrage of critical comments, arguing the pop singer does not understand contemporary times (basically meaning she has fuddy-duddy concepts) because that’s not how you criticise racism. True that, we say. Life is not always about just putting out ‘material, girl’. It’s also about getting with it.

Sanitised Donation

Bollywood insiders say Salman Khan has a heart of gold. Well, we’re not sure about it, but he did do something on May 30 that goes to show how caring a man he is. The ‘Dabangg’ actor donated 100,000 hand sanitisers to the Mumbai police. Ever since the coronavirus began to spread its tentacles, there’s a shortage of sanitisers in markets.

So well done, Salman K! The police must make sure that they wash and clean their hands properly before undertaking any assignment, for example nabbing a showbiz star for some wrongdoing.

Published in Dawn, ICON, June 7th, 2020