For Kashmir

To observe Kashmir Siege Day (Youm-i-Istehsal) on August 5, all of Pakistan stood in solidarity with the Kashmiri people, condemning India’s act of revoking India-held Kashmir’s special and autonomous status. The artist community was no different. In their messages on different platforms, they expressed their concern over the terrible human rights situation there and hoped that one day India would realise its mistake. Veena Malik, Osman Khalid Butt, Armeena Khan, Yumna Zaidi, Faysal Quraishi and Zhalay Sarhadi wrote heartfelt notes for their Kashmiri brethren. When will India’s artists wake up to the reality?

Lockdown Wedding

It seems, touch wood, that the frequency of bad news is diminishing by the day and good news is slowly, but surely, increasing (such as the opening of cinemas and restaurants). One nugget of goodness came over last weekend when showbiz circles buzzed with congratulatory comments for actress Aamina Sheikh (Cake), who had posted a pic on Instragram of three hands — including her daughter’s — cradling wedding rings. She has apparently tied the nuptial knot with a mystery man (who remains a mystery at the time of the filing this piece). What’s known, though, is that he doesn’t belong to tinsel town. Congratulations, Aamina S! Eat your cake and have it too.

Nothing, Everything

Folks, get ready to listen to Ayyan Ali’s lovely voice for an extended period of time. On August 6, she announced that her first musical album, intriguingly titled Nothing Like Everything, has been released. It has 11 songs — one more would have made it a neat dozen — and it took her five years to put them together. She added that the videos for the tracks will also hit the airwaves soon. We can’t wait to hear and see nothing… we mean, like, everything… in the album.

Sonu Bowled Over

Music buffs felt overjoyed to see a video of renowned Indian playback singer Sonu Nigam on his Facebook page last Sunday, getting blown away by the brilliant performance of young Pakistani singer Hadiya Hashmi and her colleague Adnan Dhol. The performance was from the song Bol Hu, in one of the Nescafe Basement episodes. Sonu N was visibly moved, especially by the little girl’s awesome talent, claiming he has heard something special after a long, long time. Yep, that’s true. He should tell bigoted Bollywood bigwigs that, by not allowing Pakistani artists to perform across the border, they’re only depriving themselves of high-quality art.

Not a Date

Gossip mongers had a field day on August 5 when photographs of Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Garner having a good time at Malibu Beach were published online. Immediately, as it always happens, every rumour mill began to churn overtime that the two were in a relationship. It didn’t take long for representatives of both Hollywood stars to clarify that Bradley C and Jennifer G have known each other for two decades, from the time they worked together in the TV series Alias. Apparently, they are very good friends who love each other’s children (she has three and he has one, it just so happens that both are leading single lives after getting divorced from their respective former spouses, Ben Affleck and Irina Shayk). Hmmm… so, no chances of a new star being born?

Sore Loser

Bollywood A-lister Anushka Sharma held an ask-me-anything event on social media last week, in which her fans put a variety of questions to her on her upcoming film projects and the post-Covid-19 scenario. In the middle of it all, someone inquired about how her hubby, captain of the Indian cricket team Virat Kohli, was doing. She avoided the question by quipping how would she know. But when it triggered some more queries about him, she gave in and responded to them cheekily. Replying to one of Virat K’s fans, she said she often beats him at board games and ‘he hates losing in anything’. She also winked, pointing out it’s a good quality (to hate losing) in a skipper.

Yes, Anushka S, it sure is. But even in a husband?

Published in Dawn, ICON, August 16th, 2020