Saddening Incident

The gang rape that took place on the Lahore Motorway, followed by an insensitive statement from the CCPO Lahore, is one of the darkest episodes in the history of our nation. The artist community of the country, like the rest of us, feel utterly saddened and enraged, at the same time, by it. They (such as Ayesha Omar, Mahira Khan, Mansha Pasha, Osman Khalid Butt, Mehwish Hayat etc) in their messages have asked those who are victim blaming to stop and instead publicly shame the abusers. Whether it will have any impact on society remains to be seen.

Punching Bag

On September 10, ace Indian filmmaker Anurag Kashyap celebrated his 48th birthday. As expected, he received a huge number of messages from his friends, colleagues and admirers. Arguably, the most interesting one came from actress Taapsee Pannu, who worked with him in the movie Manmarziyaan. In a note on Twitter, she wrote, “Happy Birthday to my official punching bag.” Fans are still trying to decode the phrase. We know what it means. It means that, whenever she gets frustrated with a verbal showdown with Kangana Ranaut, she vents out her anger by punching the life out of Anurag K, a la his film Mukkabaaz.

BTS Collab?

BTS are, arguably, the most popular boy band in the world and certainly the most famous K-pop group. The videos of their hit numbers have been, in a fun way, superimposed or overlapped on Pakistani and Indian songs. One of them is our very own Asim Azhar’s Soneya. Acknowledging that, the singer has expressed his desire to become the first Pakistani to collaborate with BTS. Well, to be honest, it’s a good idea, and if they don’t come up with a new track together, they can always redo successful songs such as No More Dream or Fake Love with a desi touch. Asim Azhar, we are sure, will be Har Gharri Tayyar Kamran.

Yin, Yang

Bollywood star Shahid Kapoor’s wife Mira Rajput does not have a filmi background, but she does know how to remain relevant in the media. She uploads pictures of her family (the couple and their two kids) on a regular basis, to elicit the comments of their fans.

Last week, Mira R posted a monochrome photo on her Instagram page in which Shahid K is seen standing behind her while she covers the foreground rather nicely. She titled the image ‘Yin and Yang’.

Here’s an interesting suggestion: in case her hubby does a love triangle film in the future, he could give it the title Yin, Yang Aur Woh?

Wordsmith

Jaden Smith (son of Will Smith) got rumour mills churning overtime when he was photographed holding hands and having a good time with model Sofia Richie on Malibu Beach. In fact, showbiz journos think that it’s not the first time that they’ve been spotted getting lovy-dovey with each other. When asked by a radio host about the piece of news, Jaden S was quick to respond,

“Me and Sofia had been friends for like 10 years. We’ve been going to the beach pretty consistently for 10 years too.” Yep, and for 10 years the relationship has been pla(ten)ic, sorry platonic.

Swank Sues Guild

In 2015, Oscar winner Hilary Swank fell ill. She tried to get treatment for malignant ovarian cysts. Unfortunately, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists denied coverage for the health plan because they thought it was an ‘infertility treatment’. On September 8, the actress filed a lawsuit against the guild, since “they were relying on the notion that the only purpose of preserving the health of an ovary is to procreate.” Hilary S is right: perhaps it’s the minds of some members of the guild that need to be more ‘fertile’.

Published in Dawn, ICON, September 20th, 2020