It’s Still Here

Whoever thinks that the coronavirus has gone away or has lost its intensity in Pakistan or is a hoax, think again. It’s for your own safety. Last week, two of our showbiz celebs — actor Usman Mukhtar and model Farwa Ali Kazmi — tested positive for Covid-19. Both have shared their feelings about contracting the virus through the media, and we hope and pray that they recover swiftly and completely. So folks, maintain social distancing and wear a mask whenever you step out of the house. The virus hasn’t left the building.

Eat Well

On October 30, Bollywood starlet Ananya Pandey celebrated her 22nd birthday. As is the trend these days, and owing to Covid-19 restrictions, she received a big number of birthday wishes from fans and colleagues via the internet. Tiger Shroff was one of them. Interestingly, he uploaded a picture of him and Ananya P from the sets of the movie Student of the Year 2, topping it off with the sentence, “Eat lots of food today. Happy Birthday.” Excuse us! We feel there’s a hint of body shaming in this… then again, maybe it’s something of an inside joke. Let’s go with the latter.

Cut It Out

One of the impatiently awaited Indian films of 2020 is Brahamastra, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt. Directed by Ayan Mukerji, the project’s producers are Karan Johar’s company Dharma Productions and Fox Star Studios (aka Fox and Disney). News is that Fox have asked the director to cut down the length of the film by at least 25 to 30 minutes (the movie has already been shot). This hasn’t gone down well with the filmmaker and apparently he is defying the order because he feels the part that they want to edit out makes up the ‘core’ of the story. The tussle is on. We wonder: why is K-Jo quiet on the matter? Perhaps he agrees with his fellow producers but doesn’t want to ruin his friendship with Ranbir K and Alia B… and Amit uncle.

She’s a Librarian

Hollywood A-lister and the drop-dead gorgeous Anne Hathaway has two children — Jonathan (4) and Jack (11 months). She’s married to actor Adam Shulman, in case anyone didn’t know. One might harbour the notion that the actress is pretty liberal in her approach to raising children. Well, she’s not. She says her boys will not watch her films until they’re older, particularly the ones in which she’s done sexy roles, because “you don’t know how much they’re going to care about any of this.” This is the reason that Anne H’s kids don’t know what their mother does for a living. In fact, the older one thinks mum’s a librarian. He ain’t that wrong; she’s filmdom’s bookkeeper.

Sean Connery, Alas!

The Oscar-winning Scottish actor Sean Connery, who played the iconic role of British spy James Bond 007 seven times and is considered by many to be the best screen Bond, died on October 31. He was 90 and, according to his wife, had been ailing for some time. His performance in The Untouchables earned him an Academy award in 1988. Apart from that, he worked in several critically acclaimed and commercially successful films such as The Hunt for Red October, The Rock and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. He was truly an icon whose twinkling eyes and Scottish accent will be remembered for a long time. May he rest in peace.

He Felt No Heat

In September this year, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Anderson took part in an online programme called Fast Times at Ridgemont High in which they read out a ‘steamy’ scene together. The episode also included Matthew McConaughey. Their acting got people gossiping that the spark between the two exes hasn’t fizzled out. That’s not what Matthew M thought of it, though. In a recent interview, when the subject was brought up, he said, “No, actually I didn’t notice anything through the screen. [But] they made for a good topic the next day.” Dear Matthew M, you do know that there’s life behind the screen as well.

Published in Dawn, ICON, November 8th, 2020