Sajal in Love

Why are some people so surprised to know that Sajal Ali has bagged a role in an upcoming British film What’s Love Got To Do With It, produced by Jemima Goldsmith and directed by Shekhar Kapur? We always knew she had the talent to go global. Yes, it gives us pleasure to realise that, in the project, which is being filmed in London, she’s working alongside the likes of Emma Thompson, Lily James and Shabana Azmi. It’ll be a huge learning curve for her. We do wonder, though, what the film is about. Jemima’s love? Nah… that’s a tough target to chase down.

Karaoke Asim

Asim Azhar is a fine singer, make no mistake. He is also a pretty decent human being who doesn’t seem to have too many airs about himself, at least off the sets. Recently, he was spotted at a recreation place along the sea in Karachi. There he mingled with the visitors and even went up to the karaoke spot to sing a song. Yes, he was wearing a mask during the performance, complying with the coronavirus SOPs, but even those who didn’t realise it was him, after hearing his voice, stood still and listened to him sing a Bollywood song with effortless ease. Well done, bro! Nothing more sincere than an impromptu act without any reward.

Liar Liar

As an actress, Jhanvi Kapoor is slowly but gradually becoming a force to be reckoned with. She is a bit of a straight-shooter, too. In an interview given to Kareena Kapoor on the latter’s chat show, the Bollywood starlet said that, once in the US, she had lied to her father Boney Kapoor about something. They were in LA. The lie was that she told him that she was going out to watch a movie; instead, she flew out to Las Vegas and returned the next morning. Seriously! And all this while Boney K didn’t ask how long was the movie that his daughter had gone to watch?

In the Maldives

Imtiaz Ali hasn’t had a huge commercial box office success as a filmmaker since, let’s say, Highway. The director, known for his unique take on modern-day romance, is nowadays holidaying with his (separated) wife Preety and 20-year-old daughter Ida. Strange na! He broke up with Preety in 2012. Insiders believe that when the pandemic hit the entire world last year, he became worried about his family, got in touch and reconnected with both ex-wife and daughter. As a result, now they’re vacationing in the Maldives. Folks, that’s Love Aaj Kal.

Bullied by Media

Fame comes at a price. It’s not always hunky dory for renowned people. Ask Oscar winner Kate Winslet, who has revealed in an interview that, after Titanic became a big hit, she thought life would be rosier. On the contrary, British journos gave her a torrid time. “I was subject to quite a lot of personal, physical scrutiny and criticised quite a lot — the British press were actually quite unkind to me. I felt quite bullied, if I’m honest. I remember just thinking, ‘Okay, well, this is horrible and I hope it passes.’ And it did definitely pass, but it also made me realise that if that’s what being famous was, I was not ready to be famous, thank you. No, definitely not.” Kate W, we agree with you. The media can sometimes act as cold as an iceberg.

Married!

Kudos to British actor of Pakistani descent Riz Ahmed for keeping his marriage under the hat for a few months, even in this social media age! He finally gave away this piece of information a couple of weeks ago, during a podcast hosted by Louis Theroux, and then in some detail talked about it with Jimmy Fallon on his Tonight Show. The gal that he’s tied the knot with is American fiction writer of Indian descent Fatima Farheen Mirza, the author of the critically acclaimed novel A Place For Us. Congratulations to the two of them. That’s a lot of creative talent in one household.

Published in Dawn, ICON, January 24th, 2021