Are They or Aren’t?

Ever since Bilal Ashraf and Syra Yousuf took a selfie together (in which both can be seen in a happy mood) tongues have been wagging about… you know… how good they look as a pair. Speculations come from a reason: the caption for the photo, in which Syra Y mentioned that “kind people are the best kind of people” and Bilal A’s comment calling her “a source of inspiration for sooo many and a true Rockstar.” We don’t know the nature of their togetherness. It may be friendship or a bit more than that. Whatever. They should at least do a film opposite one another and its subject should be — kind people and rock stars.

Pawri and Bollywood

The Pawri gal Dananeer Mobeen is now a showbiz celebrity of sorts. She was recently interviewed by an Indian YouTube channel, in which she revealed that she’s a big Bollywood buff who, as a child, used to look at Shah Rukh Khan’s pictures for long stretches of time. Dananeer M also said that Kareena Kapoor’s character Poo from the film Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham is her favourite because not just she, but the entire world can relate to that character. Interesting! Dananeer M looks anything but a pawri Poo-per.

Marital Advice

Twinkle Khanna (wife of Akshay Kumar, in case you don’t know who she is) likes to talk, and talk about everything under the sun. These days, the couple is on vacation spending time at the beach, from where she keeps sharing photos of their frolicking on Instagram. One such image had a piece of advice for… well, couples. “If we really smiled at each other like we do when someone pulls out a camera, there would be fewer divorces.” Hmmm… so Twinkle K, what we’ve understood from this is that, in order for a relationship to last, people must always carry cameras with them. Tell you what, some people can’t afford them.

Korean Masters

American Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is known for supporting and speaking for the rights of Muslims all over the world. She is an art aficionado as well. On International Women’s Day, the politician unveiled her Spotify playlist, which largely comprised Muslim women musicians from around the globe. She followed it up with another set, and surprisingly for us, pleasantly at that, it had our very own Shamoon Ismail and Abdullah Siddiqui’s track Kids. Cool, isn’t it! To be honest, the two are uber-talented and needed this kind of international recognition.

Nearly Split!

After rumours did the rounds that Hollywood A-lister Jennifer Lopez’s boyfriend Alex Rodriguez, the famous baseball player, was cheating on her, she ignored them and went for a movie shoot in the Caribbean. Then came the news that they have called it quits... parted ways, that is. This sounded more plausible. But on March 14, the couple released a statement that they are “working through some things”, which meant they’re still together. Uff! Guys, if you’re working through some things, clearly there’s a problem somewhere. I guess we’ll only know what’s really up if Alex R strikes out for the third time.

Interview Uproar

Arguably, the most talked-about celebrity interview in recent times was conducted by Oprah Winfrey. Yes, we’re referring to the garden chat with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. We won’t comment on the content of the question-answer session. But what followed after that — the firing of journalist Piers Morgan from the TV channel he was a morning show host at and where he had spoken against Meghan M, and then American reality TV star Sharon Osborne’s apology for supporting Piers M — certainly left much to be desired. It shows how royally divided and intolerant the world has become.

Published in Dawn, ICON, March 21st, 2021