Jab Appeal

Pop star Shehzad Roy has joined the campaign to inform people about the importance of getting vaccinated in order to minimise health risks in these pandemic-hit days. In a message as part of the drive, he has narrated a story: “I met a person outside the [Jinnah Hospital] Hall as Mahira Khan and I were invited by the US Consulate to promote [Covid-19] vaccinations. The person told me that he was strictly against it, but when a close family member died who was not vaccinated, and his friend only got a mild infection after being vaccinated, he decided to get himself vaccinated as soon as possible.” Spot on Shehzad R. The problem is, in our society there will always be doubters. The good thing is that their number is decreasing by the minute.

Ushna’s Fight

Indian filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali, known for his lavish and sumptuous costume dramas, is producing a series on Netflix based on Lahore’s Heera Mandi. This hasn’t gone down well with actress Ushna Shah, who thinks, rather vehemently, that it’s not India’s story to be told. She’s miffed about the fact that “if the little history that leans towards Pakistani culture or city is also commissioned to India to make [then] what historical film will Pakistan make?” Although the gal has a point, the thing is, no one has a monopoly on choosing subjects for movies or web series. Slumdog Millionaire was not a British story and yet it was told by an Englishman, Danny Boyle... who afterwards became a millionaire…

Museum Love

Actor Robert Pattinson and supermodel Suki Waterhouse had successfully kept their romance under wraps over the last few years, but everyone kinda knew. On September 29, they threw caution to the wind and celebrated the opening in Los Angeles of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, which the Twilight star hosted, with romantic flair. Both held hands and even reportedly “cuddled up” in front of everyone. Alrighty then, since they’re into museums, we can only hope their love doesn’t turn into an artefact.

Knee Jerk

Contrary to what people think, showbiz stars’ lives are a constant struggle like the lives of the rest of us. Take the example of Bollywood starlet Kriti Sanon. Recently, while she was stepping out of a salon in Mumbai, wearing a pair of denim shorts and a T-shirt, shutterbugs saw that she had a knee brace on her right knee. It turned out that the actress had strained a ligament on the knee which would take some time to completely heal. Until then, she’s not going to start or resume work on any project. Kriti S, have some rest. Good acting requires a lot of legwork.

Police Against Misogyny

Mumbai’s police has adapted to contemporary times in a fine way. They use an Instagram page to put their messages across. The latest in that regard is the force’s drive against misogyny. Using a series of scenes from Bollywood movies in which women are ill treated, the foremost of which is a scene from Kabir Singh (Shahid Kapoor and Kiara Advani), they urge, “Cinema is a reflection of our society. Here are (just) a few (of many) dialogues both our society and cinema need to reflect upon. Choose your words and actions with care — unless you want the law to intervene.” Who says law is blind?

It watches films.

Art Talk

The once married A-list Hollywood pair Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman have a 28-year-old daughter named Bella Kidman Cruise. Last week, she pleasantly surprised everyone by putting on display one of her paintings at a London exhibition based on pop band Hole’s album Pretty on the Inside, held to celebrate the group’s 30th anniversary. The young artist was uber happy to exhibit her artwork as she wrote on social media, “Is this real life? I am beyond excited to take part in this exhibition. All for charity. What a dream!” Yep, for Bella KC it sounds like a mission impossible accomplished with eyes wide shut.

Published in Dawn, ICON, October 10th, 2021