Wedding Rumour

Last week, the mainstream media was abuzz with the news that Vicky Kaushal and Katrina Kaif have decided to tie the nuptial knot in December this year. And, to that end, they’ve even engaged Sabyasachi Mukherjee to come up with the bride-to-be’s wedding dress. It turned out that it was all just rumour, as Katrina K, while giving an interview to a website, said the news was untrue. When asked why the rumour began to circulate, she replied, “That’s a question I have had for the last 15 years.” Fifteen years ago, Vicky K was 18 years old. Imagine.

The Shoaib-Nauman Issue

The entire world, that is whoever watches the game of cricket, saw what transpired between former cricketer and tearaway fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar and sports show host Dr Nauman Niaz on PTV Sports, which led to Shoaib A resigning from the show on-air and Nauman N being taken off air. Since the matter is still being investigated by PTV authorities, we will not comment on it. What really hurt us, though, was the fact that it all happened in the presence of cricketing legends Sir Viv Richards and David Gower. We all have egos, but sometimes we need to look around us in whose presence we’re trying to massage our egos.

Strike and Split

Sad news for all the Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid fans! The pop star and the supermodel have parted ways, a little over a year after their baby girl Khai was born. Why? Well, he and Gigi H’s mother Yolanda got into a heated debate over something, still unrevealed, which resulted in Zayn M allegedly hitting her. Obviously, this did not go down well with Gigi H and now they’re no more together. To boot, the vocalist is facing charges for allegedly harassing the mother-daughter duo. After the hoopla, he requested social media users for privacy for him and his daughter. Hmmm… Malik sahib, it’s never a good idea to engage in an argument with the prospective mother-in-law.

Bail Out

On October 28, Bollywood king Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan was granted bail by the Mumbai High Court, 26 days after he was arrested following a raid on a cruise ship by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) where a rave party was taking place. His release prompted a series of congratulatory messages from film celebs such as Hrithik Roshan, Raveena Tandon and Karan Johar. However, even that was taken note of with a fair degree of sarcasm by actor and TV host Shekhar Suman. He tweeted, “Now all those people from the film industry who went underground and did not support Shah Rukh will come out of their holes like rats and will rush to his house with bouquets and show false sympathy now that Aryan has been granted bail.” Tell you what, he does have a point: there are holes in the industry.

Friendly Memoir

Iconic sitcom Friends’ star Matthew Perry (Chandler) is writing his memoir. He is the first cast member of the TV show who has decided to write his life story. The actor has been struggling with drug abuse for a long time, hence felt the need to pen it all down. On October 28, a renowned publishing house acquired the rights to the book, which will hit newsstands in Fall 2022. While it tackles a serious issue, those who have seen the initial chapters say it’s tinged with humour. Strange. To many of us, Matthew P comes across as a happy-go-lucky guy, but who knew “that life’s gonna be this way…” for him.

Costello’s Praise

Last week, Grammy-winner, singer and songwriter Elvis Costello was asked about ‘what’s on his radar’ these days by The Guardian. It included his current choices in books, films, television and music etc. With regard to the latter (music) he replied, “Earlier this year I found I couldn’t tolerate any music with a backbeat or electric instruments… A friend rescued me from this with the recommendation of Arooj Aftab’s voice and a particularly beautiful track, Inayaat from her album Vulture Prince. Life and love go on.” What a huge compliment that is for our very own Arooj A. In fact, what a huge inayat!

Published in Dawn, ICON, November 7th, 2021