Your Ride is Here

Atif Aslam is becoming cooler by the day. Not that he wasn’t already; it’s just that he’s taken the cool quotient a notch up. Recently, he came to Karachi to do a private gig. Given the traffic situation in the Sindh capital, the singer got a bit late for the concert. In order not to make his fans wait, he hitched a ride on a motorbike which wove its way through traffic to help Atif reach the venue quickly. Someone grabbed the images on their phone of his arrival which, needless to say, became the talk of the town. So, there is someone who can take Atif A for a ride.

Smokescreen

What’s wrong with certain types of people? Why can’t they let Alizeh Shah be? The actress is known for speaking her mind and leading a life that she wants to lead, not dictated by anyone else. Last week, someone put a video of her on the net in which she’s seen smoking in a car, and the usual lot went wild in outrage. What’s the big deal! Men smoke, and no one gives a damn. Women smoke and the internet breaks. This double standard has to go up in smoke.

Bigots in India

The recent call by a group of extremist Hindus during a conclave in India’s Haridwar city in Uttarakhand, to kill Muslims, is a harrowing sign of how things are deteriorating socially in India. More so because not a single one of them has so far been apprehended. In that regard, Naseeurddin Shah’s interview by Karan Thapar hasn’t gone down well with Hindutva followers. In his conversation with the seasoned journalist, the actor said, “It leaves you aghast when you hear things like this and I wonder if these people know what they’re talking about, because what they are calling for is a full-scale civil war. Two hundred million of us are not going to get wiped out that easily. Two hundred million of us are going to fight back, we belong here… generations of our families have lived and died here and I’m certain, if any such movement begins, it’s going to be met with a massive resistance and a massive amount of anger.” Yes, beware!

Betty White, alas!

Popular American actress Betty White died on December 31 in Los Angeles, at the age of 99. On January 17, she would have celebrated her 100th birthday. Best known for her iconic roles in the sitcom The Golden Girls and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Ms White won two Emmy awards for the latter and one for the former show. She was a pop culture icon of the 1970s and ’80s. May she rest in peace.

The Manipulator

In November 2021, Vin Diesel asked Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock via Instagram to do the role of agent Lucas Hobbs one more time in the 10th Fast and Furious film. Now Dwayne J, in an interview with CNN, has given his response to the post, and it’s not a soft one: “I told Diesel directly that I would not be returning to the franchise. I was firm yet cordial with my words and said that I would always be supportive of the cast and always root for the franchise to be successful, but that there was no chance I would return. Vin’s recent public post was an example of his manipulation.” Vin the Manipulating Diesel, watch your back, someone’s furious.

To Open or Not to Open

Director/producer Karan Johar wants the Delhi government to reopen cinema halls despite the pandemic, reasoning that cinemas are “better equipped to ensure a hygienic environment.” He wished so in a tweet, despite the fact that coronavirus cases have again rung the alarm bells for the authorities after a new rise in the number of patients. Obviously, health-conscious people haven’t taken the request in their stride and they’re taking K-Jo to the cleaners on social media. Well, tell you what, he looks after himself well. So that might not make a difference to him.

Published in Dawn, ICON, January 9th, 2022