Top Spot(ify)

There’s no stopping Pasoori, the super-hit Coke Studio song effortlessly sung by Ali Sethi and Shae Gill, which has been garnering global praise ever since it first went on air. Going a step ahead, the track last week debuted at 161 on Spotify’s global charts, with more than 736,000 streams. It’s also racked up more than 86 million views on YouTube! Wow! That is huge and fantastic. It’s time create more pasoori for international listeners.

Birthday Blues

On April 24, Indian master blaster Sachin Tendulkar celebrated his 49th birthday. Congratulatory messages came pouring in on social media from all parts of the world, including Pakistan. One of the messages was from Rawalpindi Express Shoaib Akhtar. It did not go down well with film star Shaan who wondered why the Pakistani fast bowler did not congratulate former prime minister and captain of the Pakistan cricket team Imran Khan on his birthday. Point to ponder, Shaan dear, but isn’t sending birthday messages kind of a personal thing?

Hi Wife

The Ranbir Kapoor-Alia Bhatt wedding is, arguably, the most talked about post-Covid-19 matrimonial event in the Subcontinent — the coronavirus pandemic hasn’t completely gone away, mind you. A video of the ceremony uploaded on social media has further endeared the couple to their fans. In it, Ranbir is seen introducing Alia B to his family members in the following words: “Say hi to my wife.” They did. To which the bride also replied with a gentle hi. Well, hi you two!

The Fall

The Coachella Music Festival was in full swing when something disturbing happened. Over the second weekend of the event, the Grammy- and Oscar-winning singer Billie Eilish performed. While she was singing Getting Older, for some reason, the lights went off. The 20-year-old was unpleasantly surprised and, as she moved forward, she tripped and fell face-first on stage. But she was quick to get back on her feet, and shrugged off the incident with a smile. Cool.

Rest assured, she’s not getting too old.

Noticed on Stage

The real world of reel life stars is becoming weirder and weirder (think Slapgate, think the Depp-Heard case). And now this: on April 27, actress Olivia Wilde took to stage at CinemaCon to plug her upcoming film Don’t Worry Darling starring her boyfriend Harry Styles and Florence Pugh, when a woman sitting in the front row got up and handed her an envelope marked ‘Personal and Confidential’. She opened it right there thinking it was a script and it turned to be a legal notice from her ex-fiance Jason Sudeikis about the custody of their two children (the couple were together for nine years before breaking up in 2020). Reportedly, Jason S had no knowledge of how the custody papers would be delivered to Olivia W. Yeah right, he was born yesterday.

Daddy Cool

Bollywood starlet Ananya Pandey is fast becoming a sought-after actress. She is the proud daughter of actor Chunky Pandey. So when a journalist asked her about her equation with her father, she said, “I love listening to his stories and how he encapsulates the way the industry has changed from the time he was a hero in Bollywood to now, when he is a versatile artist who can pull off anything if he is convinced. He realises that the industry functions differently now, so he stands by me, but doesn’t give me any gyaan [wisdom/advice]…” Hmmm… the kind of roles that he’s done in films, we think it’s gyaani of him not to give gyaan to anyone.

Published in Dawn, ICON, May 8th, 2022