The Need For Speed 

Some wise people believe that we are living in the post-truth era. In such a situation it becomes difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. Hira Mani’s statement on the Dua Zehra case invited a great deal of trolling for her. Her counter or follow-up argument was that she’s not politically right but emotionally correct. Subsequently, something happened, as it usually does, and she made a video message in which she reasoned that she was vacaying in Dubai when she released the first statement and wasn’t fully aware of the gravity of the situation. So she apologised. Hira M, a little piece of advice: always weigh your words before uttering them and, if you’re on a vacay, you don’t need to constantly be on social media.

No Dating, Please

Who says that our younger generation has lost touch with the value system of their elders? Take the example of actor Usama Khan, who was rumoured to have been dating actress Anmol Baloch. When journos went a bit overboard with the rumour, he sent the following message through social media: “My family will never allow me to date anyone. Those are my family values and I do have a few friends in this industry. ‘Date’ isn’t a nice word. I’d better be nikkah-fied than be dating anyone.” Tell you what, sir, a good number of your admirers might find it hard to qubool what you’re saying.

Nude Dude

Bollywood A-lister Ranveer Singh’s nude photo shoot for a magazine has got him in a spot of bother. An FIR has been registered against him for, as per media reports, “hurting women’s sentiments.” As soon as the pictures were uploaded on the internet, the actor received a huge amount of flak from different sections of Indian society and he became the subject of some pretty hilarious trolling. There were also those, mostly from his own fraternity, who praised him for his courage in doing what he did. We think that, after the huge flops that his films 83 and Jayeshbhai Jordaar turned out to be, Ranveer S has decided to bare it all, sorry, give it all, to revive his career.

Mature Advice

Noor Bukhari may have said adieu to the field of acting but she doesn’t shy away from giving her opinions on actors. Last week, the former actress took to social media about the film London Nahin Jaunga, praising its director Nadeem Baig and actress Kubra Khan. As for the movie’s male lead, Humayun Saeed, she pointed out that, at his age (we think he is 50 now), doing romantic parts doesn’t suit him because people apparently don’t fall in love at that age. Therefore, she said, he should only do ‘mature’ roles. Hmmm… if we deconstruct this statement, she seems to be saying two things: that love has a time limit, and that to be romantic implies immaturity. What does that tell us about Noor B?

Concert Commotion

Pop star Dua Lipa is in the news for a couple of slightly disturbing incidents. First, the Levitating singer was rushed by a fan in Mexico — as she was trying to get into her car, a girl ran towards her out of nowhere, only to be pushed back by the vocalist’s bodyguards. And then, on July 27, at the end of her concert in Toronto, someone set off fireworks in the arena, causing minor injuries to three people who had come for the gig. Till last reports came in, the police were still investigating the incident. Well, Dua L’s career is certainly on fire, but fire can also burn.

The Chance

Auteur Indian filmmaker Anurag Kashyap is making a film, yet to be named, for which he has roped in Sunny Leone. This has made the actress happy like a bee. Check out her Insta caption for a picture in which she is seen with the director: “Yes my smile is ‘ear to ear’ because dreams do come true! I never in a million years thought someone as amazing [as] Anurag Kashyap would take a chance on me. After so many years of being in India and in Bollywood, I received a call asking if I would audition for an Anurag film. There are moments in life where everything changes… this is my moment in my head and heart. No matter how things turn out, you took a chance on me, Anurag Sir, and I will never forget that in my life.” No need to underestimate yourself, Sunny L. Maybe Anurag K was himself waiting for the right project to cast the baby doll sonay di.

Published in Dawn, ICON, August 7th, 2022