Top Fan

Every year, the pre-Academy Awards luncheon holds significance, as the high and mighty of the film fraternity rub shoulders with each other to, arguably, earn last-minute favours for their cinematic ventures in the Oscar race. This year, it was special for another reason: our very own Malala Yousufzai was there, as the executive producer of an Oscar-nominated film. And, apart from other celebs, she also got to talk to none other than Tom Cruise, who looked super proud in her company. Why wouldn’t he be? Meeting the famous Nobel laureate can make anyone feel like a Top Gun.

The Struggle

Dharmendra or — as he is fondly known — Dharamji, may be an octogenarian, but he does know how to handle mean folks on the internet. The actor is playing the part of a sufi in an upcoming film Taj, for which he tweeted for blessings from his admirers. One of his followers suggested he was behaving like a struggling actor. Dharamji was quick to throw shade on him, “Life is always a beautiful struggle. You, me, everyone is struggling. Resting means [the] end of your loving dreams, [the] end of your beautiful journey.” Yep, sir, we suspect that, for that troll, his obnoxious journey has ended.

PSL Anthem

The Pakistan Super League (PSL) anthem usually becomes the talk of the town as soon as it is released before the event. This time round, too, the case was similar. Produced by Abdullah Siddiqui, it’s a nice little peppy track sung by Asim Azhar, Faris Shafi and Shae Gill. While some people think that Shae G sounds the finest on the track, and she does have a beautiful voice, we feel all of the singers have done a pretty decent job. Like cricket, PSL anthems are to do with teamwork. One for all, all for one.

Dad Bod

With the phenomenal success of Pathaan, Shah Rukh Khan is on cloud nine. There’s something else which is being talked about by the Indian media, and it’s his shirtless performance in the title song of the film, Jhoome Jo Pathaan. Since the king of Bollywood is now 57 years of age, the fact that his dance moves are still being liked, is a little surprising for him as well. He says, “I’m very happy that when my kids see and youngsters see it, they say ‘Papa, lovely body’. But it’s very scary, I don’t know if I will do it again.” Well, here’s a piece of advice. Don’t. It creates unrealistic expectations of all papas.

Romantics Semantics

A Netflix documentary The Romantics, on the growth and achievements of the Indian film production house and film studio Yashraj Films, is being lauded fervently on both sides of the divide. While we are also fans of the late filmmaker Yash Chopra, who was the founder of the company, it’s a little confusing to see why the giant streaming service would promote a commercial enterprise which needs no promotion. If it becomes a trend, are we going to expect similar programmes on the likes of Warner Brothers or 20th Century Fox? Don’t think so.

Raquel Welch, rip

On February 15, yesteryear popular actress who was thought to be one of the first action heroines of Hollywood, Raquel Welch, died. She was 82. Although she shot to fame in the 1960s by appearing in films such as One Million Years BC that required her to wear skimpy clothes making the media call her a sex symbol, she never liked the tag. She wrote about it in her autobiography. Raquel W worked in more than 30 films and 50 television shows. May she rest in peace.

Published in Dawn, ICON, February 26th, 2023