ANOTHER FEAT

In the last few weeks, because of the socio-political hullabaloo around the world, we forgot to mention an important thing. What is it? Well, in mid-October The Legend of Maula Jatt, directed by Bilal Lashari and starring Fawad Khan, Hamza Ali Abbasi, Humaima Malik and Mahira Khan, completed one full year — that is, 52 weeks — in cinemas. Isn’t that great! Sadly, no film since then has come even close and no upcoming film seems likely to either. But at least the Pakistan film industry can take heart from this film’s accomplishments… at least we know it can be done.

DEPORTATION DRIVE

Actor Sanam Saeed is known for speaking her mind. These days, Pakistan is grappling with the issue of the expulsion of allegedly ‘illegal’ Afghans. The actress felt strongly about it and tweeted: “Deporting refugees who seek shelter here will not make our fundamental issues go away. It looks like we are deflecting blame from challenges that the government or the country overall is facing. At a time like this in the world right now, we need to show more mercy.” Agree with her or not, it is wise of her to use the word ‘mercy’, which reminds us of Shakespeare: The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath.

NO TO BANALITIES

Without going into the details, the following is an exchange on X that happened between cricketer Wasim Akram’s wife Shaniera Akram and actor Armeena Khan. Shaniera A wrote: “Helpless. I feel so totally and utterly helpless. I’ve never been scared of saying what I want or how I feel, but right now I’m very emotional and actually just don’t have any words left to give and I am really sorry if that offends anyone.” Armeena K’s response was: “You have plenty of words to give when it’s Pakistan. Either talk about Palestine openly or keep your dramatics to yourself.” We have to say, we agree with the latter.

CRAZY J

Pop singer Joe Jonas — who has just been divorced from actress Sophie Turner — went to a drug store to fetch some medicine. The security guard there recognised him and exclaimed, “Oh, Joe Jonas!” To this the musician said, “Hey man, what’s going on?” And the guard replied, “Man, you look crazy in person.” Now, Joe J is a bit confused whether the man gave him a compliment or made fun of him. We think it’s a compliment that Sophie T might agree with.

LAST SEEN

A day or two before his death, Matthew Perry was seen having lunch with a woman. The woman’s name is Athenna Crosby and she is a model. Putting rumours to rest, last week she posted the following message: “I want to emphasise that Matthew was in extremely good spirits, and talked to me enthusiastically about the things that he had coming up in his life. He was so happy and vibrant. Please refrain from any speculation surrounding his death and know that the man was on a comeback and truly deserved more time on this earth. Our entertainment industry has truly lost a legend. RIP.” Yes, rest in peace, Matty.

BIRTHDAY GIFT

In order to please Shah Rukh Khan on his birthday (November 2), two things happened that are related to Indian cinema but have global reach. One, the first teaser of his forthcoming film, Dunki, was dropped — interestingly called Drop 1. Then, his blockbuster Jawaan was released on Netflix. They say too much of everything can be bad, especially of someone who’s known for doing too much acting. Mind you, we’ve not used the word ‘over’.

Published in Dawn, ICON, November 12th, 2023