Silent Celebrity Hypocrisy

Israeli barbarism doesn’t seem to have any bounds — it’s well established now. The killing of 45 innocent civilians, including women and children, in a camp in Rafah was one of Israel’s occupying force’s latest acts of unbridled savagery. Mahira Khan, Amna Ilyas and many others in our corner of the world have spoken in clear terms against the ongoing genocide, with the truthful assertion that the power hungry world has failed Palestine. Finally, Bollywood too has woken up to the reality, and quite a few of their stars have talked about the tragedy, including Sonam Kapoor and Triptii Dimri. However, the silence on the part of Hollywood (with the exception of a few actors and some musicians), which screamed at the top of its lungs at the height of the MeToo movement and against Donald Trump, is deafening.

The Anti-Virus

One of the Pakistani films that are going to see the light of day at or after Eidul Azha is Agent Anila,starring Meera, Rida Isfahani, Mustafa Qureshi and Shafqat Cheema. Watching the trailer for the project we get the idea that it revolves around anti-national forces that are trying to spread a virus in the film. It’s good to see seasoned artists such as Meera on the silver screen again, so all the best from us. The brief visuals, however, took us back to the 1990s or even ’80s world of Lollywood,when some of the movies themselves proved to be a virus for the film industry. We hope Agent A will prove quite the opposite!

The Actor

Actor-writer-host Yasir Hussain has been more in the news for his comments in recent times than for his on-screen performances. His recent remarks, though, are an extremely nice way of complimenting his better half, Iqra Aziz. He says one of the reasons for their good relationship is that she is a superstar (because she instantly gets recognised wherever in the world she goes) and he is just an actor. We agree, Yasir H. It’s nice to hear an actor not deluded by stardom.

The Obsession

Actress Sonya Hussyn will, one day, get married. What kind of a man does she want to marry? Well, she hasn’t answered this question on a talk show she was recently on but has told all and sundry what kind of a man she will ‘not’ marry: an actor. She believes actors are self-obsessed people and, since she herself belongs to the same community, Sonya H wants only one member of the married couple to be self-obsessed. Hmmm… interesting thought. A question: what kind of men go for self-obsessed women?

The London Pull

Rumour has it that the gal with rosy cheeks, Katrina Kaif, is in the family way and her child will see the light of day in London. On May 16, when hubby dear Vicky Kaushal turned 36, she posted a message on Instagram with three cakes and hearts. Some are suggesting it was a hint about the upcoming third member of the family. Last week, when the two were roaming around the streets of London, someone tried to film them. Katrina K spotted that and pulled Vicky K away from the frame. The video went viral. Does that suggest husbands should always be ready to pull away?

Ms Pro-Plastic

An understatement: Sofia Vergara shoots from the hip. She recently confessed to using Botox and now wants plastic surgery — she’s all for it. “I’m going to do every plastic surgery that I can do when I’m ready. I wish I had more downtime. I would’ve done stuff already. Because I’m in front of the camera, it’s not like I can do something and then sit in my house recuperating for weeks… I feel like you have to take advantage of everything that is out there.” And all this time we believed the 51-year-old had already had plastic surgery! Silly us.

Published in Dawn, ICON, June 9th, 2024