No Music

It is mind-boggling the extent to which India’s political bigwigs have begun to dislike anything Pakistani. In the wake of the four-day war, the Indian government issued an advisory asking all OTT platforms and streaming services to remove Pakistani content. As a result, the platforms, including Spotify, have taken out anything produced by Pakistan. This means our music, which the entire world loves, has also been discontinued in India. What can we say about that except that India has shot itself in the foot! How will its composers steal quality music now?

Still Together

Rumours were rife that actress Mansha Pasha and lawyer and activist Jibran Nasir’s marital life is going through a tense period, and that they’re about to separate, if they hadn’t already separated. Mansha P has denied all such gossip during an interview. The actress says that, since her husband doesn’t accompany her to a lot of social events, people assume that something is wrong with their marriage. She thinks that, these days, the more you’re seen on social media platforms, the happier you seem to the world. Well, good to know that all is well Mansha P. And you’re spot on about the false veneer of social media.

Questionable diddy

Rapper Sean Diddy Combs is in hot waters. During his ongoing trial, in which he is accused of sex-trafficking, his former girlfriend Casandra ‘Cassie’ Ventura told the court that he controlled her life and used sexual blackmail to keep her with him. That day in court, a video from 2016 was also shown to the jury, in which the musician is seen beating and dragging Casandra V in a hotel. Two years later, he allegedly raped her. However, the rapper’s lawyers are adamant that, while some of their client’s behaviour was questionable, the sex-trafficking charge is unfounded. Well, isn’t making a girl toe your line through violence and blackmail a heinous enough crime? It’s definitely something traffickers also do…

In Support of Gaza

At last, tinsel town has spoken. Just before this year’s Cannes Film Festival kicked off, 350 individuals representing the field of cinema, including Hollywood A-listers Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon and Spanish director Pedro Almodovar, condemned the genocide in Gaza in an open letter. They also mentioned in the letter the photojournalist from Gaza, Fatima Hassouna, who was killed by Israeli forces and is at the heart of a documentary to be shown at Cannes, titled Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk and directed by Sepideh Farsi from Iran. More such letters, please!

You’ve Got Male

Last week, the jingoistic Indian TV anchor Arnab Goswami went all guns blazing after Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan, for shooting his 2022 film Laal Singh Chaddha in Turkiye (because, according to him, Turkiye helped Pakistan in this month’s war against India). If you think that’s silly enough, check this out. Round about the same time, actress and BJP parliamentarian Kangana Ranaut tweeted that US President Donald Trump (who has advised Apple not to invest in India) is jealous of Narendra Modi because India’s prime minister is the “father of all alpha males.” She had to delete the post on the insistence of her party’s president, saying it was her personal opinion. Wait… a guy who never consummated his marriage is the father of alpha males? Perhaps Kangana R knows something that people don’t.

Friends For Now

Everybody knows about actress Blake Lively and filmmaker Justin Badoni’s legal war, which has been on for months now. Someone recently claimed that Blake L forced her friend pop star Taylor Swift to speak in public in her favour to give cogency to her case. While Taylor S is silent on the matter, Blake L was quick to deny any such report. She termed it as “categorically false.” Hmmm… let’s wait for Taylor S’s next song. The lyrics will reveal the truth, categorically.

Published in Dawn, ICON, May 25th, 2025