Petrol Blues?

Mahira Khan knows how to hog the limelight. Don’t get us wrong. We say this in a positive way. For example, she recently surprised everyone by hailing a rickshaw to reach a TV studio. The video of her little trip had everyone talking about how happy she looked in a rickshaw. She reportedly even sang the song Hum Tau Aise Hain from the Bollywood film Laaga Chunari Mein Daagh during the ride! Isn’t that nice? Wait… this wouldn’t have anything to do with rising petrol prices, would it? Wise gal, Mahira K, saving on the hi-octane.

Chuck Norris Dies

Chuck Norris — one of Hollywood’s most popular action stars and a former world karate champion — died in Kauai, Hawaii on March 20. He was 86. Chuck N shot to international fame by acting alongside the legendary Bruce Lee in the film The Way of the Dragon (1972) and continued to give commercial hits such as Missing in Action (1984) and The Delta Force (1986). He also worked in the successful TV series, Walker, Texas Ranger, in the 1990s. Sad as this news is, the one thing that doesn’t help Chuck N’s image is that he was a close friend of Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s genocidal prime minister, as can be gauged from the latter’s tweet after the actor’s death. Still, may he rest in peace.

Phantom Wars

The film Dhurandhar — The Revenge was released on March 19. Like its prequel, it is expectedly full of violence and anti-Pakistan narratives. Instead of further commenting on that, we’d like to quote what acclaimed writer Arundhati Roy stated recently when she was talking about the US-Israeli-led war on Iran and the role of the Indian government: “Some of you will remember how we used to joke about that florid, overblown Chinese communist term, ‘running dog of imperialism’. But right now, I’d say it describes us well. Except, of course, in our twisted, toxic movies, in which our celluloid heroes strut on, winning phantom war after war, dumb and over-muscled. Fuelling our insatiable bloodlust with their gratuitous violence and their s*** for brains.” Spot on, Arundhati R!

AL in the Family

On March 12, the film I Live Here Now, directed by Julie Pacino, daughter of actor Al Pacino, premiered at a theatre in Los Angeles, California. The Oscar-winner Al P made a rare red carpet appearance for his daughter. He was accompanied by two of his other children, 25-year-old twins Anton and Olivia. Their mother is actress Beverly D’Angelo (Al P’s ex-wife) and Julie P’s mum is acting coach Jan Tarrant (his ex-girlfriend). Al P also has a two-year-old son, Roman, with former girlfriend and film producer Noor Alfallah. Well, given his age (he will be 86 in April), we’d like to suggest to the legendary actor that he should now only occupy himself with reading, writing and producing… films.

Billie As Sylvia

In the 1960s, poet Sylvia Plath wrote a novel titled The Bell Jar. It is a semi-autobiographical account of her rather disturbed and creative life. Now, a film directed by Sarah Polley (Women Talking) based on that book is in the works. News is that American singer-songwriter and Grammy-winner Billie Eilish is going to essay the role of Sylvia P. We think it’s a good choice, because Billie E is a fearless, conscientious artist who, by the way, has some acting experience as well — she worked in a television series called Swarm. So, we can’t wait to see the singer-songwriter turning into a poet.

Daal Gadot

Like every year, this year’s Oscar awards reverberated with political comments made on stage. For example, Spanish actor Javier Bardem came out with Indian actress Priyanka Chopra to present the best international feature film award, and used the opportunity to proclaim, “No to war! Free Palestine.” It elicited a loud applause from the audience (most of whom haven’t yet spoken on the subject, by the way). While Javier B was making such a strong and brave statement, Priyanka C — who has never uttered a word against the Israeli genocide in Palesine and has mostly supported her own government’s belligerent policies against Pakistan and India’s minorities — stood still and kept smiling, somewhat awkwardly, we think. What made this incident rather funny, however, was that many people online quickly dubbed Priyanka C ‘Daal Gadot’, after Israeli actress Gal Gadot, who has been widely criticised for her support for Israel. No PR campaigns can protect you from social media wit, we tell you.

Published in Dawn, ICON, March 29th, 2026