Viral Spiral

Actress Saba Faisal, known for speaking her mind, come what may, ain’t happy with how her statements are edited and packaged for social media. She believes the respect she has gained over the years is compromised when her words are taken out of context and pieced together into a video, in order for them to go viral. “Virality is a strange illness that has become so widespread,” she says. We concur, Saba F. The thing is, these are times that we know that if we’re giving a statement on camera, someone or the other will pick and choose the bits that they like or dislike. So, the medium becomes the message, if you get our drift. We think you’re aware of that…

Filler Killer

Seasoned actress Hina Dilpazeer doesn’t talk much about the state of the television industry but, when she does, she makes some strong points. Take, for example, her recent TV interview, in which she argued that television dramas lack strong stories these days. “Television’s reach makes it powerful enough to shape public sentiment and filling it with weak, filler content wastes both time and money,” she said. Now, coming from someone who has spent decades in the industry, everyone must take her words seriously. But wait… why doesn’t Hina D, or anyone who thinks the way she does, do something about it? Why only pontificate? Oh, right, the work needs to keep coming in.

Fathering Emotions

In 2023, Mad Men’s Don Draper Jon Hamm married actress Anna Osceola. Just a little over three years later, the 38-year-old is pregnant with their first child. When Jon H appeared on Seth Meyers’ chat show, the host picked the 55-year-old actor’s brain about the prospects of being a first-time father. Jon H replied, “By turns, very excited and deeply terrified. So, I think I’m doing it right.” Seth M was adamant about showing him the right picture and said the feeling [of excitement and being terrified] never goes away. Jon H once jumped in to act in Bad Times at the El Royale with just a week’s notice to memorise his lines, simply because he wanted to work with Jeff Bridges, so he should know about having those feelings simultaneously.

Here We Go Again?

Indian filmmaker Zoya Akhtar has instilled hope in fans of her movie Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (ZNMD), starring Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar and Abhay Deol, which was released 15 years ago and became a giant hit. When a journo recently asked her whether there will be a sequel to the project, she replied, “We are on it.” However, she put a big condition for that to materialise. Zoya A says only if the story feels right to “catch up with the characters” and everything else clicks, will she go for a ZNMD 2. The director is right. The slight problem is that we still don’t know where exactly the characters were in the original ZNMD.

Subverting Suppression

The documentary NAZA, directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor and produced by The Guardian, won the Special Jury Prize at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival. The documentary is based on anonymous testimonies of 24 Israeli military whistleblowers who detail the Zionist army’s indiscriminate killing of civilians in the Gaza genocide, and takes its title from the Israeli military term meaning collateral damage. It is set to be released in theatres in October. But, given the severe backlash within the Zionist state, which has even threatened to strip the filmmakers of their citizenship, the producers have now announced that the film will be made available to watch for free online from November. This is not the first time filmmakers of politically sensitive documentaries have gone this route. Back in 2005, Indian filmmaker Rakesh Sharma had done exactly this with his documentary on the 2002 Gujarat pogrom, The Final Solution. It’s a good strategy. When faced with censorship and bullying, make the film accessible and spread what they would like to suppress.

The Recanting

In December 2024, a woman, whose name was not given to the media but who was listed as Jane Doe in court documents, accused rapper Jay-Z (Shawn Carter), husband of pop icon Beyoncé, of raping Jane Doe when she was 13 years of age. Last week, she recanted her claims in a court declaration. Her words: “I have never met Mr Carter. Mr Carter never engaged in any inappropriate conduct toward me whatsoever. There is no truth to any of my claims against Mr Carter. I understand my false accusations have caused Mr Carter immense pain, suffering and damage that can never be fully undone.” Well, woman, your accusation has damaged the already weakened #MeToo movement, too.

Published in Dawn, ICON, October 4th, 2026