While scrolling through social media, you often come across abusive and vile comments, targeted at female celebrities, which make you shudder if they catch your eye for even a moment. Recently, several popular female celebrities have spoken up about being abused online and have called for a stop on it.
Here are all those who have expressed their anger online.
Mahira Khan
This is not the first time Mahira Khan has opened up about online abuse and its repercussions.
I wonder if these sick people commenting and passing judgements realise what it can do to people. People suffering from depression, people who are already in a dark place. You won’t be able to show this ‘righteous’ card to Allah when you have blood on your hands!
Hania Aamir has spoken up on more than one occasion about being bullied online but her recent Instagram story was directed at Hina Altaf who commented that Muneeb Butt is a bad actor.
Ayesha Omar
Ayesha Omar is currently vacationing in Greece but it appears that Pakistani citizens are not having with her vacay style and are voicing their disapproval in the comments section. That propelled Ayesha to post this in her Instagram stories.
Iqra Aziz
In just the past week, Iqra Aziz has talked about cyber abuse twice. Once before her engagement to Yasir Hussain and once after. In her first post, Iqra talked about how it takes a few words to bring someone down and tell them that they aren’t good enough. In her second post, post-engagement, she said that she is shutting out all those who are spreading hate and vitriol online.
A recent report by AFP has revealed a growing trend in keeping lions as pets in Karachi and rough estimates show that 300 lions are being kept as pets.
Recently, actor Imran Abbas posted a picture of himself posing with a lion and playing with it on the terrace of a house.
Naturally, his picture invited tremendous backlash after which Imran took to Instagram to clarify that the lion is not “caged or malnutritioned.” He shared that the animal is kept in a natural habitat at a farmhouse and was brought to the house only for a day. Abbas added that the lion, named Simba, loves human beings and cannot be sent back to the jungle because he can’t live without the owner.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz0iyywnby2/
In a follow-up post, Abbas also clarified that the lion was not on drugs and was in fact pampered. He also thanked everyone for their concern.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz0yPsin-X4/
Further social media sleuthing revealed that the lion belonged to a social media influencer called Azlan Shah. Azlan, who calls himself an animal lover, has over time, shared lots of pictures of himself with his pet lion.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz1Dx3aFVNK/
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv30wKelAhw/
Keeping wild animals as exotic pets has witnessed an upward trend in the past few years, especially in Karachi, where people have started keeping snakes, lions, tigers and giraffes as pets.
As much as this year’s Lux Style Awards tried to be politically and morally correct, in reality, the exact opposite happened. The awards continue to be in the headlines and not for the best of reasons. After the whole Iqra Aziz, Yasir Hussain drama, which frankly blew out of proportion, people are now turning their attention to the other things that happened at the award ceremony. Such as Momina Mustehsan’s performance.
Momina, who was performing for the first time ever, opened the Lux Style Awards with Eva B, the cult classic rapper from Lyari. The entire segment, written, directed and produced by Mustehsan, raised more than just a few eyebrows and videos of her performing went viral on social media with people asking what exactly she was doing on stage.
Salman Sheikh, better known as Mani, also had a few thoughts on the matter. Sharing the video on his Instagram, he remarked that Momina’s performance was the death of rap and dance.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BzyE3unhvHQ/
Meanwhile, here’s what Twitter had to say on her performance.
Okay, so Momina Mustehsan can’t dance. And she doesn’t know it either. But were the LSA show directors sleeping? Why did you guys make her do this and why didn’t you try to advise her otherwise? At what point during the rehearsals did you guys think that this was going well?
— Manal Faheem Khan (@ManalFaheemKhan) July 8, 2019
I think Momina Mustehsan is a great inspiration. All my life I thought I couldn’t dance, but now I know I too can make it to Lux Style Awards all I need is to show up on the stage and flail my arms around. Thank you for giving me the courage and hope
A moment of silence for all Friends fans. US reruns of the popular television sitcom Friends will be moving from Netflix Inc to a new streaming service, HBO Max in 2020.
The service, from AT&T Inc’s WarnerMedia is scheduled to launch next spring, and is expected to offer more than a dozen original shows and movies from stars including Reese Witherspoon and Anna Kendrick. Programming from AT&T-owned networks such as HBO and TBS and classics from the Warner Bros film and TV library will also be part of the service.
A subscription price for HBO Max has not yet been announced.
Friends, a TV hit in the 1990s, was the second-most-watched show on Netflix in the United States when measured by minutes streamed, according to Nielsen data for 2018. The most-viewed Netflix show is The Office, which will switch from Netflix to a planned digital offering from Comcast Corp’s NBCUniversal in 2021.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix lost Friends in a bidding war with WarnerMedia, which agreed to pay $85 million per year for five years for the show. Netflix reportedly made a Herculean effort to keep the show, spending $80 to $100 million to keep the series for 2019, but couldn’t manage beyond that.
Netflix, in a comment on Twitter, said it was “sorry to see ‘Friends’ go.”
“Thanks for the memories, gang,” the company said.
The One Where We Have To Say Goodbye.
We’re sorry to see Friends go to Warner’s streaming service at the beginning of 2020 (in The US). Thanks for the memories, gang ☕
Despite all the shor sharaba and nominations withdrawl from the 18th Lux Style Awards, Ali Zafar won the award for Best Actor Viewers Choice for his role in Teefa in Trouble.
In case you missed it, several members of the Pakistan entertainment industry withdrew their nominations in solidarity with Meesha Shafi and because they did not want to share the platform with an “alleged harasser”. Among those who withdrew their nominations were model Eman Suleman, hair and makeup artist Saima Bargfrede, The Sketches, and Faris Shafi.
Those who withdrew their nominations also boycotted the event, including Meesha. While Ali Zafar also did not attend the event, he took home an award and that too for Best Actor Viewers Choice.
While Ali took to Twitter to thank his fans for supporting him, Meesha thanked all those who supported her in this time.
Post #LSA2019 I would like to express my respect and admiration for all those nominees who took a stand by foregoing their nominations/recognition for their hard work and achievements in protest and solidarity with myself and other victims.
Meesha also decided that it was a good time to share her two cents on all the controversy surrounding Ali’s defamation case and all the conspiracy theories that have been circulating on social media.
WOW! Conspiracy theories are so creative, if only the same creativity was being channeled in an artist’s work, one wouldn’t have to claim damages over losing work. Pffffft.
Everyone who spoke up did so of their own free will. These attacks and conspiracy theories, albeit very creative, are baseless and going after all the women standing up for women is an entirely predictable age old silencing tactic. Nothing new!
She also took a jibe at all those who are saying that her case is being ‘foreign-funded.’
Woman – he harassed me repeatedly. Made me feel violated, humiliated and unsafe. Other women – Me too! Me too! Me too! Me too! Me too! Me too! Defender: foreign funding, foreign agenda. LOL! Get a life!
Meesha also “saluted” her legal team for their unending support.
I salute @nighatdad as well as my entire legal team @Pansota1@saqibjillani#HinaJilani for being on the right side of history tirelessly with integrity. Coming after my lawyers is extremely underhanded and desperate. BOOOOOO!
Meesha signed off by asking women to stand up and work towards change.
We are resilient. But backwards. Lol.
Let’s change that na. Come on Pakistan! Enough is enough. Get with the program. Learn about consent and accountability. Safe spaces. Freedom of speech. Gender equality and respect! ⭐️♥️
The annual Lux Style Awards is one of those nights where stars dress up to the nines and put forward their best fashion fronts. Here are the stars who made it to the Best Dressed list, and the worst.
Best Dressed
Meera Jee
There is only one word that comes to mind when we see this picture of Meera: glamourous. Meera looks stunning in this outfit by Nida Azwer.
Zara Noor Abbas
Zara is exuding old-school glamour in this beige outfit. Love love love the Hollywood style waves and bright red pout. Zara truly looks like a diva.
Atif Aslam
Atif looks suave in this sequence-studded suit.
Saba Qamar
Looks like white is a favourite this year. But then again given the heat and humidity, there is no better colour than white. Saba Qamar looks absolutely radiant in this Zaheer Abbas number.
Mawra Hocane
We’re really liking the all-white Manish Malhotra ensemble, teased ponytail and fresh makeup look. Very summery.
Sarwat Gillani
Sheheryar Munawar
How dapper does this heartthrob look in this midnight blue jacket? We have to say he kinda does make us go a little weak in the knees.
Sohai Ali Abro
We’re really liking Sohai Ali Abro’s velvet and silk off-the-shoulder gown. Simple yet elegant. Her soft hairdo is the cherry on top.
Worst Dressed
Momina Mustehsan
Sorry Momina but yellow with yellow and yellow with red hair do not go AT ALL. Plus the black bag looks entirely out of place.
Nomi Ansari
Not sure what Nomi was thinking when he decided to pair a polka dot tie with floral embroidery.
Iqra Aziz
Looks like Iqra couldn’t decide whether she wanted to go for a cape or a suit, so she decided to go for both. The outfit is not doing justice to her petite frame and with that sleek ponytail, she’s just looking like a desi version of an extra from Justice League.
Maya Ali
Hey Maya. We know ruffles are trending, but this dress is not. It looks a lot like those dolls dresses which we put as cake toppers.
Maya’s look on the red carpet was not one of her finest. She’s seen better days.
Mikaal Zulfiqar
Damn Mikaal, how did you even manage to wear velvet in Karachi’s heat? But other than that there was nothing right about this outfit – the out of place buttons, the uneven hemline, need we say more?
The 18th Lux Style Awards took place last night in Karachi and though it was a star-studded affair, with the industry’s leading ladies (Meera, Mehwish Hayat, Maya Ali, Saba Qamar) leading the show, we do feel that the star power was less than the previous years.
Here are all the faces missing from the red carpet and award ceremony.
Humayun Saeed
The evergreen hero of the Pakistan entertainment industry was missing from this year’s awards function. Could it be because he wasn’t nominated for Best Actor this year?
At LSA 2018
Hamza Ali Abbasi
To be fair, Hamza Ali Abbasi has lately been missing from the entertainment scene. Both his upcoming projects The Legend of Maula Jatt and Alif are in their post-production stage with no release dates announced.
Hamza was also not nominated for his last film Parwaaz Hai Junoon even though it did well at the box-office. So maybe that’s why he was no-show despite being in the city? Did he feel snubbed? His fans certainly did.
Fawad Khan
To be honest, we’ve gotten used to not having Fawad around anymore. We rarely see him. Does he even exist or was he a figment of our imaginations?
Fawad Khan & Sadaf Fawad at LSA 2016
Osman Khalid Butt
We were expecting to see OB at the red carpet considering his latest film Baaji just released, but he was missing from the LSA scene. Time to unwind?
Osman Khalid Butt at LSA 2018
Ali Zafar
Despite being nominated, Ali Z did not make it to the event. But keeping the mind the controversy surrounding him, he probably thought it would be better to sit this one out than invite more trouble. Our investigation (read stalking) has revealed that Ali is currently in the US doing concerts and shows. Smart move Ali.
Ayesha Omar
Ayesha is a constant at all Lux Style Awards and is seen flaunting her inner fashionista on the red carpet. Wonder why she didn’t make an appearance this year.
2018
2017
2016
Nauman Ejaz
Nauman Ijaz was part of the drama that ensued last year after the awards, in which people called out the award organisers for being biased. Looks like Naumaan is silently boycotting this year’s show.
Looking at this picture, we have to say we missed Vasay’s comedy as well.
Here’s what Nauman had said about last year’s awards:
Hania Aamir & Asim Azhar
Putting them together because, well they’re always together. Hania and Asim also skipped the LSAs even though their good friends Asad Siddiqui and Zara Noor Abbas were in attendance. The two were last spotted chilling in Dubai, so we guess they didn’t want to interrupt their vacay.
Javed Sheikh
Javed Sheikh is usually everywhere, but this time he was nowhere to be seen. And we have to admit, his presence was missed. After last year’s award ceremony where he was pulled into an unnecessary controversy, involving Mahira Khan, maybe Sheikh Sahab decided to sit this one out so he doesn’t get pulled into another one again.
Ahad Raza Mir & Sajal Aly
The newly engaged couple also did not make an appearance. Looks like they’re trying to stay low-key to avoid unnecessary media intrusion.
Sajal & Ahad at LSA 2018
Other notable names who were not in attendance include Urwa Hocane, Farhan Saeed, Hareem Farooq, Sanam Saeed, Muneeb Butt, Aiman Khan and Ahsan Khan.
The 18th Lux Style Awards, which took place Sunday night in Karachi, were a glittery affair as stars descended the red carpet in their finest ensembles. Here’s a list of all those who took home an award.
Best Film – Cake
Other nominations – Jawani Phir Nahi Ani 2, Load Wedding, Motorcycle Girl, Teefa in Trouble
Best Director – Ahsan Rahim for Teefa in Trouble
Other nominations – Asim Abbasi for Cake, Haseeb Hassan for Parwaaz Hai Junoon, Nabeel Qureshi for Load Wedding, Nadeem Baig for Jawani Phir Nahi Ani 2
Best Actor Viewers Choice – Ali Zafar for Teefa in Trouble
Best Actor (Jury) – Fahad Mustafa for Load Wedding
Other nominations – Adnan Malik for Cake, Ahmed Ali Butt for Jawani Phir Nahi Ani 2, Mohammad Ahmed for Cake
Best Actress Viewers Choice – Mehwish Hayat for Load Wedding
Best Actress (Jury) – Sohai Ali Abro for Motorcycle Girl
Other nominations – Aamina Sheikh for Cake, Hajra Yamin for Pinky Memsaab, Sanam Saeed for Cake
Best Playback Singer – Atif Aslam for Tham Lo, Parwaz Hai Junoon
Other nominations – Arif Lohar for Tillay Wali Jooti, Jawani Phir Nahi Ani 2, Mulazim Hussain & Missal Zaidi for Rangeya, Load Wedding, Shuja Haider for Donkey Raja, Donkey King, The Sketches and Natasha Baig for Meri Dunya, Cake
Best TV Play Viewers Choice – Suno Chanda
Other nominations – Aisi Hai Tanhai, Dar Si Jati Hai Sila, Dil Mom Ka Diya, Khaani
Best TV Play Director – Kashif Nisar for Dar Si Jati Hai Sila
Other nominations – Ahsun Talish for Suno Chanda, Anjum Shahzad for Khaani, Qasim Ali Murid for Aangan, Shahid Shafat for Dil Mom Ka Diya
Best TV Play Writer – Bee Gul for Dar Si Jati Hai Sila
Other nominations – Amna Mufti for Ghuggi, Asma Nabeel for Khaani, Faiza Iftikhar for Aangan, Zanjabeel Asim Shah for Balaa
Best Actor TV Viewers Choice – Feroze Khan for Khaani
Best Actor TV (Jury) – Nouman Ejaz for Dar Si Jati Hai Sila
Other nominations – Bilal Abbas Khan for Balaa, Feroze Khan for Khaani, Qavi Khan for Aangan, Sami Khan for Khudgarz
Best Actress TV Viewers Choice & Jury – Iqra Aziz for Suno Chanda
Other nominations – Neelam Muneer for Dil Mom Ka Diya, Sana Javed for Khaani, Sonya Hussayn for Aisi Hai Tanhai, Ushna Shah for Balaa
Best OST – Rahat Fateh Ali Khan for Khaani
Other nominations – Aangan by Farhan Saeed & Naveed Nashad, Dar Si Jati Hai Sila by Yasira Haseeb, Ghuggi by Bina Khan and Naveed Nashad, Naulakha by Saif Samejo
Best Emerging Talent TV – Rida Bilal
Singer of the Year – Mohsin Abbas Haider and Sohail Haider for Na Jaa
Other nominations – Bilal Ali of Kashmir for Khwaab, Khurram for O Ki Jane, Saif Samejo of The Sketches for Raat, Shamoon Ismail for Marijuana
Best Song – Ya Qurban by Khumariyan
Clap by Faris Shafi & Talal Qureishi (withdrew nomination), Mein by Meesha Shafi (withdrew nomination), Raat by The Sketches (withdrew nomination), Rung De by Chand Tara Orchestra
Model of the Year (Female) – Sadaf Kanwal
Other nominations – Anam Malik, Fahmeen Ansari, Rubab Ali (withdrew nomination), Zara Abid
Model of the Year (Male) – Shahzad Noor
Other nominations – Aimal Khan, Champ Imi, Hasnain Lehri
Lifetime Achievement Award for Fashion – Nabila
Best Hair and Makeup – Qasim Liaquat
Other nominations – Fatima Nasir (withdrew nomination), Saima Bargferde (withdrew nomination), Shoaib Khan, Sunil Nawab
Meera Jee is without a doubt the undisputed Queen of Lollywood. Though Meera hasn’t had any filmy appearances in recent times, she has often dominated headlines, sometimes for all the wrong reasons. But that hasn’t stopped her from expressing herself and this is perhaps the single most reason why I’m such a fan of hers.
Meera’s much-awaited comeback film Baaji released the past weekend and I jumped at the first opportunity to watch it. As I sat through the film, I couldn’t help but connect the Meera onscreen to the Meera I had grown to know over the course of the past 3 months.
Let’s rewind to March 2019. I had just joined The Current and we were making a list of people we can interview. I had previously briefly spoken to Meera about her various plans and met her at the Lux Style Awards. On every occasion, Meera had been forthcoming, friendly and cooperative, contrary to what I heard about her superstar behaviour, so I added her to our list of interviewees. Her onscreen character, Shameera, was a reflection of this. Shameera was also someone with a big and open heart.
March 7 2019
I gave Meera Jee a call and to my surprise, she picked up the phone on the first bell. I introduced myself and expressed my desire to interview her. She told me that I will have to come and meet her at her parlour within half an hour because she wants to meet me before she can commit to an interview.
Thirty minutes later, I was sitting in the parlour’s lobby waiting for Meera to get free. The wait lasted for more than an hour before someone finally came and escorted me to the makeup room where Meera was getting ready. She was on the phone when I entered. Her superstar persona could be felt everywhere and she gestured me to sit on the seat next to her’s. As soon as her phone call ended, she turned to me and asked me what exactly I wanted. I rattled off, explaining to her the interview we want to do with her before she dramatically cut me off with the wave of a hand and told me to first tell her about myself.
After satisfying her questions, I once again started talking about the interview when the phone interrupted us again. Khair by then Meera was ready and she decided that we should move the meeting to her house.
Ignoring all warning bells in my head, and the fact that it was a close friend’s mehndi that day, I followed Meera to her house, where I stayed for more than 2 hours. Out of those 2 hours, a little more than one was spent waiting for her to get free. When we finally got down to talking about the interview, it was almost 8′ o clock. Meera wanted me to run through the questions with her and design the interview so we can shoot it in one go. Meera and I discussed everything down to the smallest of detail and she was good with everything but when I asked her for a date, she said she will discuss with her manager and let me know. All good. I left her house feeling proud of myself for scoring an interview with the one and only Meera.
The next few days were spent trying to get a follow-up from her but with little success. By then Baaji had also been announced, so I was sure that I’ll be able to get an interview. Little did I know.
April 10
In a miraculous twist of faith, we were able to get through to Meera and she asked us to come over and discuss the interview with her and finalise a date. Once again, I went over to her house where we spent 2 hours discussing the interview. Once again, Meera didn’t give us a date and told us that her manager will be in touch.
The next week and weeks to come were spent constantly trying to get in touch with Meera. She continued to remain unavailable. It turned out that she had gone to the United States for a visit. Meera sent me pictures from her trip and told me that she’ll give me an interview once she’s back. She also asked me if I could go over to her house and get her phone fixed for her.
Meera does know how to travel in style
May 30
Baaji’s trailer releases and promotions begin in full swing. I reach out to the PR team of Baaji and ask them to set up an interview with the cast of the film.
June 22
Baaji’s team lands in Lahore and the movie’s PR representative invites us to the hotel, where the team is staying, for a media interaction between 5 and 8 pm. At 6.45pm we reach the hotel only to find out that the media interaction has ended and that there has been a change of plans so the team will now be leaving for a mall visit. This totally puts me off because I had come with everything ready and no one had informed me that the scheduled has been changed. I get into an argument with the PR representative who kept insisting that I came late and that I should have asked her before coming. Ridiculous right? It’s not like I was late or anything. But what can one do?
Meera Jee is seated in the hotel’s restaurant and I walk up to her hoping that maybe she’ll be more accommodating. Nishoo Jee and Meera’s manager are also sitting on the table with us. After we exchange pleasantries, Meera tells me that she’s exhausted since she hasn’t eaten food all day and that I should ask the director to line up something later at night. I have no problems with that so I agree and we move on to having a conversation about her film and how tiring promotions can be.
Meera then tells the PR lady, who’s also in the background, to line up an interview. She curtly informs me that the cast of Baaji has back-to-back mall visits that day and that they will give me an interview when they return from Dubai. Talk about being a total let down. Uss point tak bilkul bas hogayi and I was so upset that I have no words for it.
Uskay baad, cast Dubai say jakar wapas bhi aagayi aur film bhi release hogayi magar mujhe interview nai mila.
As I sat through the film, it felt almost unreal watching Meera on screen. The woman who I had been chasing for the past three months was right in front of me and every movement of hers, every word she spoke was so real that in a few scenes I almost felt I was sitting with her. Kudos to Meera for giving a flawless and natural performance. As someone who enjoys over the top drama, I absolutely loved the film.
The film’s storyline was not the most original, but it was captivating. Each scene flowed into the next and there was no part of the film which felt dragged. It might have been Saqib Malik’s debut film but his years of experience shone through in every scene. The shots and the aesthetics were beautifully done. The hair, wardrobe and makeup team deserve a special round of applause. The leading ladies look absolutely gorgeous in every scene.
Each actor nailed their roles but Meera stole the spotlight. The film was made for her, or rather she was made for this film. Whichever way she likes. Meera is proof that no matter how many faces come and go, she will be evergreen. Like her character in the film says, “Love me or hate me, but you can never replace me.”
