Meray Paas Turk Ho

All you Ertugrul fans, here’s something to look forward to. A Turkish company Tekdin (which produced Dirilis: Ertugrul) and Pakistani production house TRT have decided to collaborate with each other. The Pakistani side has already roped in the Meray Paas Tum Ho actors Adnan Siddiqui and Humayun Saeed for the project, which has made the former uber-happy, who claims that both are going to lead the company. His friend Humayun S confirms, “We are at the helm of affairs of the Tekdin-TRT partnership, which means all the work to be done in Pakistan — pre- and post-production, including casting — will be done through us.” Yep, we already have an idea who will be cast as the male protagonist(s) in the project.

Oscar Call

Folks: the Pakistani film that has had to face a lot of tough times even before its release, Zindagi Tamasha, is the country’s official submission to the next year’s Oscars in the International Feature Film category. This was announced on November 28 by the Pakistan Academy Selection Committee. For those who don’t recall, the movie has been directed and produced by Sarmad Khoosat but has faced obstacles in its release in the country because of threats from an extremist party. Way to go, team ZT! We hope for the final selection of the five films to compete at the 93rd Academy Awards (April 25) there will be no further tamasha in your zindagi.

Summoned

The Mumbai police have sent summons to Kangana Ranaut and her sister Rangoli three times “for spreading communal hatred”, in connection with their comments on social media, but the siblings never showed up at the police station. Instead, on November 23, they moved the Bombay High Court in order to nullify the FIR filed against them by the police. But the next day, the court ordered both of them to appear before the police on January 8, giving them interim protection from arrest. Well, all we can say is: a closed mouth catches no flies.

Cher and Kaavan

Pop icon Cher’s visit to Pakistan in her pursuit to save the ‘world’s loneliest elephant’ Kaavan, who had been kept in a not-so-conducive environment at Islamabad Zoo, culminated in her meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan. As per a statement that came out of his office, the Prime Minister appreciated the singer’s “efforts in retiring Kaavan to an elephant sanctuary” [in Cambodia]. We too acknowledge her noble and Cherrific deed. If only it didn’t take Western celebrities to make us do the right things.

K-Jo’s Apology

Karan Johar has produced a series on Netflix called The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives (FLBW). Apparently, filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar was working on a project with a similar title, because of which K-Jo and Apurva Mehta (director of FLBW) went to Madhur B to seek his permission for using the name. He, reportedly, refused to give them permission, and yet they went on with it. Now that Madhur B expressed his anger at the situation, K-Jo has come up with an apology on Twitter, saying, “I humbly apologise for any grievance that has been caused to you during the course of the last few weeks. However, I would want to clarify that we have chosen this new and different title — The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives keeping in mind the non-fiction format of our reality-based franchise series. As our title was distinct, I did not foresee it upsetting you as it has and for that I duly apologise.” Foreseeing doesn’t seem to be your forte, K-Jo.

Finally Engaged

Last week, Matthew Perry, the 51-year-old star of the iconic sitcom Friends, got engaged to his girlfriend Molly Hurwitz. She is 29 years of age and is a literary agent. He broke the news himself to an American magazine. It is interesting to note that, although the two have been going out for over two years, in May this year, they broke up. And now they’re back together and he has placed a ring on her finger. The actor has never been married before. His longest run of a relationship was six years, with former girlfriend and actress Lizzy Caplan. That ended in 2012. They’re still… like… friends though.

Published in Dawn, ICON, December 6th, 2020