“I’ve been getting tagged in this a bit today, surely the actor needs a fresh haircut,” said the cricketer while sharing the poster of Bilal on his Instagram story.
In response to Ben’s comment, Bilal joked: “I agree! I’m sure you can understand how difficult it is to maintain long hair.”
“Love you man. Big fan,” he added.
Dunk is an upcoming drama on ARY Digital, featuring Bilal and Sana Javed in lead roles. Other cast members include Yasra Rizvi, Shahood Alvi, Fahad Sheikh, Laila Wasti, Saifi Hassan, Salma Hassan, Kanwal Khan, Noman Ejaz, and Azekah Daniel.
While details about the drama are being kept tightly under wraps, Bilal in an interview had shared that the drama is a murder mystery. Dunk is being produced under the banner of Fahad Mustafa’s BigBang Entertainment.
If you are an Insta-stalker like myself, you may have noticed that several A-list celebrities were spotted lounging and posing away in the pool. While I initially thought that it was just a new Pakistani trend, I stumbled upon pictures of Hollywood celebrities posing in the pool as well, establishing the fact that getting wet (and wild) is the new trend in fashion and editorial photoshoots.
It all started with Emmad Irfani, who did an entire editorial shoot wearing dress pants and a dress shirt while standing in a pool.
We then spotted Minal Khan also posing away in the pool wearing a black high-neck sweater.
Next up we have Jennifer Lopez aka JLo, who turned up the heat and she stood in the pool. The shoot was from her upcoming skincare brand ‘JLo Beauty’. From where does the actor look 51?
Last but not the least there is Sacha Baron Cohen, who also suited up in the pool. Though we do have to add here that our boys slayed it better.
Which pool shot was your favourite? Ours has to be JLo and Sheheryar.
Ahsan Mohsin Ikram, who has recently been criticised for his alleged relationship with Minal Khan and for posting loved-up pictures of the two, has reacted to the backlash by asking people to worry about “his/her own life instead of others”.
“Oh you who believe! Let not some people among you laugh at others, perhaps they may be better than them,” said the actor in a story posted to his Instagram.
He then went onto say: “Human beings tend to judge others. They describe differences and are quick look down and those who may be different from themselves. It is as though they think that they are so right and so special, that anyone who is not like them has something wrong with them. We may not admit this, even to ourselves judging others and mocking them, openly or covertly, that is probably the most behind our attitude.”
Ahsan then said that to “respect the differences is to respect the God who made us all so unique”.
“Each one of us is special the way we think, talk act or behave,” he asserted. “Diversity adds to the richness of the world.”
“Islam teaches us not to condemn others. Leave the judging to God. Worry about, and judge, only yourself,” he added.
He further explained his stance by quoting a Hadith.
“According to Hadith, fortunate is that person who is so busy with his own faults, that he has no time to think about the faults of others. Even if you see something we don’t like in someone, you may be guilty of the same thing, but are less likely to see in yourself.”
Concluding his comments, Ahsan said: “Also, there may be a lot good in the other person which you are not aware of. The fourth Imam (a) taught us to see every person we meet as better than ourselves.”
Fans, followers and social media users have criticised the alleged couple for sharing pictures of themselves in which they can be seen hugging one another. Netizens believe that the actors are giving out wrong message thorough their actions.
Former actor Noor Bukhari was among those who expressed her reservations over the alleged couple’s public display of affection.
In a post featuring the two, Bukhari commented: “I really [like] both the sisters. But if they are married, then being close and posting these pictures is fine.”
“But if not, they are misleading the youth by making it alright to post intimate pictures before marriage,” stated the actor, adding, “Or maybe they are nikaofied (married). Aur unke parents khush hain (And their parents are happy).”
Though Ahsan has turned off the comments on his post, the picture of the purported duo has gone viral on social media with people leaving hateful comments.
Shaan Shahid, known for his hard-hitting statements, called former finance minister Ishaq Dar “shameless to the core” after the latter’s interview with BBC HARDTalk went viral on social media.
The actor, in a social media post, wished that “Pakistani authorities were strong on accountability as these people are bad image for Pakistan”.
He also tagged Prime Minister Imran Khan in his tweet, requesting him to take action against the corrupt.
“Corrupt should be made an example of by putting them behind bars and strip them of all the assets they sold their soul to make,” wrote the actor further. “Let there be a wall of shame built and let their names be written there forever so the nation could see that lies never win no matter how rich they are.”
“Let it be known that honesty and truth will always remain our core values. Let the truth win for once. Pakistan Zindabad”, he concluded.
Later, when a Twitter asked Shaan: “Are you [an] actor or politician? Or [a] puppet like Shahbaz Gill?,” Shaan responded: “I’m a Pakistani first, who is hurt by the words and the actions of the corrupt. In cleaning themselves, they are dirtying the name of Pakistan.”
I’m a Pakistani first who is hurt by the words and the actions of the corrupt .. in cleaning themselves they are dirtying the name of Pakistan
Dar, who is in a self-imposed exile after corruption cases were filed against him, appeared on BBC News to talk about corruption charges, PML-N fight against the government, and NAB.
When the host asked Dar about the number of properties owned by his family. The PML-N leader responded, “It’s all in my tax returns.”
Upon the insistence of the host, he said: “I have my main residence in Pakistan which has been taken over by this regime… I haven’t got too many properties.”
“How many properties do you and your family own,” the host asked him again. At this, Dar said: “One.” At this, the show host asked him about the news reports in the Pakistan press that claim that the former PML-N minister owned multiple properties in and outside Pakistan. “You are sitting in London and you don’t own anything here,” the host asked Dar.
Dar responded that he doesn’t own any property in London or anywhere else as claimed by the media reports.
However, he went on to admit that his sons recently acquired a villa in Dubai. “They are adult and are in the business for the past 17 years,” he clarified.
Dar, 69, is currently in London, “undergoing medical treatment”. He is absconding from several cases in Pakistan since 2017 and has been declared a proclaimed offender by the courts. He is facing charges of accumulating assets beyond known sources of income.
Meanwhile, Shaan has often voiced his support for PM Khan and spoken against PML-N, Nawaz Sharif and his aides.
In a recent interview, Shaan had said that though he is not from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) or any other political party, he believes that Pakistan needs to give the PTI government, which came to power in 2018, more time to govern.
“The race is not yet finished,” said the actor. “Give him [PM Imran] enough time to prove himself. As a Pakistani, I feel that this [PTI government] is the last hope for democracy in the country.”
Multiple videos of the Lahore-based lawyers have emerged, wherein they can be seen doing aerial firing on the streets of the city to celebrate the victory of their candidate in the Punjab Bar Council elections.
In the un-dated videos that are being circulated in Whatsapp groups and social media, the lawyers can be seen firing indiscriminately while the police officials looked on.
They had all sorts of guns — and ammunition, enough to take down an army. AK47s, M-16, G-3s — all prohibited bore weapons — can be seen in the video along with different models of handguns.
Aerial firing is banned in Pakistan, and people involved in this practice can be booked under multiple sections of the Pakistan Penal Code, including the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997.
Following the outrage on social media, Civil Lines police booked several unidentified lawyers on the charge of aerial firing. Police, however, said it will go ahead with the probe once the lawyers are identified.
On Nov 30, The Newsreported that Kamran Bashir Mughal, Sadiq Irfan Tarar, Adeeb Aslam Bhindar, Muhammad Ahmed Qayyum and Hafiz Abdul Naeem and 11 others had won the Punjab Bar Council (PbBC) elections held on 16 seats in Lahore.
A low turnout was seen in the election for 75-member house of Punjab Bar Council (PbBC), the provincial regulatory body of the legal fraternity, on Saturday for a five-year term of 2020-25 apparently due to Covid-19 pandemic, it reported.
Islamabad Zoo’s lone elephant Kavaan arrived in Cambodia on Monday, where he was taken to his new home, a wildlife sanctuary. Cher, who had long campaigned for his release, was on the tarmac at the airport of Cambodia’s second-biggest city Siem Reap to greet Kaavan along with Buddhist monks, who performed rituals on his arrival.
According to details, Kavaan has already made himself at home in Cambodia and can be seen making new friends and socializing with female elephants.
“Kavaan is already socialising with neighbours: beautiful female elephants,” shared Press Officer at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia Neth Pheaktra.
A very happy #Kaavan. I myself also happy to see him in form, good health and active, specially start quickly to socializing with beautiful female elephants. #Cambodiapic.twitter.com/gyBfzDNOf6
Similarly, animal rescue organisation Four Paws shared a beautiful picture of Kavaan interacting with fellow elephants in the sanctuary.
#FreeKaavan 🐘: First contact in 8 years! We can now officially call him the "former loneliest elephant in the world"! Seeing Kaavan interacting with other elephants is a huge moment for us but more importantly for Kaavan. 💕We are extremely moved! pic.twitter.com/x5k60XTORP
Kavaan was first brought to Pakistan in 1985 as a gift from Sri Lanka when he was only a year old. Since then he was living at Marghazar Zoo in Islamabad with his partner Saheli, who died in 2012. After Saheli’s death, Kaavan became alone and was dubbed as the world’s loneliest elephant. In 2016 he caught the attention of Cher, who along with other animal rights activists fought a long legal battle for his release and transfer.
He was airlifted from Islamabad to Cambodia in a Russian cargo plane.
#FreeKaavan 🐘: Kaavan arrived! ✈️ Last night the loneliest elephant in the world was loaded on an airplane in Islamabad. Together with the team on-site, Dr Frank Goeritz and Dr Amir Khalil were right by his side throughout the whole trip. pic.twitter.com/b1745OQFsi
“Kaavan was eating, was not stressed, he was even a little bit sleeping, standing leaning at the crate wall. He behaves like a frequent flyer,” said Kavaan’s best friend vet Dr Amir Khalil, while sharing details of his flight.
“The flight was uneventful, which is all you can ask for when you transfer an elephant,” he added.
“Kaavan was eating, was not stressed and he even slept a little bit whilst leaning on the wall of the crate! He behaves like a ‘Frequent Flyer’”. The flight was uneventful, which is all you can ask for when you transfer an elephant!
“Divorce doesn’t always mean sadness,” says Rubya Chaudhary, who recently opened up about her own experience.
In an Instagram post, the model-turned-actor said: “I always knew people can be crass and ill-mannered, but there isn’t anything like experiencing it first-hand. I don’t even so much as humour these types usually, but in some situations one just HAS to put their foot down.”
“I got married a few years ago, and then got divorced super quickly after,” she shared. “And that’s that really. Never really put my private life up for people to speculate about in the first place, but I don’t blame them for being curious about such matters. Well now you know.”
“I’d also like to add that divorce doesn’t always mean sadness and death and hayay hayay yeh kya hogya! Hayayyy bachi ki zindagi tabaaah ho gai! It could also mean bachi ki zindagi tabaah honay say BACH gayee,” she remarked.
“It also means a second chance at love, at life, at all the wonderfully amazing chapters that may have never actualized had you chosen the dead-end as your destiny. Choose to thrive. Choose divorce if it ain’t your scene and stop worrying about all the ill-mannered and crass people around,” she wrote.
Concluding her post, Chaudhry shared that she didn’t have to share this but she chose to for “hundreds of thousands of women who are made to feel like they should be ashamed if their marriages didn’t work out, who are told time and again by their own husbands and in-laws that there’s something wrong with them, that they need to change themselves to fit into some mould of the perfect wife (whatever that is), who’re gaslighted continuously and stripped of their vibrant personalities.”
Simi Raheal is furious with the management of Pakistan Television Corporation(PTV) for sending her a cheque of worth Rs 1400 only.
Sharing a picture of it on social media, the actor said: “This is how artists are honoured by the state! This is the acknowledgement of Pakistan Television. After four decades, this was truly appalling!”
While fellow actors, fans and members of the media industry extended their support to Simi and criticised PTV for their act, others told the veteran actor to not make a big deal out of it.
Later, in a social media post, Simi, thanked those who supported her and explained that her reason for voicing her concern was not about money but was “about social attitudes concerning art and artists”.
“It’s quite visible what people think of artists,” she said. “This dialogue this debate was essential. It does not matter what the actual amount is or should have been it’s about the respect regard of an artist.”
She also explained her stance while replying to multiple users who left comments on her post.
It is pertinent to add here that Raheal is not the only actor who accused PTV of mistreating artists. Earlier this year, senior actor Rashid Mahmood bashed PTVfor sending him a cheque of Rs 620 of which Rs 500 is the Pride of Performance fees, leaving him with only Rs 120.
The baffled actor has voiced his confusion and distaste on social media, saying “What are the criteria of paying a Pride of Performance winner in this country and who spent 50 years of [his] life in PTV.”
Later, in a video message, he shared how he was invited to recite a marsiya two years ago in Muharram.
“I hadn’t really received any work opportunities from PTV in the past two years. During Muharram, Pakistan Television Lahore had commissioned me to recite Mir Anees’s marsiya. I recorded it and it aired on the 9th and 10th Muharram multiple times. After two years, I received a cheque of only Rs 620,” he said, referring to the compensation as an ‘insult’.
“In this Naya Pakistan, will my mother institute insult me and give me this sort of attitude? People whose worth in the showbiz industry is questionable take Rs 1.5 to 2.5 million. Today I announce that I will never work for PTV,” he lamented.
PTV management later apologised to Mahmood and clarified that the cheque was “mistakenly issued in his name”.
Accepting the stance of MD PTV Aamer Manzoor that a check was mistakenly issued in his name, the Veteran actor Rashid Mahmood has thanked his viewers for their unconditional love. pic.twitter.com/rvlua8WzVr
However, PTV then issued a new cheque to the veteran actor which was worth Rs 9600 only. Posting a picture of the new cheque, Mahmood said that he will not work with PTV in the future and will not be cashing the cheques either.
Sarwat Gilani, in an exclusive interview with The Current, has revealed that she has royal roots.
“My maternal grandfather was the Nawab of the princely state of Manavadar, which included 70 villages in India,” shared Sarwat in the interview.
“Junagarh and Manavadar were two princely states. Junagarh was his brother’s and Manavadar was his [Sarwat’s Nana’s] own state,” she continued. “And they chose to come to Pakistan at the time of Partition.”
“So they left everything over there: their palaces, their cars, guns, everything. They left all their treasure over there in love for Pakistan,” she added.
Sarwat then said: “When people ask me how I feel about being such a big star, they come to my mind. Because they are real stars who left everything for Pakistan and spent a very simple life after migrating.”
The actor had earlier revealed that her family did not approve of her career choice. When asked how she managed to convince them, Sarwat said: “I convinced them by being consistent at being decent. For me, convincing my maternal grandmother, my mother and her family was very hard. So I thought if I do well, and constantly do well, they will someday be convinced on their own.”
“And I think, I did that,” she added.
The actor in the interview also talked about her infamous kiss with husband Fahad Mirza, meeting Karan Johar, her Whatsapp group with Mahira Khan and Sanam Saeed and how she feels that the “government has nothing better to do, [other than being] busy with banning things and [getting involved] in petty issues.”
