The Grapevine

Who Are You?

If you happen to come across Ushna Shah, an actress you’ve known well or reasonably enough, don’t get befuddled if she fails to recognise you. We’re not saying this. The actress has said it herself on social media: that she suffers from a condition called prosopagnosia (face blindness). Therefore, she says, if she’s not able to recognise someone, it’s not due to a lack of care or recognition, it’s because of… face blindness. Hmmm… Ushna S may be being totally honest, but it does offer a new excuse for others who regret showing airs to some influential people.
Concert Chaos

Recently, folk singer Ataullah Esakhelvi performed at a concert in London, alongside the young vocalist Nimra Mehra. During one of his popular numbers, some of the fans began dancing near the stage. Members of the security team tried to stop them from getting closer to the artists. They didn’t listen, which resulted in a brawl. Ataullah E looked disconcerted at what was happening and was then asked to go off-stage. It’s a shame that the kaali harkatein [dark acts] of some people can make the fun experience of listening to Qameez Teri Kaali [Your Black Shirt] such a dark one for others.
Baby Diddy

A couple of weeks ago, rapper Sean Diddy Combs was arrested by the police in New York for the following charges: sex trafficking and racketeering. As investigations began, 1,000 bottles of baby oil were found from his home. This took the alarm bells for his fans and the general public to an ear-splitting level. Then his lawyer came out with a strange-sounding statement: “I don’t know where the number 1,000 came. I can’t imagine it’s thousands. I’m not really sure what the baby oil has to do with anything.” Well, sir, no one is. And no one wants to know.
Dame Maggie Smith Dies

Two-time Oscar winner and one of the finest actresses of her generation, Dame Maggie Smith, passed away on September 27. She was 89. She won her first Oscar for the film The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) and second for California Suite (1978) — best actress and best supporting actress, respectively. The younger audience may know her in the role of Prof Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter series. One of her last remarkable performances was in the movie titled The Lady in the Van (2015).
May she rest in peace.
Electric Dance

The past can be painful. But sometimes the pain can add to the fun of the story. Amitabh Bachchan, while hosting Kaun Banega Crorepati, told the attendees of the show that, during the filming of the song Sara Zamana Haseenon Ka Deewana from the 1981 movie Yaarana, he received electric shocks. Before you get shocked, we shall explain: the costume that he wore, known as an electric jacket, had bulbs on it. They were connected to a switchboard through wires. When the current ran through them, the actor would receive shocks… which, by the way, according to Big B, enabled him to dance. Sir, even today, when you dance, you appear to be in shock.
Bullet Raja

On Oct 1, Bollywood star Govinda was preparing to leave for Kolkata from his Mumbai home. While packing, he took out his licensed revolver, to keep it in the luggage. As bad luck would have it, the revolver slipped from his hand and a bullet was accidentally fired and hit his leg. He was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital where, till last reports came in, he was recuperating well. We never thought of Govinda as shooting himself in the foot, despite his famous film song ‘Paeron pe goli maaray’… sorry, that was ‘Akhiyon se goli maaray.’ In any case, we wish him a full and speedy recovery.
Published in Dawn, ICON, October 6th, 2024