Pakistan’s got heroes (not just terrorists)
Pakistan is an interesting country to say the least. We have probably as many (if not more) news channels here than entertainment channels. Unfortunately, where other countries use their media to benefit their people and show case talent from within it, we use ours mostly to spread fear and loathing for ourselves. I was recently browsing the internet to see if we had success stories of our own, for motivating our people, when I found out about so many gifted people in our country about whom we hardly hear anything. The media shows one interesting story about these people and ...
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The unsung heroes of Pakistan (I)
“A hero is a man who does what he can,” Gottfried says to Jean-Christophe, in Youth Part 3: Ada, a work from Nobel Prize winning French writer, Romain Rolland. It is a simple thought, isn’t it, to be a hero by simply doing what you can? Yet, it is this simplicity that makes the thought potent, because it dictates that any one of us can be a hero by doing what we are capable of. It is a thought that many of us can take to heart, especially those living in Pakistan. Many amongst us would just turn and look the other ...
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Avengers incorporated
Apart from sending the cash registers ringing, what do the films ‘Bodyguard’ and ‘Captain America’ have in common? No, it’s not the good looks or the brawn of its leading male protagonists Salman Khan and Chris Evans. Both films represent an avenger taking on the forces of evil and hatred and emerging triumphant, if a trifle bloodied, after a fierce battle. In an increasingly insane world, is it any wonder then that we are increasingly drawn to a hero who will vanquish our demons and ensure that peace and harmony prevail? Actually I was dragged feet first to see Bodyguard ...
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X-men: Third class
It seems impossibly difficult to make a movie based on existing material that isn’t a book. Comics, video games, toys all make for bad script, cardboard acting and clichéd emotions. Or at least, that’s what Transformers, Bloodrayne, Prince of Persia and now X-men: First Class lead one to believe. Plot: Directed by Matthew Vaughn(of Kick-Ass fame) the movie finds us in prequel mode. The setting is the 60s, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, with a brief glimpse of World War 2. Primarily the movie focuses around two characters, Charles Xavier and Eric Lenshher/Magneto and how the world initially comes to ...
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Moin Akhtar: Laughter through genius
Making people laugh is serious business. Moin Akhtar taught me that when I was six-years-old. He was performing live at a family wedding I was being forced to attend (at that age you are forced to do pretty much everything). I remember being quite thrilled that the man who makes me laugh on TV was there in real life, performing on stage. Positioning myself right in front, I got to watch him transform from character to character with just a well aimed hunch of the shoulder or lilt of the accent, all with rapid fire ability. His big closer for the ...
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They return as heroes
It was a match that will live long in my memory. Pakistan slipped out of the World Cup after a nerve-wracking loss to archrivals India.They now return home as heroes nonetheless. The defeat is not under debate: we lost fair and square. However, the team that returns home is now a special one. They are special because they wore green and marched into the yard in Mohali, with their heads high, sending shock waves of intimidation to their opponents. Shahid Afridi’s leadership and the team’s performance in the 2011 World Cup was awe-inspiring. They continued to defy all odds, defeating the unlikeliest ...
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Veena Malik is no fool!
Veena Malik’s appearance on Bigg Boss 4 and her current interview on Express News has been the subject of many a cushy drawing room debate. Liberals everywhere are incensed by the mufti sahab who did not even watch Bigg Boss and yet was quick to pass judgement on Malik. Fair enough. Malik’s supporters have rushed to Facebook to give her a big thumbs up and cheer their ‘hero’ on. Veena takes on mullah and wins, they scream. Now we all know that this was pretty much a setup. Kamran Shahid pitched Malik against a mufti and then called Ashmit Patel who made some ...
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CWG: Pakistan’s pointless search for heroes
It was yet another embarrassing sports story for the Pakistanis when, on Sunday, the country’s delegation at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi decided to indulge in a tussle in the middle of the opening ceremony. It is all very well for an official to have said that the matter of Sindh Sports Minister Muhammad Ali Shah robbing the nominated flag-bearer, weightlifter Shujauddin Malik, of the national flag, should be dealt with after the delegation returns home. Millions of Pakistanis who bore witness to this incident on their television screens, however, had to deal with their personal sense of mortification and embarrassment there and then. In a country where sports and politics dominate much ...
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My heroes: Jal, Noori, EP, Aaroh, Fuzon
I remember jumping to the first Noori record during my teenage years, and I wasn’t the only one. An entire generation of youngsters during that time was crazy about the band. Inspired by the pop-rock industry’s boom during 2003 to 2006, which saw bands such as Jal, Noori, EP, Aaroh and Fuzon emerge, the phenomenon forced me to pick up a guitar during my A-levels. I can proudly say that as a school-going kid, my idols were not Zepplin’s Jimmy Page, or Jimi Hendrix. To be honest, I did not even know back then that these people existed. My inspirations ...
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TEDx: Five hundred hellos
Organizing an event like TEDxLahore is no easy feat. Imagine pulling a ship over a mountain with nothing but your inexhaustible belief that you will do this and that you will see this thing through to the end, no matter what. That, and the almost skeptical support of friends and family members who may initially think this is a fool’s errand at best. In terms of popular culture, I call it the Mulder/Scully Effect, where some of us believe that the truth is out there and want to pursue every small lead to get to it, and others want to ...
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