Veena Malik to turn all holy this Ramzan for telly!

July 17, 2012

Veena-Malik1

Islamabad, July 17: After rubbing conservatives the wrong way by posing semi-nude for an Indian men's magazine some months ago, Pakistan's controversy queen Veena Malik is all set to turn holy during Ramzan – well, at least on the idiot box.

Promos for Malik's new TV show, which feature her trying to look her religious best, have gone viral on the internet. With a blue dupatta covering her head, Malik says a throaty "Astaghfaar" (Arabic for seeking forgiveness), as a solitary tear dramatically rolls down her cheek.

Hero TV channel, which will air the show, has become the butt of jokes overnight. There are also many funny takes on Malik's first Bollywood movie "Daal Main Kuch Kaala Hai", which is due for release soon.

Giving Malik company on TV during the holy month of Ramzan will be Maya Khan, a morning show host who earned the ire of people across Pakistan when she accosted "immoral" couples dating in Karachi's parks and was fired by her channel.

Khan will be back as the co-host of "Sheher-e-Ramadan" with Shahid Masood on ARY channel. The show is already being called "Sharbat-e-Ramadan" in jest.

Yet another Ramzan special, "Pehchaan Ramzan", will be hosted by controversial televangelist Amir Liaquat on Geo TV. Liaquat was at the centre of a storm some years ago after rights activists said he had incited violence against Ahmadis during a show.More recently, behind the scenes footage from his show, leaked on the internet, showed him cracking ribald jokes and making fun of people calling in to his programme.

However, it is Malik's "holy" debut which most cannot get over. "Amir Liaquat and Veena Malik doing shows for Ramadan. When is Pamela Anderson starting? Who owns the Hero TV?" read a comment on The Express Tribune newspaper's website.

Malik was among the first to tweet about her Ramzan show. "After a long gap..so exited to record a show for Holy Ramadan transmission n that 2 for a television channel..which was due 4 quite sum tym!!"

Ever since news of Malik hosting the special show broke, she has been trending on Twitter. "I wonder if Veena Malik went to Hero TV just for channel's tagline - 'Dekha day sab kuch' :)" tweeted Kamran Bukhari.

Another Twitter user wrote: "Wait...Is Veena Malik hosting a Ramzan show?!...And I thought shaitan (Satan) gets locked up for month." Yet another suggested that "the companies sponsoring #VeenaMalik's Ramazan show on HERO TV should be ready for total boycott of their offerings/products/svcs#Pakistan”.

This time the liberals, who seem to have backed Malik all along, also seem to have taken a back seat with most accusing her of selling fake piety.

Some tweeted hoping Malik understood the difference between the holy month and a Bollywood movie.

Others are considering filing a petition with Pakistan's media regulatory body to stop her from going on air. Popular singer Salman Ahmad too expressed displeasure at Malik's forthcoming show.

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Agencies
July 31,2020

Mumbai, Jul 31: Maharashtra Leader of Opposition and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said that the Enforcement Directorate should carry out an investigation in actor Sushant Singh Rajput's suicide case.

"There is a huge public sentiment about handing over #SushantSinghRajput case to CBI but looking at the reluctance of State Government, atleast @dir_ed ED can register an ECIR since misappropriation and money laundering angle has come out," tweeted Fadnavis.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said that no FIR had been registered in Maharashtra yet and that the case must be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

"There is a confrontation between two states and there has been no FIR registered yet in Maharashtra. Chirag (Paswan) had spoken to CM Thackeray that there should be CBI probe. All political leaders are demanding for it. It should be handed over to CBI," Paswan said.

A team of the Bihar Police that arrived in Mumbai on Tuesday, recorded statements of two persons, including actor Sushant Singh Rajput's sister, on Wednesday in connection with the case.

An FIR was filed by Sushant Singh Rajput's father against actor Rhea Chakraborty in Bihar on Tuesday.

Rajput was found dead in his Mumbai residence on June 14.

According to the Maharashtra Police, statements of 41 people, including filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, film critic Rajeev Masand, director-producer Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and filmmaker Aditya Chopra have been recorded in the investigation so far.

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Agencies
June 26,2020

Los Angeles, Jun 26: Warner Bros has moved its Christopher Nolan-directed espionage thriller Tenet from July 31 to August 12.

It's the second delay for the highly-anticipated movie, which was originally scheduled to release on July 17 but was postponed to July 31 due to coronavirus pandemic.

Warner Bros. is committed to bringing Tenet' to audiences in theaters, on the big screen, when exhibitors are ready and public health officials say it's time. In this moment what we need to be is flexible, and we are not treating this as a traditional movie release.

We are choosing to open the movie mid-week to allow audiences to discover the film in their own time, and we plan to play longer, over an extended play period far beyond the norm, to develop a very different yet successful release strategy, a Warner Bros spokesperson said in a statement to Deadline.

The studio has also delayed the US re-release of Nolan's sci-fi blockbuster Inception, in honour of the film's 10th anniversary, to July 31.

Tenet features John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Kenneth Branagh, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Michael Caine, Clemence Poesy, Dimple Kapadia and Himesh Patel.

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News Network
January 24,2020

Paris, Jan 24: Rahul Mishra and Imane Ayissi made history on Thursday by becoming the first Indian and black African designers to show their clothes on the elite Paris haute couture catwalk.

Only a little more than a dozen of the world's most prestigious luxury labels -- including Dior, Chanel and Givenchy -- have a right to call their clothes haute couture.

All the clothes must be handmade -- and go on to sell for tens of thousands of euros (dollars) to some of the richest and most famous women in the world.

Mishra, an advocate of ethical "slow fashion" who blames mechanisation for much of the world's ills, said "it felt amazing and very surreal to be the first Indian to be chosen." "They see a great future for us -- which will make us push ourselves even harder," the 40-year-old told AFP after his debut show was cheered by fashionistas.

Both Mishra and Cameroon-born Ayissi, 51, are champions of traditional fabrics and techniques from their homelands and are famous for their classy lines.

Ayissi said his selection was "immense" both for Africa and himself.

"I am so proud that I can show my work and showcase real African fabrics and African heritage," he told AFP backstage as celebrities, including the chic head of Unesco, Audrey Azoulay, congratulated him.

Mishra broke through on the Paris ready-to-wear scene after winning the International Woolmark Prize in 2014, the top award that also launched the careers of such greats as Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent.

The purity of his often white creations with their detailed but understated embroidery has won him many fans, including Vogue's legendary critic Suzy Menkes.

The doyenne of fashion's front row called him an Indian "national treasure".

But this time, Mishra turned up the colour palette somewhat with dresses that subtly evoked the jungle paradises and pristine underwater world off the Maldives he worries that one day we might lose.

Appalled by the smoke and pollution that meant he had to keep his four-year-old daughter indoors in Delhi for nearly 20 days in November, Mishra said he imagined a "pure virginal and untamed planet... with ecosystems crafted out of embroidered flora and fauna".

"I am very emotional about it. Sometimes it makes me cry. All our children should be growing up in a better world," he added.

"When I take Aarna (his daughter) to the foothills of the Himalayas and the sky turns blue, she is so happy.

"Once, when she saw the River Ganges, she said: 'Can you please clean it for us so can go for a swim?'"

Mishra said he was reducing the quantity of clothes he was producing while at the same time increasing their quality, with humming birds, koalas and other animals hidden in the hundreds of hand worked embroidered leaves and flowers of his "jungle dresses".

The designer has won ethical and sustainability awards for his work supporting local crafts people in rural India.

"My objective is to create jobs which help people in their own villages," Mishra said.

"If villages are stronger, you will have a stronger country, a stronger nation, and a stronger world," he added.

Ayissi takes a similar stand, refusing to use wax prints popular in West Africa which he dismisses as "colonial".

Dutch mills flooded Africa with cotton printed with colourful patterns borrowed from Indonesian batik in the 19th century, and still dominate the market.

"When we talk about African fashion, it's always wax, which is a real pity," he told AFP, "because it's killing our own African heritage."

Ayissi, a former dancer who worked with singers such as Sting and Seal, told AFP he wanted to open up "a new path for Africa" and find an "alternative way of doing luxury fashion".

He has gone back to using prestigious local materials, like the strip fabric kente woven by the Akan people of Ghana and the Ivory Coast, which was originally worn only by nobles.

The son of an undefeated African boxing champ and a former Miss Cameroon, he also uses appliqued techniques from Benin and Ghana.

Haute couture shows only take place in Paris and the criteria to enter and remain in fashion's elite club are strictly enforced by French law.

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