In an Instagram post on Monday, it announced its upcoming Climate Futures Residency, which invites “thinkers, researchers, scientists, technologists, environmentalists, agricultural practitioners, architects, heritage specialists and those working to understand the challenges and possibilities of the decades ahead” to spend two weeks in the valley, interacting with its people, environment and each other.

The first iteration of the programme is divided into two interconnected residencies set to take place in July and August.

The first, titled Reading the Valley involves research, observation and community engagement. The second part, Imagining Futures, does exactly what the name says — participants plan for future scenarios and design policies.

Each of these residencies will have two participants who will use their time in Shigar to talk to local stakeholders: farmers, tourism industry representatives and government officials.

Applications are due by June 30 and should be submitted to organisers via email along with the applicant’s CV, a short biography, a 500-word letter of interest and a portfolio showing the applicant’s work.

If selected, they’ll be provided accommodation in Shigar, logistical support — including transfers to and from Skardu airport — and a stipend to offset meal costs and airfare.

The work resulting from the residencies will be collected as part of The Shigar Futures Paper, an annual publication exploring the valley’s future.

Professionals from the following fields are encouraged to apply:

• Climate and environmental research
• Town planning and landscape architecture
• Agriculture and food systems
• Tourism and destination management
• Community development and public policy
• Journalism, anthropology and documentary research

Shedding light on the need for the programme, the post from Neela Asmaan and Chinoy said people across the world were faced with “profound questions about climate, food systems, water, migration, technology, conservation and the future of human settlement”.

During such times, the most important answers may not emerge from conferences and lab work, it said, but from “places like Shigar, where people continue to live at the meeting point of nature, culture and change”.

Pancake Sliders Ingredients

-K&N’S Fun Nuggets (12-16 nuggets)

-Pancakes (22-24)

-Mayonnaise as required

-Ketchup as required

-Lettuce leaves as required

-Tomato slices as required

-Fried egg of 2 eggs

Method

1. Spread mayonnaise on one pancake and ketchup on the other.

2. Fry K&N’s Fun Nuggets as per instructions on pack.

3. Place a lettuce leaf, K&N’s Fun Nugget, fried egg and tomato slice on a pancake with mayonnaise.

4. Cover it with a second pancake and secure it with a food pick or wooden skewer. Pancake Sliders are ready.

5. Follow the process to make all other pancake sliders.

Fried Egg Ingredients

-Oil (1 tbsp)

-Beaten eggs (2)

-Salt for sprinkle

Method

1. In a pan heat oil and add beaten egg. Sprinkle salt on them and cook each side until fully done.

2. Cut into small rectangular pieces to be used in each pancake slider and set aside.

Pancakes Ingredients

-Milk (3 cups)

-Eggs ( 2)

-Butter (¼ cup; melted)

-Vanilla essence (1 tsp)

-All-purpose flour (2 cups)

-Baking powder (2 tsp)

-Butter for greasing

Method

1. In a bowl add milk, eggs, melted butter, vanilla essence, and mix well. Add all-purpose flour, baking powder and mix well.

2. Grease a non-stick pan with butter and add ¼ cup batter for each pancake, cook each side for 2-3 minutes. Pancakes are ready. Set aside.

This content is produced in paid partnership with K&N’s.

In the comment section of an Instagram post shared by journalist Sadiq Saleem talking about Yamin’s performance in Doctor Bahu, Sikdar called the actor an “underrated gem”.

“I have seen her in shows where she has incompetent co-actors… she is so thorough with her scenes that she really doesn’t need a great co star,” the writer said.

Sikdar added that whenever Yamin had good co-stars, “the dynamics of the scenes changed so drastically”. She praised Dr Bahu as “a well written and directed show”.

Saleem replied to the writer’s comment saying Yamin “would be elated to read this” and she absolutely was.

The actor replied with a note thanking Sikdar and appreciating her late husband as an inspiration.

“Thank you so much for your support, it means so much to me. I’ve been a fan and student of the late Sir Irrfan Khan’s work for as long as I can remember, so this is incredibly special,” Yamin said.

Sikdar’s comments are reminiscent of a more tolerant, friendly past, when the entertainment fraternities of India and Pakistan would get together and appreciate each other’s work from time to time.

Her late husband was at the forefront of this, even starring alongside Adnan Siddiqui in A Mighty Heart and Saba Qamar in Hindi Medium. His passing was mourned on both sides of the border.

The appreciation for Yamin and Pakistani dramas also shows that they continue to be watched in India despite attempts by New Delhi to curb the consumption of Pakistani content — especially during the war between the two countries last year.

In a video posted on Instagram, an exhausted Hocane said that while ‘they’ say “not all women”, it is always a woman who is subjected to such cruelty and expected to walk out of it unscathed.

“It’s always a woman surviving what was meant to destroy her. It’s always a woman asked to forgive before she has even healed. It’s always a woman rebuilding herself [after suffering] from someone else’s cruelty,” the actor said.

She asked why this was something we glorified. “Why is survival a woman’s greatest achievement?”

Hocane joins a number of her industry colleagues in condemning violence against women, especially after a brutal acid attack on Dr Mahnoor Nasir in Quetta. She suffered burns on 70 per cent of her body when a man threw acid on her. The man was later killed by police while attempting to flee the city.

Saturday’s acid attack wasn’t the only case of patriarchal violence in the news last week, with people similarly horrified when a 64-year-old man admitted to killing his wife after she refused to go to bed with him. What was even more horrifying was a video of lawyers surrounding the man and telling him he wasn’t to blame.

With people defending women’s murderers and trying their absolute hardest to blame the victims for being attacked, Hocane’s questions sting hard. Why is it always women who have to carry the burdens of crimes committed against them and when will we make criminals and abusers pay instead?

Organisers said the comments, which made fun of sexual violence against Palestinians in Israel, were “offensive and unacceptable”.

“Sexual violence and human suffering should never be mocked or minimised,” the statement read. It said the remarks “do not reflect the Tribeca Festival’s values” and the organising team regrets “the hurt they have caused”.

On Saturday, Gold spoke to Savetsky about his film, saying it was “a really big deal” for his Israel-made film to be screening at the Tribeca Festival. He then joked that he was “only raped by two Israeli dogs”, to which Savetsky countered, “I thought they only raped Palestinians.”

Variety reports that while Gold was on the red carpet as a cast member, Savetsky was not part of any project at the festival this year and was instead invited as a guest of the team behind The Wedding Entertainer (The Tale of Moishe Badhan).

While the joke was obviously offensive, it was made much more so by reports of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons being subjected to sexual abuse and dog attacks as a method of intimidation.

According to a report from Al Jazeera, Kifaya Khraim from the Ramallah-based Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling, said she had spoken to 75 women who were detained in different stations across Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem. All 75 said they had been sexually abused in prison.

Khraim said both Palestinian men and women were sexually abused in prison and both male and female Israeli personnel took part in the abuse and torture of detainees.

The report said Israeli prisons held more than 9,600 Palestinians as of this April.

Hina Parvez Butt, a lawmaker from Maryam’s PML-N and the chairperson of the Punjab Women Protection Authority, asked when “the minds of people like Falak Shabir will stop fixating on women’s clothing” in a post on X.

She drew a comparison between Pakistan and Turkiye, saying nobody in Istanbul comments on women’s clothes, “but here in Pakistan, anyone who feels like it jumps on social media and starts mouthing off.”

The lawmaker said this mentality was exactly what was keeping Pakistan from progressing. She asked people to do society a “great service” and “mind their own business”.

Shabir made his strange demand in a story posted on Instagram asking “as a father of two daughters” for the CM to make a law against people wearing short dresses. He seemed convinced that not doing so would lead to “cultural ruin”.

Reactions were mixed, with some celebrating the story as the rallying call for a cultural crusade, others felt he wasn’t being misogynistic because he never specifically mentioned women. Many — us included — were left questioning what he was talking about; who was roaming the streets of Punjab in short dresses anyway?

He later clarified with a picture of women in… crop tops. “This pick (sic) should be enough to explain and I am sure everyone in Pakistan has seen this clip,” the singer said.

He also posted screenshots of people agreeing with his original story, probably in an attempt to counter all the backlash he had been getting publicly.

“It’s not just me, hundreds of thousands of people are worried for their children’s future,” he said with his eight messages of support.

Addressing the misogyny allegations, Shabir said his statement wasn’t about any one gender but meant for “all kind of genders that are available in the market” — we really didn’t think this could get worse but we were wrong.

The singer said if someone interpreted it differently, that was their perspective, but the “intent was clear” from his side. He asked for people to “keep the context intact”.

Shabir isn’t the first man to try to police clothing — women’s or otherwise — in Pakistan and he unfortunately will not be the last. But in the face of so many other problems — including a sharp uptick in violence against women — are there really no bigger issues for him to talk about?

Dr Mahnoor Nasir has been shifted to a private hospital in Karachi for treatment and her attacker, later identified by police as Humayun Shah, an employee at the hospital, was kil­led in an encounter with law enforcers while attempting to flee on a bus.

News of her attack has rocked the nation, not only because of the ferocity of it, but because it is far from the first case of a woman being attacked with acid.

“A woman went to WORK today. To SAVE LIVES. And someone threw acid on her face. I can’t. I genuinely cannot,” wrote Mahira Khan in an impassioned Instagram story.

“Dr Mahnoor Nasir [was] attacked inside a hospital. INSIDE A HOSPITAL. This is barbaric. This is evil. I am shaking with rage. This woman deserved safety. Instead she was nearly burned alive by a man who thought he had the right to destroy her,” she wrote.

“It’s time for not just the women but the MEN to speak up. To be louder. To be angrier!!!”

Singer Hadiqa Kiani said what happened to Dr Mahnoor Nasir should shake us all. “It is heartbreaking, horrifying and absolutely unacceptable,” she wrote, highlighting that Dr Nasir’s is not an isolated case.

“For too long, our women have faced violence, acid attacks, harassment and even death simply for existing, working and living with dignity. This must not be treated as another tragic headline,” she wrote.

Kiani implored society to find the courage to protect women before tragedy strikes.

Actor Mariyam Nafees shared a video of herself talking about multiple acts of violence against women in Pakistan.

“If she says no to a marriage proposal, we kill her. If she’s stranded in her car with her kids, we rape her. If she’s a girl, we kidnap her, sell her and rape her. If she gets married,  for some reason or the other, we burn her or kill her. If she’s a doctor, we throw acid on her in broad daylight. If she was born, we throw her in a garbage bin or drown her in a drain. But we talk about clothes because that is the biggest issue of our society — this is, I don’t even know what to say anymore.” 

Actor Saheefa Jabbar Khattak shared a note on Instagram about how morally policing women helps normalise hatred and contempt. 

“When people constantly speak against women’s clothing, their choices, their rights or even their mere existence, they help create an environment where misogyny thrives. The same mindset that shames women for what they wear is part of the culture that enables violence against them, where it’s acid attacks, murdering a wife for refusing sex, or brutalising a woman because she gave birth to a daughter,” she wrote.

“These horrific acts do not emerge in a vacuum. They are rooted in the same belief that women should be controlled, judged and punished for simply existing on their own terms.” 

Filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy shared a screenshot of a story about the attack and said achievement, service or dignity has never protected women from violence.

“The shame belongs to the attacker and to our society that still allows this to happen.”

Actor Amna Ilyas highlighted that in the wrong hands, acid is a weapon.

“A woman should be able to go to work without fearing violence. We need accountability, justice and stricter control over substances that can be used to destroy lives,” she said.

“Another woman, incident, noise, then silence. Get well soon doc! Being an achiever woman in this society, you certainly need a guard. Rip life for a woman,” wrote host Shaista Lodhi, highlighting that the cycle of violence against women always end with the outrage soon dying down and then silence.

Actor Sana Javed called hearing news of the attack “deeply unsettling”.

“There is something extremely wrong when someone can so easily obtain acid and use it to destroy another person’s life. This is no longer just about one incident, it’s about how little has changed,” she wrote in an Instagram story.

Several celebrities shared a video of how to provide first aid in case of an acid attack, much to their regret. Hina Altaf said she her heart broke at having to share it, while Yasir Hussain said he’d seen videos of natural disasters but seeing this one shocked him.

Actor Ayesha Omar shared a lengthy note on the attack, calling it a “psychological one”.

“It’s an attack on her freedom, her professionalism, her independence, her autonomy, her education, her mind, her soul and her spirit. It reminds us of how unsafe women are, not just on the streets but at their so-called safe workplaces and even inside their own homes,” she wrote.

“She goes our to save lives and her own is ruined. By an employee of the same hospital. I’m shaken and shattered…I’m full of anger and rage.”

She called for major “mental reforms” in the country and a deep dive into how to “start shfiting the misogynistic, violent mindset prevalent in Pakistan on a grassroot level” for all tiers of society.

“It’s not about law and order only. It’s about shifting the sick, twisted mindset, otherwise we are heading towards complete collapse and destruction.”

The attack on Dr Nasir is not the first act of violence against a Pakistani woman and it won’t be the last, not when acid is easily available, when men can’t take no for an answer, and when society continues to turn the other way when it comes to protecting women.

On Saturday, a man threw acid at a female doctor at Quetta’s Civil Hospital, severely injuring her. Dr Mahnoor Nasir survived, but with 70 per cent of her body burned, according to hospital sources.

On Thursday, a 64-year-old man surrendered himself to the police in Karachi and confessed to killing his wife for refusing to engage in intercourse with him the night before.

After going through the horror of witnessing so much crime, Pakistanis on X asked how many more women have to go through this before something actually changes.

As always, there were people online blaming the victims of these tragedies, claiming there was some reason why they were attacked, as if women aren’t attacked at random. Netizens were not having it and responded by calling out the real culprits: misogyny and male entitlement.

People were understandably enraged at why, after so many acid attacks, acid was still easily available for any potential attacker to buy and even carry with him into a hospital.

While the Acid Control Crime and Prevention Act, 2011 requires sellers to record the personal details of buyers, the substance remains commercially available and is readily used for domestic applications like drain cleaning.

In the case of the man who murdered his wife, a clip of him emerged where lawyers were huddled around the killer telling him they’d represent him and he was “in the right”. Users on X were horrified, with one shocked the lawyers could do so and still face their mothers, daughters, wives and sisters at home.

Many believed men need to be taught how to take no for an answer.

And of course, for many, the main culprit is always feminism. Many netizens rolled their eyes at people at the scrutiny around feminism and what feminists stand for when women “continue to be killed, raped and burned by acid attacks”.

One user put one of the biggest struggles of being a woman in Pakistan into perspective — no woman is safe from attacks by entitled men.

A lot of people were angry.

The prevalence of violence against women in Pakistan signifies a deep, systemic rot in the way society thinks about and treats women. Until attitudes change and everyone starts seeing women as human beings worthy of respect and rights, we can’t expect anything to improve.

The question is: how many more women need to be killed and injured before society finally has had enough?

For the music video, he changes things up even more, replacing Rishi Kapoor with himself, the mountains with the streets of Karachi and the heroine with yearning — yeah, this is clearly the same guy who sang ‘Jo Tu Na Mila’.

The video begins with our hero arriving in the city of lights and frantically looking for something — or someone. He asks the guards at the gate, looks around and then gets into an old-timey taxi to take his search elsewhere.

“Jaane kahan hai, kahan phir rahi. Mein dhoondoon tera jo guzar ho kahin (Where is she, where is she roaming. I look to see if you’re passing through somewhere).” We find out that the singer is indeed searching for a girl and that she promised to meet him, but has now ghosted him.

We get a taste of Kumar’s original vocals before Azhar keeps wondering aloud, “Tu hai kahan? Tu hai kaha-ha-han? (Where are you?)”

We then get even more details about the relationship between him and the mystery girl when he sings about her wanting space but them being made for each other. He asks her to have mercy on him, “You know I can’t wait, peeche na bhaga (don’t make me chase after you).”

After all his adventures across Karachi, we end up at the final scene with Azhar sleeping at home and being shaken awake by a barrage of texts from a “Pari” who is apparently waiting for him at the airport.

Did he sleep in and miss his flight? Did he give her the wrong time? Why couldn’t he have called her to clarify — he even asks if he should in the song. We have more questions than we have answers, but maybe that means something too.

There have been multiple reports of fictional clashes between the two cities, with videos showing the use of ‘heavy weaponary’, many of which are being seen for the first time.

Fighting between infantry units has escalated into gruelling close quarters battles, with troops engaging in hand-to-hand combat in the trenches after munitions ran low on both sides.

The fighting took a turn for the worse after forces from Okara deployed a never-before-seen short-range rocket system against the Federation’s troops.

Armoured units soon entered the fight, with Sahiwal’s state-of-the-art light tanks routing Okaran formations, swiftly striking fear into the hearts of enemy troops.

As a countermeasure, Okara’s forces deployed super-fast trucks developed by their scientists at Area-52 — the facility was built by Sahiwal and has since been taken over by Okara after the Republic broke away.

The trucks are expected to be able to break through to the frontlines and provide much needed supplies to the Republic’s forces.

Artillery batteries from both sides have been hammering rival positions, with video showing shells criss-crossing in the air due to the sheer volume of fire on the front.

Okara has established absolute air supremacy in the skies over Sahiwal with its high-tech ‘aircraft’. Sahiwal’s air forces have resorted to using ground-based assets for strikes and have attempted to hit targets as far as Karachi — although reports indicate the strike package got stuck on University Road.

Wing Commander Chahat Fateh Ali Khan, a veteran of the India-Pakistan meme war of 2025, was intercepted by Okara and reportedly remains in custody.

Other cities are taking sides in the conflict and the fighting has spilled into other areas. There are fears this may turn into a major proxy conflict as Lahore has thrown its weight behind Sahiwal.

In response, Karachi has joined the war on Okara’s side with 4,000 men of the elite Korangi Cavalry being sent to support Okaran forces.

Bahawalpur has entered into a mutual defence agreement with Okara.

Muridke and Pattoki — both part of Lahore’s divisional sphere of influence — have rebelled and pledged support to Okara, sending naval units to blockade Sahiwal. Yeah, even we don’t know how that one works.

We have questions, so many questions. What on earth is going on? Who started this? Where is it headed? And how will the economy fare with the budget just days away?

We don’t have any answers yet, please send them in the comments if you do and stay tuned, there may be updates.

Where these mini-dress clad people — presumably women, though he didn’t specify — are roaming is a mystery to us, as it probably is to most of you. It would be educational for us all if he would enlighten us all about where exactly in Punjab women are roaming around in public in short dresses.

“As a father of two daughter I humbly request to madam CM Maryam Nawaz please make a law against those who wear short dresses in public places — bazaars and streets — otherwise we will all be destroyed culturally,” he wrote in his story.

Naturally, people — read: we — are confused. Who is he talking about? What bazaars and streets does he frequent in Punjab where people roam around in short dresses? What do his daughters have to do with his request? And why does he think CM Maryam should be policing what people are wearing?

The reaction online to his request is, of course, mixed. Some are most pleased at this strange statement, happy that our ‘culture’ will be protected from these faceless short dress-wearing people. Others argue that he never mentioned women, and therefore cannot be called misogynistic. Some believed he was talking about men in shorts — also, a much-debated topic in Pakistan. A fourth more sensible group is as confused as us, wondering what prompted this sudden outpouring of concern.

If anyone figures out what he’s talking about, please let us know.

The actor gained global praise in the 1990s for his portrayal of Rupert Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He also played King Arthur’s father Uther Pendragon on the BBC series Merlin.

“He passed away peacefully of complications due to pneumonia, surrounded by his family,” his daughters, Emily and Daisy said in a statement.

“It has been, and forever will be, an honour and a privilege to be his daughters and to have witnessed firsthand the impact both he and his work have had on so many,” they said.

They spoke about “how dearly he will be missed by friends, colleagues and fans of the show he was in”, adding that he “loved his job very much” and “always considered himself incredibly lucky”.

Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played the titular character on Buffy, posted pictures with Head on Instagram.

“‘Tell Giles I figured it out and I’m ok.’ Well, I don’t have it figured out and I’m not ok. But I know I’m the lucky one because I knew you,” she wrote.

She thanked Emily and Daisy who “not only shared their dad with me, but with the world”.

Their co-stars David Boreanaz and James Marsters also paid tribute to the star, with Boreanaz describing him as, “All kindness and a soul that was inspiring to me.”

Marsters said, “There was a hole in the world,” now that Head had passed away.

“He was an unflaggingly kind and steady presence on the set of Buffy, and the best actor in the cast… I was lucky to have known, and learned from him,” Marsters wrote.

Head also starred in Ted Lasso from 2020 as former Richmond FC owner Rupert Mannion, the ex-husband of Hannah Waddingham’s character Rebecca Welton.

Brett Goldstein, their co-star and a writer on the show, said: “Anthony Head was a brilliant actor who played the worst person in the world, which was an incredible skill because he was the best person.”

“He will be sorely missed,” Goldstein said, sending love to Head’s family.

The actor trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and enjoyed a long stage career, performing in several iterations of The Rocky Horror Show and musicals such as Godspell and Chess.

Head’s other credits included a recurring role on the show Little Britain and appearances in Motherland, Doctor Who, The Archers and Bridgerton.

He also appeared in The Inbetweeners alongside his daughter Emily.

Head came from a family of artists, with his mother being an actor and his father making documentaries. His brother Murray is also an actor, having appeared in the Academy Award-nominated film Sunday Bloody Sunday.

Both his daughters followed their father into acting and Head’s long-term partner Sarah Fisher was an animal rights campaigner. She died in December last year.

But there’s a detail in the fine print below Swift’s name that someone could easily miss at first glance. In the piece, Forbes confirms that the country singer is the wealthiest female musician of all time with a total net worth of $2 billion.

The list recognised Swift for her influence on the music industry as “one of the most commercially successful songwriters of all time”. It said she “leveraged her star power to re-record most of her discography” in 2020, taking back the royalties to her music and inspiring other artists to do the same.

“In 2024, Swift reached billionaire status thanks to The Eras Tour, which became the highest-grossing concert tour in history with revenue of $2.2bn,” Forbes noted. It added that she used around $360 million of the funds to buy back the rights to all her master recordings last year.

“By March 2026, her net worth doubled to $2bn, making her the richest female musician in history,” the list said.

According to her profile on Forbes, “Her fortune includes nearly $800m amassed from royalties and touring, plus a music catalogue worth an estimated $600m and some $110m in real estate.”

The star continues to set records, recently becoming the most streamed artist of all time on Spotify, which had released its top 20 ranking earlier this year for its 20th anniversary.

The title will be available exclusively to Netflix subscribers at no ​additional cost, as world soccer’s governing body looks ​to broaden fan engagement through its revamped digital strategy.

Developed ⁠in partnership with Netflix Games and Delphi Interactive, the ​game is designed as an accessible football simulation, allowing ​players to take part in the tournament experience.

Players will be able to choose from all 48 teams competing in the World Cup and ​play matches across the tournament’s 16 stadiums, with more ​than 1,200 players included in the game.

The format uses smartphones as ‌controllers, ⁠enabling users to connect to a television by scanning a QR code, according to FIFA. Up to four users can play together.

FIFA said the launch forms part of a broader ​shift in its ​approach to ⁠gaming following the end of its long-running partnership with EA Sports, moving instead to ​a multi-partner ecosystem aimed at expanding its reach ​across ⁠platforms and audiences.

The governing body described the game as the starting point of a longer-term project, with additional features and ⁠broader ​platform support planned beyond the initial ​release.

The 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico kicks ​off on June 11.

Jaffer was sentenced to death in February 2022 by a sessions court in Islamabad for the 2021 murder of Noor Mukadam, with subsequent appeals in the Islamabad High Court and Supreme Court ending in rulings that upheld the punishment.

Users on X breathed a sigh of collective relief upon hearing the news, calling it a positive development for women’s rights, safety and the rule of law in Pakistan.

Netizens said Jaffer’s sentence sets an example that could serve as deterrence for other acts of violence against women.

One person said though it won’t bring Mukadam back, the dismissal of the review plea closes an avenue for the criminal in “one of Pakistan’s most horrific cases” to escape accountability.

Another advised caution, saying this case was only a start and there was still a long way to go when it came to protecting Pakistan’s women against violence.

A few others were less optimistic, saying justice remained out of reach for people without means and societal influence.

One user said Mukadam’s case was resolved in four to five years owing to her father’s influence as a retired diplomat. Another cited the examples of Natasha Danish and Shahrukh Jatoi — two influential people who were accused of murder and then later pardoned by the victims’ families.

There was also discussion around Jaffer’s defence in the case. His legal team told the court he suffered from mental health issues, attempting to use that as a reason for the murder, something the courts rejected. One person said such tactics end up hurting people who actually do need help with their mental health and increase the stigma around it.

With Thursday’s decision, a presidential pardon under Article 45 of the Constitution is the only way Jaffer can be given clemency with a suspension or commutation of his death sentence.

“Marjane Satrapi died of sadness a little over a year after the death of Mattias Ripa, her husband and the love of her life,” they said in a statement sent to AFP.

Born in 1969 in Rasht in northern Iran, Satrapi arrived in France in 1994 and gained French nationality in 2006.

An outspoken critic of Iran’s theocratic government, Satrapi’s Persepolis recounts her early life in Tehran, struggling with restrictions imposed by Iran’s Islamic leadership after the 1979 revolution, before her parents sent her to Europe and she began a life in exile.

French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Satrapi, saying she was “a great artist who turned her Iranian childhood into a universal tale”.

The films she directed included a 2007 adaptation of the graphic novel of Persepolis — co-directed by Vincent Paronnaud — which won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Oscar.

“Even if this is a universal film, I want to dedicate this prize to all Iranians,” Satrapi told AFP at the time.

“Marjane was an extraordinary artist and a charming woman who embodied the joy of creation and the sorrow of exile and painful memories. We mourn her this morning,” Cannes festival supremo Thierry Fremaux told AFP.

‘Her courage will resonate’

She was a vocal supporter of the protests that erupted in the Islamic republic after the 2022 death of 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini while in custody for allegedly breaching the dress code for women.

She curated a collection of graphic stories on the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement in her latest book that came out in English in 2024, and was among those at a protest in Paris that same year to mark two years since Amini’s death.

“It’s very important that this regime disappears,” she said of the Islamic republic, but she stressed it could not happen overnight.

“I think it’s important to remain hopeful.”

The foundation of Narges Mohammadi, the jailed Iranian Nobel peace prize winner, praised Satrapi as “a fearless voice for feminism, human rights, and freedom”.

“She consistently advocated for women’s rights, standing in solidarity with the people of Iran and amplifying the message of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement on the global stage,” it said.

“Her courage will continue to resonate far beyond her lifetime.”

Also a painter, in 2020 Satrapi exhibited a series of works she said she had spent the past seven years painting between other projects, speaking of a need to isolate herself from the world with her canvases.

“I think my mental health depends on it,” she said.

She said she believed in being a feminist through her actions.

“If I show that I know how to do things just as well as — or even better than — a man, then I’ve won the battle and I can be an example for the girl who will come after me,” she said.

‘Love of my life’

She said last year she had turned down France’s highest civilian honour, the legion d’honneur, accusing the country of “hypocrisy” over visa policies that prevented dissidents travelling from Iran to France.

“I can’t ignore what I see as a hypocritical attitude towards Iran, which forged the other part of my identity,” she wrote, adding that she meant no disrespect to the award and that she loved France “deeply”.

Her work expanded beyond stories connected to Iran, including Radioactive, a 2019 biopic about pioneering radioactivity researcher and Nobel-prize winner Marie Curie, starring Rosamund Pike.

Her husband, a Swedish producer, actor and screenwriter, had been a long-time collaborator.

After his death on April 8 last year, Satrapi founded the Mattias and Marjane Ripa-Satrapi Cinema Foundation to support foreign students wishing to come to Paris to study filmmaking.

Since he died, Satrapi’s Instagram page consisted almost exclusively of a series of images spelling out “For I lost the love of my life”, along with a picture of her husband and an announcement of the foundation.

In an X post addressed to Foreign Office Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi on Thursday, the rapper said, “For the past 45 days, 11 Pakistani citizens have been stranded off the coast of Somalia completely abandoned, without help, food or essential supplies.”

He said these people weren’t just “statistics” and represented 11 Pakistani families. “These are sons, daughters, mothers, and wives waiting in agony for their breadwinners to return home safely.”

Anjum said he realises there are complications and that “these things take time”, but he said those families deserved answers beyond the “generic, occasional statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs claiming they are ‘in touch with Somali Maritime forces’”.

The rapper called on the Foreign Office to set up a dedicated helpline for these families to call for updates and asked the government to form a committee or assign an official of the foreign ministry whose only job is to keep up with the crisis and keep the families up to date, “providing them with the transparency and respect they are owed”.

This is not the first time Anjum has spoken up on this issue; he wrote a strongly-worded message on Instagram days after the vessel was first taken over by pirates on April 21.

In his message, the rapper said one of the captured sailors was “like a brother” to him, so this issue was personal. At the time, he claimed the government “has taken no action” for the safety of the hostage and that he was “ashamed” as a Pakistani at the government’s “non seriousness” and “under the rug policy” when it came to its citizens trapped abroad.

Separately, Andrabi spoke about the hostage situation on Thursday during the weekly Foreign Office press briefing. He said the government was in touch with the ship’s owners who were negotiating for the crew’s release and the government of Somalia — which had jurisdiction over the waters the ship was in — was kept informed.

The spokesperson said any rescue operation was made difficult by the geographic conditions and the explosive nature of the vessel’s cargo. He said Pakistan has called on the ship’s owners and the government of Somalia to push the pirates to provide food, water and essential supplies to the hostages.

Andrabi said resolving the crisis was a priority for the government, but incidents of piracy in this region have taken months to resolve in the past. He said they had received written assurances from the Somali side.

The spokesperson expressed sympathy for the families of the hostages and asked for their patience as the government tried to bring their loved ones home.

With additional reporting by Ameer Hamza

Their practices engage memory as something porous, shifting and deeply embodied. The exhibition unfolds as a layered meditation on identity, displacement and the emotional residues of lived experience. Each artist approaches memory through a distinct visual language yet, together, they construct a nuanced cartography of the personal and the collective.

At first glance, Jamal’s oil pastel drawings appear almost childlike, with simplified forms, vivid colours and a playful, dreamlike sensibility. Yet, this apparent innocence gives way to something more complex. Her compositions operate as symbolic constellations where mountains, flames, celestial forms and domestic objects coexist in ambiguous relationships.

Figures drift between states, caught between vulnerability and quiet authority. Drawing on oral traditions and cultural motifs, Jamal creates images that feel both intimate and mythic, where memory appears fragmented, layered and unresolved.

A deeply introspective four-person exhibition in Karachi presented memory as something that can be reimagined and reconstructed

In Masharaan (Elders), Jamal constructs a scene that is both intimate and ceremonial. A row of elderly men sits shoulder to shoulder, eyes closed, their expressions poised between repose and solemnity. Each figure wears a differently coloured kurta — purple, yellow, pink, ochre, green, red — creating a rhythmic chromatic sequence across the composition.

While the colours lend a visual vibrancy, the mood remains restrained, even mournful. In the foreground, a pale, elongated form lies almost spectrally. It may suggest the shrouded body of a child, a symbolic offering, or a tangible fragment of memory. The act of gathering feels significant, though its meaning remains deliberately open.

In contrast, Mohsin’s paintings are marked by restraint and psychological stillness. Rooted in a sense of cultural dissonance shaped by movement across geographies, his figures inhabit spaces of introspection, suspended between presence and absence. There is a subtle theatricality to these works: the subjects appear aware of being observed, yet remain internally withdrawn.

Mohsin’s unconventional journey, from cake artistry to economics to fine art, manifests in a refined sensitivity to surface, colour and composition. His paintings engage with the performance of identity, reflecting how individuals navigate layered expectations imposed by society and self.

In Haraam, Mohsin distils a moment of quiet tension. A solitary male figure sits at a table, absorbed in a private reckoning. The composition is sparse, yet charged. The title, with its connotations of prohibition and moral transgression, frames the scene as one of internal conflict rather than simple contemplation. What unfolds is an encounter with the self — fraught, unresolved and deeply human.

Agha’s paintings extend the exhibition’s concerns into a more philosophical register. Agha was an advocate before becoming a figurative painter. He studied at the Royal College of Art in the field of history painting, and later received training through courses at the Florence Academy of Art in Florence, Italy.

His images are deeply private yet resonate with a broader universality. His imagery emerges from internal landscapes, occupying spaces between dream and document. Themes of power, violence and cultural inheritance surface obliquely, inviting reflection rather than assertion. Memory, here, is not a fixed record but an evolving negotiation.

The Deposition reinterprets the historical motif of Christ’s removal from the cross through a contemporary lens. A coffin is lowered or supported by surrounding figures whose gestures convey grief and collective burden. Time and place are deliberately blurred, allowing the scene to move beyond its biblical origins into a more universal meditation on loss and interdependence. The scale of the work intensifies its emotional impact, foregrounding both the fragility of the body and the persistence of care.

If Jamal, Mohsin and Agha explore memory through image and atmosphere, Chishti grounds it in materiality. Her sculptural works, constructed from discarded textiles, carry the weight of touch, use, and time. These fabrics, often drawn from personal or ceremonial contexts, are not neutral but act as repositories of memory. Chishti’s practice, shaped by experiences of displacement and familial rupture, transforms these remnants into forms that speak of endurance and survival.

Her engagement with the idea of the caryatid (a sculpted female figure as architectural support) is telling. In her work, this classical ideal is reimagined through bodies marked by lived experience. These figures are not monumental in scale, yet they possess a quiet strength, embodying what might be understood as the architecture of memory: the invisible ways in which histories are carried within the body. An ecological dimension also underlies her practice, as the reuse of textiles gestures towards cycles of consumption, care and preservation.

In Until the Sparrows Return, a small sculpture fashioned from discarded cloth takes the form of an industrial oil barrel, upon which a female figure perches. Suspended between refuge and abandonment, she inhabits the silence that follows devastation — when even the sparrows have disappeared. Her worn, repeatedly stitched clothing becomes a testament to endurance, each seam resisting erasure. The figure exists at a threshold between ruin and return, where survival itself becomes a form of waiting.

Chishti connects this work to her earlier series In the Absence of Sparrows, where women are depicted holding one another in the aftermath of conflict. These works foreground the often unseen labour of women who sustain life amid destruction.

What binds ‘The Geography of Memory’ is its refusal to treat memory as stable or singular. Instead, memory emerges as fluid, contested and deeply subjective, something that can be reimagined and reconstructed. The exhibition resists definitive narratives, opening space for reflection and personal association.

It offers a compelling reminder that memory, in all its fragility and persistence, remains one of the most vital terrains through which art can engage the world.

‘The Geography of Memory’ was on display at Canvas Gallery, Karachi from May 5-14, 2026

Cover: Usaydh Agha’s Prayer To (left) and Bearing Witness I by Mustafa Mohsin

Originally published in Dawn, EOS, 31st, 2026

The actor posted a copy of the notification issued by the provincial government to his Instagram account, thanking Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz for giving his fans the opportunity to watch his film Zombeid in theatres.

“People of Punjab, CM Maryam Nawaz has opened cinemas for you. Now go and watch our film,” the actor wrote in the post’s caption.

In the comments, his Zombeid costar Mehwish Hayat sent him a congratulatory GIF and the province’s ruling party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, sent him love for appreciating the government.

On Tuesday, Mustafa posted an appeal to Punjab Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb calling for a “modest” extension in the operating hours of cinemas — which were closing at 8pm like most businesses in the province — to give people time to watch movies later in the evening.

His open letter said the austerity measures were adversely affecting newly-released films which needed “this period to reach audiences”.

Under the new regime, businesses have been divided into four categories with different timing curbs. Shops, markets, shopping malls and bazaars will be the earliest to close at 9pm, with marriage halls, marquees and ceremonial spaces next to shut their doors at 10pm.

Restaurants, cafes, cinemas, eateries and standalone fruit and vegetable shops will close at 11pm under the new schedule and a number of businesses — bakeries, tandoors, milk shops, fuel pumps, CNG stations, electrical vehicle charging stations, gyms, sports facilities, padel courts, IT companies and call centres — will be exempt from these austerity measures entirely.

Hospitals, clinics, medical laboratories, pharmacies, medical and medical supply stores will similarly be exempt owing to their essential nature.

Talking about using Black Forest’s technology for storyboarding, the director said, “For 70 years, I’ve been creating my own storyboards. There’s always been this problem of ‘how do you communicate what you see in your head to your cast and crew’. There are some things you have to see and feel. I’m interested in the intersection of technology and storytelling, and seeing how that can push the bounds of creativity to create deeper and richer experiences for audiences… Now, with this tool, I can share what I’m visualising more clearly and efficiently to my creative team — the production designer, art designer, and cinematographer — for them to build on to enrich cinematic intelligence.”

While Scorsese appeared to hail AI as the next frontier in the development of cinema, fans were less than enthusiastic about one of Hollywood’s most iconic minds buying into the AI wave.

One user said it was part of a worrying trend of senior filmmakers such as James Cameron, George Miller and Ridley Scott pushing AI tech.

A few others contended that the even more worrying thing was that these older directors will probably not be around to see the effects of the tech “revolution” they’re advocating for.

As storyboarding is a proper function on any film set and storyboard artists working hard to bring a director’s vision to life, people were concerned about the impact this would have on their livelihoods.

Someone brought up Japanese animation legend Hayao Miyazaki’s principled stance against AI with a video in which he calls the idea to integrate AI in artistic work like his “an insult to life itself”.

Some fans, grieving the way the internet does, chose to meme their way through the situation.

Hollywood films aren’t the only arenas where humans are gradually being pushed out by AI. Bollywood is experimenting with the technology, there are attempts to bring an AI-generated actor into the mainstream and Vogue even featured an ad with an AI-generated model last year.

Last year also saw a trend where people used Chat GPT to remake their pictures into Miyazaki’s signature art style. We have no doubt he wasn’t happy about this.

Chacha Cricket, whose unwavering support for Pakistan’s cricket team in spite of their incredibly poor performance made him a symbol of hope for cricket fans everywhere, retired from cheering for the team in a ceremony on Tuesday.

The Pakistan Cricket Board treated the super-fan to a cake and a commemorative jersey presented by skipper Shaheen Afridi on the sidelines of the One Day International between Pakistan and Australia at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium — where Chacha watched his first international match in 1969.

Being a celebrity, Chacha’s fans were sad to see him leave the field and tributes poured in on X.

Ali Tareen, the former owner of the Multan Sultans and a bonafide cricket fanatic, recalled his memories seeing Chacha Cricket at Pakistan’s games.

Another user recalled meeting him as a kid and being inspired to cheer for Pakistan.

Naturally, netizens weren’t happy to see the green shirts lost Chacha’s farewell match. We’re all pretty used to seeing them lose, but this game was supposed to be special.

One user said he deserved better, while another speculated he may have chosen to retire because even he couldn’t stand the team’s incessant losing streak.

Whatever the cause may be, Chacha Cricket’s almost 500-match-long career of being Pakistan’s biggest cheerleader brought smiles, spirit and much-needed hope to a group of beleaguered fans who often don’t have much else to keep them going. He will be missed both on and off the field.

Lucknowi Kabab Handi Ingredients

-K&N’s Kabab Tikki (28-30 kababs)

-Ghee (3 tbsp)

-Onions (1 cup; finely chopped)

-Ginger garlic paste (1 tbsp)

-Tomato puree (1 cup)

-Coriander powder (1 tsp)

-Turmeric powder (½ tsp)

-Cumin powder (1 tsp)

-Red chilli powder (1 tsp)

-Whole spice mix (1 tsp)

-Salt (1 tsp / to taste)

-Yogurt (1 cup)

-Cream (½ cup)

-Dried fenugreek (1 tsp)

-Cardamom powder (½ tsp)

-Roasted cashew nut paste (¼ cup)

-Hot water (¼ cup)

-Degi mirch powder (1 tsp)

-Oil for frying

-Coriander for garnishing; chopped

Method

1. Fry K&N’s Kabab Tikki as per instructions on pack.

2. Melt ghee in a deep saucepan; add onions and sauté until translucent.

3. Add ginger-garlic paste to the pan and cook for a few seconds. Pour tomato puree and cook for 2-3 minutes.

4. Add coriander powder, turmeric powder, cumin powder, red chilli powder, whole spice mix, and salt. Mix well.

5. Add yogurt and cook until ghee separates. Add cream, dried fenugreek, cardamom powder, roasted cashew nut paste and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add hot water and degi mirch powder; cook for another minute. Add Kabab Tikki to the prepared curry and mix well.

6. Garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves and serve. Lucknowi Kabab Handi is ready.

This content is produced in paid partnership with K&N’s.

In an Instagram post shared by the festival, the ACPK and its president, Ahmed Shah, it was announced that filmmakers from around the world were invited to submit their work for consideration to be displayed at the festival.

The post said submissions were live on Freeway and a variety of categories were welcome, including documentaries, narratives and short films.

The World Culture Festival will take place at the Arts Council from October 29 to November 22 and is expected to feature over 1,000 artists representing over 140 different countries.

Films aren’t the only thing on display at the festival, which has had strong theatre and music segments over its previous two runs. Dance and visual arts also form part of the festivities with exhibitions, performances and workshops.

The last edition, which ran from October 30 to December 7, had more than 800 artists from 102 countries displaying their work in Karachi.

The extensive film lineup for the 37-day festival included Pakistan’s Dukhtar and The Glass Worker, Spain’s Los Tigres and Glimmers, Polish feature Home and Italy’s Paper heart.

Other highlights of the festival were its many plays and grand weekly concerts and dance nights.

Elba was knighted for services to young people. Syal, the actor and comedian known for The Kumars At No 42, was recognised for her services to literature, drama and charity. 

Elba, the star of The Wire and Luther, among many other titles, has teamed up with the king to make a documentary marking 50 years of the Prince’s Trust — now called the King’s Trust — a grant he benefitted from as a teenager. He used the money to attend the National Youth Music Theatre when he was 18. 

According to the BBC, the actor founded the Elba Hope Foundation in 2022 to support community empowerment, education, youth advocacy and sustainable development.

In 2017, Syal was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and in 2023, she was awarded the Bafta Fellowship, the British Academy’s highest accolade for a career on screen.

The New Year honours, which have been awarded since at least 1890, aim to recognise not just well-known figures but people who have contributed to national life through often unsung work over many years.

The full list includes more than 1,157 people in politics, sport, the arts or community service who were awarded titles from Member, Commander or Officer of the Order of the British Empire to the highest honours of knighthoods and damehoods.

In an open letter to the province’s senior minister, Marriyum Aurangzeb, the actor contended that many moviegoers are busy with other things earlier in the day, so some audiences were “only able to attend screenings later in the evenings”.

Mustafa said that since many cinemas in the province were located inside malls — which close at 8pm under austerity measures taken in view of a global fuel crisis triggered by the Iran-US/Israel war — they were also operating on shortened schedules. “The early closure is affecting recently released films that are relying on this period to reach audiences,” he said.

The actor said a “modest” extension in operating hours would “increase ticket sales”, “support employment across the exhibition and hospitality sectors” and “provide greater access and convenience for audiences”.

Mustafa appreciated the Punjab government for its “support for the film industry,” including initiatives like CM Maryam Nawaz’s Film City plan for Lahore. He requested the government to support the creative sector once more with a “small relaxation” in cinema timings, something that would be “appreciated by filmmakers, exhibitors and cinemagoers alike”.

The actor’s film Zombeid premiered on Eidul Azha and is playing in theatres nationwide. The film was one of three Pakistani movies released over Eid last week, competing for screen space limited by the restrictions in timings — which were relaxed temporarily for the holiday.

Any easing of these restrictions would allow these films more space to reach audiences.

The debate gained momentum after leading actor Deepika Padukone reportedly exited a major project last year over a demand for shorter working hours following motherhood, thrusting the issue of work-life balance into the spotlight in India’s film industry.

Bollywood has long been known for punishing schedules, with shifts often stretching from 12 to 18 hours and, at times, continuing for more than a day during intensive shoots.

But what was once accepted as the norm is now being questioned, with growing calls for humane working conditions and limits on daily hours.

Supporters of reform say the current system disproportionately puts pressure on women, who often face being labelled pushy or difficult — a stigma rarely attached to male stars.

A number of actors, including Suniel Shetty, Kajol and Ram Kapoor, have backed the push for healthier boundaries, arguing that established stars should be able to set limits on working hours.

“Once you have achieved success in showbiz… then, yes, you are in a position to choose how many hours you want to work,” Kapoor told AFP, reflecting a view that bargaining power in the industry remains tied to status.

Others, however, warn that the fluid nature of filmmaking makes rigid eight-hour shifts “unreal” to enforce on mega-budget sets.

Poor planning

“This is not like a corporate job,” said actor Ali Fazal, pointing to the varying demands of projects, particularly action-heavy or technically complex productions.

Actor Chitrangda Singh echoed that argument, citing several variables such as weather disruptions and equipment failures that can derail tightly planned schedules.

“Filmmaking is also driven by business realities,” she said.

Industry insiders highlight the steep costs involved in large productions, where locations, crew and equipment can cost more than $26,000 per day, creating pressure to maximise shooting time.

Former Cine & TV Artistes’ Association official Amit Behl said filmmakers often cannot afford to halt shoots midway, especially when a large crew or elaborate action sequences are involved.

“The bungalow in which Animal (an action blockbuster) was shot cost 25 lakh rupees ($26,300) a day rental,” said Behl.

“Then you have to prop it up with junior artistes, which is an additional expenditure besides catering, electricity, vanity vans and bouncers.”

But critics argue that such explanations often mask poor planning and systemic inefficiencies, placing the burden of long hours on cast and crew.

Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur criticised what he called a hierarchy that prioritises top actors over technicians, saying work-life balance should apply to all on the set.

“Everyone (should have) the privilege to define the hours they want to work,” he told AFP.

Workaholic

The controversy has also highlighted disparities within the industry, where junior artistes and crew often have little negotiating power.

For many, the recent debate marks a broader shift in Bollywood, with younger professionals and established stars alike beginning to challenge the long-standing norms.

Yet opinions remain divided.

“I have seen Shah Rukh Khan on sets working 27 hours non-stop when he had to complete a scene. He doesn’t need to do it,” Behl said, referring to the Bollywood superstar.

“But you can’t leave a scene mid-way… if it is an action scene where fighters are involved, anything can happen… it is not like shutting a laptop and working for an IT company.”

Some veterans, like actor Madhuri Dixit, frame the issue as a personal choice rather than a structural problem.

“We did a 12-hour shift or maybe more every day for Mrs Deshpande,” she told AFP, mentioning the 2025 crime thriller.

“But if a woman wants to work (fewer) hours, that is her prerogative, her life… more power to her. To each his own, I’m a workaholic!”

The endless yellow hallways of A24’s Backrooms, directed by 20-year-old Kane Parsons, terrified tens of thousands of people in its opening weekend to rack up $118 million at the box office.

And Focus Features film Obsession, directed by 26-year-old Curry Barker, has taken in $148 million worldwide in two weeks — a smash hit for a production that cost $750,000.

“It’s a huge, huge success and a real turning point for the industry, potentially,” said associate editor Matthew Frank of The Ankler, a digital media company that covers Hollywood.

“They’re breaking out with these films that are appealing to a younger demographic,” Frank said, adding that the vast majority of ticket buyers the past couple weekends “have been under 35 and even, you know, under 25. So it’s appealing to this demographic [that] normally doesn’t really get spoken to.”

In recent years multiplexes have faced a multi-fold decline, fueled by the rise of streaming, a lag in recovery in ticket sales since Covid, and the strikes that halted production in Hollywood in 2023.

But this year’s numbers are drumming up optimism for the best year since the pandemic.

This is thanks in part to Generation Z, which boosted the box office by 25 per cent last year, according to a report from the National Research Group.

Theatre owners are “ecstatic about these weekends,” said Ronnie Yount, owner of the Phoenix Theatres chain in the Midwest.

Yount compared both films to Lilo & Stitch for driving box office — which seemed unthinkable.

Franchise fails

The trick to tapping into the younger market is to “deliver the right films,” Frank said.

“Hollywood’s problem, for a while, was saying, ‘oh, it’s young people,’ when in fact it was because they were making the 10th (installment in) pre-existing franchises that were popular for their parents.”

The safe bets from studios that hoped to cash in on an endless slate of summer action hero movies turned off younger audiences.

“When you make something that’s for that audience, that’s when they’ll come out,” Frank said.

Parsons, who is known to his 3.2 million subscribers as Kane Pixels on YouTube, has racked up more than 300 million views.

The inspiration for Backrooms came from a photo posted to an internet forum in 2019 showing, without context, a yellow space.

Parsons, then a teenager, told AFP that he saw the image as a “vaguely nostalgic and vaguely dreamlike but also very tangible science-fiction concept.”

His YouTube video of a young man lost in terrifying corridors amassed millions of views in a matter of days, and led to a contract with A24.

His endless nightmare is now on the big screen, starring Oscar-nominated actors Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve.

Barker went from an audience of 1.1 million subscribers on his channel That’s a Bad Idea to premiering Obsession at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2025.

The movie follows the horrifying consequences after a young man’s wish comes true, and the target of his romantic attention begins to love him more than anything else in the world.

Frank said very production company and studio in Hollywood right now is asking: “How can we replicate this?”

“Not just because they’re huge successes, but they’re also made for these limited budgets.”

But he warned it’s not just about finding successful YouTubers.

“It still requires just finding the great filmmakers, which can come anywhere.”

Although far from entertaining, it is by far the most interesting scene in a film that starts from nowhere, dawdles aimlessly, chooses to tell half a story, and ends with a “To Be Continued” bumper.

One can’t help but feel that story writer, director and producer Imran Malik is insisting that the remaining, presumably better half, rests in a sequel. A sequel that may never come to pass.

When one views the film in that context, can one really blame the lead character for being sad?

For the purposes of the story, we learn the source of Zarshaan’s sorrow through low-quality, AI-rendered flashbacks. His parents (Usman Peerzada and Saba Hameed) were researchers who had everything — money, a mansion, and a thriving business in Thailand — but lost it all thanks to a bad investment.

In one atrocious AI flashback, we see them perishing in a highway accident. Zarshaan, being the driver, is ridden with guilt. Or is he?

Penniless, sensible and cheerful enough when not sad — though we never quite understand why a grown man chooses wallowing over taking charge of his life despite his hardships — he helps a disabled boy retrieve a kite. At the end of the kite-chase he ends up — again, with AI-assisted inserts — in an apartment where several young women live.

Presumably an astute, worldly-wise young man (probably because Saeed plays him that way), he fails to notice that there is something off about these women.

For starters, they have no elders in the house, dress conspicuously and strut home late at night from parties, claiming that they’re coming from a shrine. They’re also scared of the law — when sirens blare, they scramble to hide beneath the bed.

It is revealed late in the film (insert dull surprise here) that they are prostitutes. The film chooses to call them ‘Tawaiafs’. Given that he is from Thailand — a country where prostitution thrives with a $6 to $8 billion annual turnover — it is hard to excuse his naivety, or the screenplay’s insistence upon it.

As was bound to happen, our hero falls somewhat in love with Billo (Mamya Shajaffar), the spunky, wide-eyed heroine who doesn’t blink.

“Somewhat” is the operative word here. There is no build-up to the romance, even when 70 per cent of the film unfolds within the confines of two sets that function as Zarshaan’s perpetually messy apartment. The very apartment whose room he rents to the two women.

While the audience tries to make sense of the relationship between the two leads, three side-tracks are shoehorned into the running narrative.

The first is the comic relief, Sardar Happy Singh (Rana Ijaz) — a good-hearted, lascivious sleaze-bag who befriends Zarshaan and then asks him to spy on his cheating wife (Happy, by the way, was cheating on her as well).

The second track involves Sureet (Mehrunisa Iqbal), a Hindu girl abducted at a young age and forced into prostitution. Like Happy’s track, this does not fit naturally into the narrative.

The third — and just as ill-fitting as the other two — features the eternally, manically happy villain (Tabrez Khan), who lives off the prostitutes’ earnings. Apparently a pretty big deal, this unhinged bad guy is never given scenes that establish who he really is or what makes him tick.

These scattered ideas — one cannot even call them a fully mapped-out story — lumber along until the pacing collapses under its own weight. Then the unthinkable happens: screenwriter Wajid Zuberi and Malik flip the script 180 degrees by introducing Babar Ali.

Ali plays one of Luv Di Saun’s two “other” heroes. He is the bodyguard of a billionaire (Rashid Khwaja) searching for his empire’s heir.

No points for guessing that Billo is the heir. After all, as she herself says in a scene, she always felt she didn’t quite belong in the life she was living, even though she is often seen having a ball.

The other “other” hero enters just before the climax: Humayun Saeed. Pakistani cinema’s unassailable superstar plays an unassailable Dabangg-style police officer who holds a tasbeeh in his killer hands. The man frees kidnapped women, looks up to the Almighty for permission, and then saves Zarshaan after he is beaten to a pulp.

By now, Luv Di Saun has thrown Farhan Saeed’s character to the sidelines, abandoning the idea of a simple wrong-side-of-the-tracks love story and replacing it with a plot-line that makes little to no sense.

And yet the film is still not over. The aforementioned “To Be Continued” bumper hits the viewer like a sledgehammer, alluding to a far bigger story that’s left up in the air. A story worth, perhaps, 10 minutes of screen time.

One fails to see the bigger picture here. For a good two and a half hours, the audience is forced to accept an unmapped half-picture — one that is amateurishly edited, badly sound-designed, and constricted to a few sets — only to be told that even this minuscule story has been left incomplete.

One wonders if Luv Di Saun is worse than Imran Malik’s last film, Azaadi, starring Moammar Rana and Sonya Hussyn. It is definitely better acted — though only because of Saeed, who is on-screen for 80 per cent of the runtime; it is also better shot (the director of photography is Syed Faisal Bukhari), and has a decent song or two. But these few qualities do not equate to a better experience.

For the most part, the long running time desperately tries to build characters. Both Zarshaan and Billo have scenes that could have added dimension and emotional resonance; instead, they feel fake and superficial. After a while, the entire exercise grows repetitive.

Being boring is the least of Luv Di Saun’s problems, though. The bigger issue is its failure to figure out its own story — and without a story brimming with passion, conviction, conflict, and forward momentum, what is left in a film other than wasted hours?

She also posted a note on the subject thanking her friends, family and well-wishers, asking them not to share unverified information about her.

Rumours circulating on the internet claimed Syed had died, with fans grieving the loss of a titan of Pakistani music. Naturally, when they reached the singer herself, she addressed the situation by talking to her fans personally.

“I have come to know that rumours are being spread about my health. I am absolutely fine, by the grace of God. I am living a really good life in New York. Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes,” Syed said.

The written statement read, “I have come to learn that false reports of my passing are being circulated on social media. These are not true. Alhamdulillah, I am alive, well and in good health. I request everyone not to share this false news and to help correct the misinformation wherever it appears. Thank you.”

She wrote she was “deeply touched by the concern, kindness, and affection shown by the many people who reached out to me after seeing these reports”.

Designer Hassan Sheheryar Yasin also helped dispel the rumours by posting a picture of the singer and saying she was “alive, well and in good health”. Bushra Ansari posted Syed’s video message to her own account.

The internet occasionally likes to kill people off before their time. Most recently, Indian actor Dharmendra was declared dead by Indian media during a hospitalisation in November. He was alive and passed away a couple of weeks later.

In Pakistan, actor Sakina Samo was rumoured to have succumbed to Covid-19 at the height of the 2020 pandemic. She is still alive and well, having recovered from the virus after a stint of self-isolation.

Piker, a streamer on Twitch with over three million followers, was set to speak on a panel titled How the American Left Learned to Speak the Internet. His uncle Uygur, host of the online news show The Young Turks, was set to speak on Techno-Feudalism is Here. Who Are the Lords?.

Both have been vocal in their opposition to Israel after the country launched its devastating war on Gaza in 2023, which a UN report termed a genocide. Almost 73,000 people have since been killed in the occupied territory.

Representatives of the Home Office confirmed to Variety that both of their Electronic Travel Authorisations (ETAs) were revoked “on the grounds that their presence in the UK may not be conducive to the public good”. The representatives said to refuse or cancel an ETA on these grounds is based solely on an assessment of the potential risk an individual may pose to UK society.

Uygur decried the step as “oppression” in a post on X, saying he had been “banned from the UK” when he was set to go and speak at events in London and Oxford.

Piker quoted the post in his own, saying his visa had also been revoked. The streamer said the West was “betraying liberal values for a genocidal fascist foreign government”.

SXSW also issued a statement acknowledging two of its speakers had had their travel permissions revoked, but said the event remains committed to its spirit of dialogue.

A spokesperson for the event said, “We are aware that Cenk Uygur and Hasan Piker are unable to travel to the UK following a decision by the Home Office. Decisions on entry to the UK are a matter for the Home Office and the individuals concerned. SXSW London’s role is to convene a broad range of diverse voices and perspectives. We remain focused on delivering a programme this week fostering open dialogue and exchange of ideas and featuring more than 800 speakers, artists and screenings.”