The year in bodies: How women told their own stories in 2024
2024 was a strange year for women and their bodies. The Victoria's Secret fashion show, scrapped in 2019 over a lack of diversity, plummeting ratings, and mounting criticism, returned without fanfare —...
View Article2024: The year SRK became a feminist sweetheart and no one knows why
In one of the most iconic scenes from Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), Shah Rukh Khan teeters on the edge of every woman’s worst nightmare. His character, Raj, finds himself locked in a train...
View ArticlePainting timeless portraits: Usman Riaz dissects 'The Glassworker', the...
When illustrating history with every indelible mark of the pen, an artist must prepare to live life out of a suitcase — though no one told Usman Riaz this when he joined the Oscar race. Riding high...
View ArticleReview: 'Captain America: Brave New World' flies high but falls short
Minutes after you settle in for a screening of Captain America: Brave New World, the Marvel Cinematic Universe doesn't welcome you back with yet another glorious rundown of its many superheroes....
View Article'Nadaaniyan' review: Khushi and Ibrahim remind us why some inherit fame but...
There is something indescribably fun about hating nepo babies. And not just any nepo babies. An unusually potent vitriol greets them when they appear on our screens. Unlike industrial and political...
View ArticlePakistani cinemas shutting down at an alarming rate
An estimated 40 per cent of screens across Pakistani cinemas have shut down since 2018. According to a document provided by exhibitor Nadeem Mandviwalla, 58 screens across 36 cinemas have been closed,...
View ArticleOne Eid, 16 films, and Pakistani cinema’s desperate attempt at survival
A record 16 films are being released this Eidul Fitr in Pakistani cinemas. Among them are six Pakistani films, two Hollywood, three Indian Punjabi films and four foreign horror films from several...
View ArticleFinding David Lynch
Life is funny. And absurd. On January 16, 2025, I premiered my debut feature film Indus Echoes at Cinepax Cinemas. The same night, around the same time, the filmmaker I considered my spiritual mentor,...
View ArticleDying for a living
Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) wakes up as a "meat popsicle". Frozen stiff, vacuum-sealed, and utterly disposable, he's not even the first version of himself to see this bleak fate. This opening...
View ArticleNot so bad after all?
One of the most memorable moments in the film Joker (2019) is when Arthur Fleck, a man beaten down by society, commits an irreversible act of violence on live television. What should be a moment of...
View ArticlePride, prejudice and disaster
My fellow Jane Austen fans, you are going to need strength. This July, we will be coming up to the three-year anniversary of the carnage that Netflix deemed fit to tell us was Persuasion. If you have...
View Article'Snow White' banned in Lebanon due to Gal Gadot’s Israel support
Disney’s live-action Snow White has been banned from cinemas in Lebanon due to the inclusion of Israeli actress Gal Gadot, who plays the Evil Queen. The ban, enforced by Lebanon’s Interior Minister...
View ArticleDespite nearly three decades of 'Titanic', our hearts continue to go on
We are more than half way through April, which can only mean one thing for us dinosaurs who enjoy a cathartic weeping marathon: it is time for that annual rewatch of James Cameron's Titanic. Although...
View ArticleReview: 'Thunderbolts*' redefines the charm of superhero lineups
For someone who had sworn off Marvel films (minus some reluctant watches every now and then), I wasn't sure what to expect as I walked into the theatre to watch Thunderbolts*. To tell the truth, I was...
View ArticlePaap Culture: India Launches Operation Only-Kapoor
India recently pulled a Paul Heyman on Pakistan turned heel. As a consequence, all Pakistani celebrities who ever worked in Bollywood have pulled a John Cena, because you can't see them. Since the...
View ArticleThe art of a divide: Lines may be blurry, but boundaries rarely are
Sana Nawaz found herself in quite the predicament recently by declaring in a video that "artists have no boundaries" when defending her politically silent peers. Given the unrelenting conflict that has...
View ArticleJane Austen has never wrecked anyone's life
In the two centuries or so since her soothing observations of the pains of repeated dinner invitations were unfurled before us, has Jane Austen ever managed to wreck anyone's life? We Austen fangirls...
View ArticleAleem Bukhari takes Hyderabad to Cannes
The sound of Japanese Taiko drums echoes in a rhythm during the opening credits. The madness of the rhythm builds up not unlike that of a pre-war buildup as we see a Kurosawa-esque montage of a broken...
View ArticleEverdeen, everlasting: Why the odds will ever be in favour of 'The Hunger Games'
My first and only vacation abroad with my parents was special, and I was determined to round off the memorable trip by getting matching souvenirs for my friends back home. Little Me knew it had to be...
View ArticleReview: 'No Other Land' dissects the silenced struggles of Palestinians to...
As a convoy moves in to raze brick houses to the ground, a community of villagers cries out. That's the limit to the brave front they can put up, as long as it doesn't upset their armed oppressors...
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