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EYE SPY – BOLLYWOOD GOSSIP WITH ASJAD NAZIR

AATIF’S HEALING LINES

WITH his deeply personal new release Beparwaiyan, singer Aatif Majid looks at a divorce from a male perspective and says the emotion-filled song helped him to heal. The 38 year old British Pakistani told me he is hoping to highlight the heartbreak felt by men after a painful split and the psychological repercussions. Aatif divorced after six years in 2015 and confesses it left him a broken man.


MAHIRA’S FIRST LOOK

ACTRESS Mahira Khan revealed this first look of Pakistan’s most anticipated movie Verna,

which is due for release in November. This is the latest offering from ace director Shoaib Mansoor, who previously delivered Lollywood blockbusters Khuda Kay Liye and Bol. Mahira has received praise for the eye-catching promo of what is being touted as a girl power movie. Mansoor said: “This film has been written and directed by a man of Pakistan for the men of the world to listen to women. It is to encourage women to speak up.”

SHOOTOUT IN PAKISTAN

LOW budget drama My Pure Land is in selected cinemas this week and is highly recommended. One of the best Pakistani movies I have ever seen revolves around two gun-toting young sisters defending their house from a gang of armed men trying to enter. British-Pakistani director Sarmad Masud has based the film on an astonishing true story and delivered a unique piece of cinema. Find this gem of a movie, which adds a new dimension to Pakistani cinema.

BANITA IS ‘PITCH PERFECT’

BRITISH model Banita Sandhu is set for the Bollywood big time after landing a lead role opposite hot-right-now leading man Varun Dhawan in director Shoojit Sircar’s next film,

October. The acclaimed filmmaker said he selected the Welsh beauty for the very important role because she is pitch perfect, describing her as brilliant. Varun has been spending a lot of time with Banita in preparation for the role, which is being described as an intense love story.

ALL GROWN-UP NOW

ACTRESS Sushmita Sen celebrated the 18th birthday of her daughter Renee and shared this cute snap of them both on social media with a heart-warming message. The big hearted beauty queen turned actress was just 25-years-old when she adopted Renee and in 2010 went on to adopt another baby girl, who is now eight-years-old.

HANSAL’S HEADACHES

WHEN director Hansal Mehta signed Kangana Ranaut for his film, Simran he couldn’t have imagined the problems she would create in the lead-up to its release. She caused a rift with his long term collaborator and close pal Apurva Asrani, who wrote the movie. Instead of promoting Simran she has largely been firing off controversial comments, which have overshadowed the US-set comedy-drama. I predict the commercial movie in cinemas now will underperform and force Mehta back into low budget dramas.

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Sir Keir Starmer
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Comment: Can Starmer turn Windrush promises into policy?

Anniversaries can catalyse action. The government appointed the first Windrush Commissioner last week, shortly before Windrush Day, this year marking the 77th anniversary of the ship’s arrival in Britain.

The Windrush generation came to Britain believing what the law said – that they were British subjects, with equal rights in the mother country. But they were to discover a different reality – not just in the 1950s, but in this century too. It is five years since Wendy Williams proposed this external oversight in her review of the lessons of the Windrush scandal. The delay has damaged confidence in the compensation scheme. Williams’ proposal had been for a broader Migrants Commissioner role, since the change needed in Home Office culture went beyond the treatment of the Windrush generation itself.

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If ayatollahs fall, who will run Teheran next?

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If ayatollahs fall, who will run Teheran next?

THERE is one question to which none of us has the answer: if the ayatollahs are toppled, who will take over in Teheran?

I am surprised that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei, has lasted as long as he has. He is 86, and would achieve immortality as a “martyr” in the eyes of regime supporters if the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, succeeded in assassinating him. This was apparently Netanyahu’s plan, though he was apparently dissuaded by US president Donald Trump from going ahead with the killing.

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Comment: Talking about race isn’t racist – ignoring it helped grooming gangs thrive

A woman poses with a sign as members of the public queue to enter a council meeting during a protest calling for justice for victims of sexual abuse and grooming gangs, outside the council offices at City Centre on January 20, 2025 in Oldham, England

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Comment: Talking about race isn’t racist – ignoring it helped grooming gangs thrive

WAS a national inquiry needed into so-called grooming gangs? Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer did not think so in January, but now accepts Dame Louise Casey’s recommendation to commission one.

The previous Conservative government – having held a seven-year national inquiry into child sexual abuse – started loudly championing a new national inquiry once it lost the power to call one. Casey explains why she changed her mind too after her four-month, rapid audit into actions taken and missed on group-based exploitation and abuse. A headline Casey theme is the ‘shying away’ from race.

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FUNNY UK TOUR

The tidal wave of top Indian stand-up stars touring the UK continues with upcoming shows by Shraddha Jain this July. The hugely popular comedian – who has over a million Instagram followers – will perform her family-friendly show Aiyyo So Mini Things at The Pavilion, Reading (4), the Ondaatje Theatre, London (5), and The Old Rep Theatre, Birmingham (6). The 90-minute set promises an entertaining take on the mundane and uproarious aspects of everyday life.

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Comment: How populist politicians tackle personality clashes

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Comment: How populist politicians tackle personality clashes

THE US president Donald Trump and billionaire businessman Elon Musk went to war on social media.

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