Mira Nair tweets about Faris Shafi

He is explicit. He is blunt. He is completely no-nonsense and he has a voice that comes uncensored in a day and age where one has to be cautious of every word that is uttered. In his recent outing with Talal Qureshi, titled ‘Jawab De’ that was released online last month, the local rapper Faris Shafi took on the ever-growing violence in the country, raising questions on the hypocrisy of world leaders and religious exploiters. The song that features news clips depicting terror attacks including the deadly Peshawar tragedy may have not been talked about in the local press (for its controversial nature) but it sure has garnered attention from artists and filmmakers all over the world, including Mira Nair.

“Amazing, troubling, disturbing, passionate song from officialfaris. What is the state of our world?” tweeted Nair on Monday. Riz Ahmed, who starred alongside Faris’ sister and singing sensation Meesha Shafi in The Reluctant Fundamentalist, also praised Faris for his unapologetic and daring approach to rapping. “Faris Shafi is the first truly great rapper working in Urdu – incredible stuff – respect bro officialfaris,” he wrote.

Faris was recently featured as one of the top three Pakistani rappers worth listening to in The Sunday Guardian. In a recent interview with the Times of India, Faris asserted that the topics he chose for his lyrics are things that have had a severe impact on him. “I am talking about murder, exploitation and corruption in my society; things that affect me severely, and I do not advocate sugar-coating that stuff,” he said.

Faris’ rap is serious stuff that challenges societal norms. Perhaps this is why he doesn’t seem too impressed with Honey Singh’s work. “Honey Singh is popular, but anyone who knows rap will tell you his music has nothing to do with rap. I cringe when I hear people refer to him as a rapper. Bohemia, on the other hand, is an inspiration,” he added.

Faris’ next offering called ‘Loadshedders’ (working title) will be in collaboration with Adil Omar and it promises to be as hard hitting as his other works of art.

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Fawad Khan: The third most desirable man of 2014

Fawad Khan has taken this part of the world by storm, especially Bollywood where he has been winning a string of awards. The actor has now been officially named the ‘third most desirable man’ in Time’s list of 50 Most Desirable Men of 2014. The list is compiled in association with SRM Sivaji Ganesan Film Institute and the winners were decided based on the 20.3 lakh votes received on the website.

Virat Kohli, star striker of the Indian cricket team and the alleged beau of Bollywood beauty Anushka Sharma, has earned himself a number one spot on the list. The second spot is taken by Bombay’s answer to Greek god, Hrithik Roshan and Fawad Khan is in at number three, beating the likes of Ranbir Kapoor, Ranveer Singh and Varun Dhawan. The list describes Fawad’s desirability quotient to be “his affable persona and tehzeeb (that) can charm women across all age groups”. The three King Khans of Bollywood however are awarded with the title of ‘Forever Desirable’ and we have no doubt that a couple years down the line, Fawad will be the fourth one in that category too.

Fawad is currently in Mumbai for his film Kapoor & Sons while his film with Sonam Kapoor, titled Battle for Bittora is set to go on floors this June. May his desirability factor stay high!