After the 20th edition of Lux Style Awards took place last week, netizens didn’t lag behind in trolling celebrities and shaming them for their choice of outfits. Even though some celebrities were dressed to the nines and looked dazzling, many failed to impress, resulting in social media being flooded with offensive comments about celebs’ wardrobes. However, actors Mansha Pasha and Mira Sethi didn’t hold their piece and decided to respond to the trolling faced by celebrities on different occasions. The Laal Kabootar actress, Mansha Pasha spoke about how women in the entertainment industry are always shamed for their outfits at such award ceremonies. “Every award show ends with a slew of sermonising comments under the photos of all female celebrities making character judgments about how good or bad she is based on her outfit,” tweeted Mansha. “Honestly, this is the real superficiality. Judging a person’s inner nature based on an outfit choice. If you think verbal abuse (well-intended or justified in your minds perhaps) makes you a good person, please check again,” she added.

On the other hand Mira Sethi, who chose to wear a Hussain Rehar creation, was also criticised for her attire at the awards show. Mira took to Instagram and wrote, “It’s always fascinating to see trolls go nuts under photos of public-facing women in dresses or costumes or anything the trolls deem ‘vulgar’.”

She continued, “Go home. I don’t dress for you, I don’t dress for anyone or anything other than my own sense of joy and play and expansion. The men of this country are obsessed with policing women, constantly defining their ‘honour’ in relation to women’s bodies and clothing and appearance. It is a smallminded, decayed, hateful thing to do. You want to disempower us because a deep part of you is hurting and angry. I get it. It’s societal and it is ugly.”

Mira Sethi further went on to appreciate women who continue to secularize public spaces with their words and clothes and defiance. “You inspire me,” she added.

Celebrities shed light on mental health

Every year, World Mental Health Day is observed on October 10 globally to raise awareness regarding mental health issues as well as mobilize efforts in support of mental health. To commemorate World Mental Health Day, various stars, including Anoushey Ashraf, Adnan Malik, Ayesha Omar and Bilal Maqsood, in collaboration with NGO Taskeen Pakistan and the British Asian Trust stressed on the importance of mental health via a video message. In the video, celebrities talk about the difficulties of life and how economic problems, unhealthy relationships, addiction, unemployment and domestic violence lead to mental distress. Moreover, they stress on the importance of striving for mental illness treatments because mental health is everyone’s right.

Actor Adnan Malik shared the video message on his official Twitter as well as Instagram handles and captioned it, “This World Mental Health Day 2021, Taskeen Pakistan and the British Asian Trust are working together to create awareness around mental health.”

He added, “As you know this is a subject that’s very close to my heart and something I speak a lot about. There are some wonderful, FREE and helpful resources available in Pakistan. Let’s remove the taboo around mental health for both men and women and live more healthy, happy and aligned lives.”

Taking to Instagram Bilal Maqsood also wrote, “Let us all come together and pledge to care for those who do not have access to mental health support because we truly believe that #ZehniSehatSabKaHaq.”

This is not all! TV host and radio jockey, Anoushey Ashraf didn’t just post the video on social media but also requested her fans and followers to help spread this message far and wide. “Mental health is everything,” she wrote.

In a previous post Anoushey also stated, “It’s a topic extremely close to my heart. I was very casually asked ‘you’ve got everything, look at people around you, why would you feel this way? Be grateful’ The answer is, this illness doesn’t choose you because of your social status, placement in society or financial freedom. Anxiety doesn’t discriminate. Neither does depression. It can come to anyone, at any time.” She continued, “I’m just so proud to be around at a time when people are speaking up about it in Pakistan. People are getting more comfortable about sharing their experiences and asking for help. Our efforts of bringing light to this topic have not gone in vain. Some of the people who helped me stay afloat are humans you wouldn’t even know of, but the difference they’ve made to my life are mention-worthy. I love each of you dearly. For those reading this caption, you DO NOT have to be famous, rich or influential to make a difference.”

Prahlad Kakkar on Aryan Khan’s arrest and
SRK being a soft target

Producer and ad film director Prahlad Kakkar has a number of commercials with various Bollywood stars including Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan among others to his credit. In a recent interview, Kakkar gave his two cents about Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan’s arrest by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) for alleged involvement in a drugs raid earlier this month. The director feels that Aryan is being targeted because he is Shah Rukh Khan’s son, whose bail plea was rejected by the Mumbai court last week. “Aryan is a 23-year-old adult. He’s not some underage boy. If you have a problem with Aryan then you have a problem with him. If you have a problem with his father, then you should have a problem with everybody’s father. Why are people only talking about Aryan’s father? There have been dozens of arrests in the case, but why is only Aryan’s father in the news?”

According to Prahlad Kakkar, it hasn’t been proven as yet that Aryan was carrying any kind of drugs. What they have are the one-year-old messages on his cell phone, when he was in England. “They are trying to tell people that he’s involved in an international drug cartel. What rubbish!” said Kakkar, stressing on the fact that “the film industry never speaks out. Why should they change? They are very selfish people; they only protect themselves.” He continued, “They don’t know if it is a central government agenda to go after Shah Rukh, because of his association with the Congress.”

Kakkar further spoke about Bollywood and that SRK is a soft target. In the past, i.e. during the release of his movie My Name Is Khan and the IPL controversy, Shah Rukh Khan was targeted by Shiv Sena. “Now the Shiv Sena belongs to the Congress and Sharad Pawar and they will look the other way. In politics, everybody flip flops all the time. But why is everyone so scared about talking? Why doesn’t anyone have a spine?” he questioned. “Bollywood will stand up and start speaking when its people get picked up one by one… They are not taking Bollywood on all at once. They will pick depending on who is for or against them. It’s as simple as that. They will not pick on Kangana, they will pick on Shah Rukh and Hrithik.”