News Update Times

Julia Ducournau scooped the Palme d’Or on Saturday for her wildly imaginative film about a serial killer.

CANNES, FRANCE: Titane, a wildly imaginative film about a serial killer by French director Julia Ducournau, won the top Palme d’Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday – as revealed by jury head ahead of time Spike Lee in a gaffe at the ceremony.

Ducournau, 37, became only the second woman to win the top award at Cannes. In a moment of confusion, when asked in French to reveal what one of the prizes was, the US film director read off a card and prematurely announced the best movie winner.

“No excuses, I messed up,” Lee told a news conference after the event. “I’m a big sports fan, it’s like the guy at the end of the game at the foul line, he misses a free throw, or the guy misses a kick.”

It was not the first blooper moment at an awards ceremony: at the 2017 Oscars, musical La La Land was incorrectly announced as best movie, instead of Moonlight.

Ducournau, 37, became only the second woman to win the top award at Cannes. Her violent film split critics, with some praising its originality but others put off by its frantic and messy approach.

“Ducournau’s beautiful, dark, twisted fantasy is a nightmarish yet mischievously comic barrage of sex, violence, lurid lighting and pounding music,” critics at the BBC broadcaster said. “It’s also impossible to predict where it’s going to go next.”

Described as a “body horror” movie and based around a character with a titanium plate in her head, the film impressed with its energy.

“I’ve never seen a film in my life…. where a Cadillac impregnated a woman,” Lee said.

Ducournau had previously found critical success with Raw in 2016. The only previous female winner of Cannes’ top award was Jane Campion who shared the prize in 1993 for The Piano.

The world’s biggest film festival returned to the French Riviera after a 2020 hiatus due to the corona virus pandemic in one of the most unpredictable contests in years.

The renowned actor had been battling ovarian cancer

Veteran Pakistani actor Nayla Jaffry passed away on Saturday evening after prolonged battle with ovarian cancer . The news came after a message was initiated by the Arts Council karachi. Her funeral procession held on same day , after Namaz e Ishaat DHA Tooba Masjid.

The actor, whose career spanned over decades, had appealed to the government to help aid her treatment expenses.

Nayla was first diagnosed in 2016. She was initially battling ovarian cancer and later with gastric cancer. Four years ago in 2017, the renowned star was reported to be suffering from the third stage of the disease. She was discharged from the hospital after her initial treatment.However, her treatment had been continuing since 2016 as she frequented visits and was admitted few times for the last five years.

Before being diagnosed with the illness in 2016, Jaffri was a regular face on television, known for her stellar performances in drama serials like Aa Mujh ko Satana, Desi Girls and Thodi Si Khushiyan. She was a mother figure on and off-air, with her grace and strength making her popular among veterans and youngsters of the entertainment industry.

Jaffri’s dialogue delivery reflected her calm and collected demeanor but her soft-spoken and composed-self could never be mistaken for weakness. She played various characters among which, many were more of the same, courtesy of typecasting and not sub-par acting. This is evident by the brilliance with which she portrayed them.

She spent more than twenty years in the entertainment business after commencing her career as a voice entertainer for TV series Drama Hee Drama in 1998. Making her onscreen debut with An Insane Laugh Aka Mehak in 2004, she went on to play Ayesha in I’m Locked and in 2009, she nabbed the miniseries Noorpur Ki Rani, which opened many doors for her.

She then featured in Zeenat Bint-e-Sakina Hazir Ho (2010), Don’t Jealous(2010), Lamha Lamha Zindagi (2011), Sanjha (2011), Aks (2012), Woh(2013), Ek Kasak Reh gayi (2013) ,  Mausam (2014), Woh Dobara (2014), Khata (2014), Nazdikiyaan (2014), Anaya Tumhari Hui (2015), Tere Dar Per(2015), Jaltay Gulab (2015), Tera Mera Rishta (2015), Baray Dhoke Hain Iss Raah Mein (2016), Ghalti (2016) and Khushboo Ka Safar (2016).

Jaffri also shared the stage with veteran actor Rahat Kazmi under the direction of Zia Moheyyedin back in 2012. Performing in two plays, Jaffri and Kazmi provided two hours of wholesome entertainment. In one of the plays, Jaffri portrayed a beautiful 55-year-old woman who has accepted that life is too short and needs to be celebrated. She seemed to be ageing in reverse at the time.

 

************1

Ayesha Omar, popularly known as khoosorat in hugely popular show “ Bulbulay” is known for defending her fellow colleagues on and off social media, has hit back at trolls for shaming Mahira Khan with ageist remarks this time.

 

A post-shoot photo of Mahira standing next to Zahid Ahmed and Sheheryar Munawar, who have teamed up with the Raees star for an upcoming project, has been doing the rounds on social media lately. The photo was shared by Zahid on his Twitter to announce their collaboration.

But when the picture hit Instagram, users shamed Mahira for “looking too old.” And while it was clear she’s simply not as dressed up as she is in pictures that make their way online, one of the users wrote, “Mahira Khan tou sabki mama lag rahi hai.” Another added, “Mahira looks soooooo old.” To this Ayesha responded by saying, “And what’s wrong with that?” She added, “She is beautiful inside out, regardless of the number of years she has lived. We are all older and hopefully wiser.”

The Karachi Se Lahore star reinstated that every human being is bound to age “and go through that natural process of life.” She urged fans to think before they speak. “Can we please take a step back and check our words?” asked Omar. “Can we please stop shaming others for their age, colour, physical appearance, clothes etc? Your bio says you’re a psychologist, shouldn’t you be more aware of this?” continued the actor-cum-host unabashed.

She went on to clarify that she didn’t mean to pick on one user particularly but the comments “really got to her.” The Yalghar star concluded, “Let’s be kinder, let’s put ourselves in others’ shoes, sending you love and light.”

In his tweet, Zahid revealed that he and Mahira will be starring in a short film directed by Sheheryar Munawar. “Sweaty and exhausted at packup of our short film with a powerful message. Huge shoutout to @ItsSheheryar who has superbly directed it and such a pleasure to find that the biggest superstar we have – @TheMahiraKhan – is also an extremely humble and positive person to work with,” he wrote.

Their upcoming flick is being produced by the digital streaming portal, See Prime. And when a fan asked about its release, the actor said it all depends on the pandemic situation.