Tamannaah Bhatia sets record straight on marriage rumours with Abdul Razzaq
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Time of India
6 hours ago
- Time of India
‘Afridi has eaten dog meat' – Irfan Pathan recalls ugly war of words with ex-Pak skipper
Pakistan's former cricketer Shahid Afridi displays the trophy before start of the ICC Champions Trophy cricket match between England and South Africa, in Karachi, Pakistan Saturday, March 1, 2025. AP/PTI The India-Pakistan rivalry has never lacked drama, and Irfan Pathan has now added fresh fuel to the fire with a sensational recollection of his battles with former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi . Speaking candidly, Pathan revisited the fiery exchanges that often spilled beyond cricket, recalling Afridi's controversial jibes, including his bizarre claim of having eaten dog meat. The former India allrounder, who dismissed Afridi 11 times in international cricket, revealed how those remarks stoked his determination every time he faced the flamboyant Pakistani. Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW! During the 2006 tour, while travelling by flight from Karachi to Lahore with both teams on board, Shahid Afridi and Irfan Pathan were involved in a heated exchange. "Abdul Razzaq was sitting with me then. I asked him what kind of meat is available here. He told me about the different kinds of meat. Then I asked if dog meat was available. Afridi was sitting right there. Razzaq was shocked to hear this and said, 'Hey Irfan, why are you saying this?'" Pathan said on Lallantop. Poll Do you believe that verbal exchanges in sports can impact performance? Yes, they can motivate players No, they are just distractions It depends on the player "I said, 'He (Afridi) has eaten dog meat, he has been barking for a long time.' "After that, Afridi couldn't say anything. Whatever he might have said, I would have just replied, 'Look, he is barking again.' by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Learn More - How Donating Sperm May Boost Your Income SpellRock After this, he remained silent throughout the flight. "From this incident, he understood that he could not win against me verbally. That's why he never said anything to me again," he added. Pathan, who had immense success against Pakistan in his career — taking 67 wickets and scoring 807 runs, including a century — revealed what led to the verbal altercation. "Afridi came and placed his hand on my head, messing up my hair. He asked me, 'How are you, kid?' I said, 'Since when have you become my father?' The childish behaviour was actually his. He was not my friend. After that, Afridi said some abusive words to me. His seat was right next to mine," he recollected. Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!
Indian Express
a day ago
- Indian Express
Pushed into prostitution at 17, she became a bar dancer in Dubai; Aashiqui 2 writer ‘entertained multi-millionaires' before she met Mahesh Bhatt
The glamorous world of the movies promises an escape to its audience, who are often deprived of happy endings in real life. But not many know that the opportunities provided by the film industry can turn one's life around almost overnight. Shagufta Rafique lived in poverty all her life with her adopted single mother. By 12, she was dancing at private parties at 12, and by 17, she had turned to sex work. Shagufta lived a traumatic life until she met Mahesh Bhatt, and turned her pain into poetry. It was almost as if she was a character from one of Bhatt's films. She went on to write films like Aashiqui 2, Murder 2, among others. Shagufta, in an earlier interview with Filmfare, said that she never knew her biological mother. She was being raised by a forgotten yesteryear actor Anwari Begum but many around them assumed that she was actually Anwari's maternal granddaughter, as her biological daughter had a relationship before she got married. She had also heard that she was found on the streets but never truly discovered the truth about her biological parents. When Shagufta was 12, she started dancing at private parties for her mother, who had fallen upon hard times. The woman who was once living a comfortable life and raising her daughter all by herself had to sell her bangles and utensils to make ends meet. Shagufta didn't know that these private parties were held in shady flats but she had taken it upon herself to take care of her family. 'These parties, held in shady flats, had the atmosphere of a brothel where respectable men came with their mistresses and prostitutes,' she said as she recalled 'vivid images' of picking up cash from the floor. She did this till the age of 17. ALSO READ | Film and TV actor, who worked with Amitabh Bachchan, Rakesh Roshan and Sridevi, was not at peace with fame; left the industry at the peak of his career Shagufta turned to sex work at 17 and described the experience as 'traumatic.' In a chat with Pakistani channel Geo TV, she shared that her mother was aware of what she was doing, and did not approve of it. But Shagufta could see that they were desperate for money, so she continued to do what she felt she had to do. She recalled that they could now afford to buy chicken and prawns, she even bought gold bangles for her mother, which made her feel like the 'man of the house.' At this point, Shagufta told Filmfare, she was starting to make Rs 3000 every night. She continued to do it for the next 10 years, until someone suggested that she move to Dubai and become a bar dancer. In Dubai, she would sing and dance and entertain men, but she drew the line there. 'I got scared at first. I didn't know people would be smoking and drinking while I was performing. For the first couple of days, no one was giving me any money because I was so scared,' she told Geo TV. But just a few days later, she met a 45-year-old man who showered her with money. They fell in love and he proposed to marry just a week later. Though they didn't get married, she considers him to be her guardian angel who eventually pulled her out of this world. She left Dubai a few years later when her mother was diagnosed with cancer in 1999. In 2002, Shagufta met Mahesh Bhatt and expressed her willingness to write. 'I had slept in chawls, on dirty pillows; on dirty mattresses, where several girls had slept before and entertained multi millionaires… I wanted to write it all down. I believed I had a career in Bollywood,' she told Filmfare. She started her journey as a writer in 2006 when she wrote a few scenes in Mohit Suri's Kalyug, which faintly mirrored her own life. She then went on to write Woh Lamhe, Awarapan, Raaz 2, Murder 2 and Aashiqui 2. Shagufta was last credited for writing the Pakistani TV show Lambi Judai.
The Hindu
a day ago
- The Hindu
‘Saare Jahan Se Accha' series review: Know your spy with Pratik Gandhi and Sunny Hinduja
The spy games of the 1970s, when India and Pakistan were trying to outwit and outpace each other in the race to become the nuclear state, form the subject of this high-stakes thriller. Headlined by two consummate performers, Pratik Gandhi and Sunny Hinduja, as the men in charge of operations for the arch rivals, the series has a beating heart; however, the structure and storytelling are not in sync. It appears that the material of a feature film has been stretched to six episodes. In the deluge of spy stories on the big screen and digital platforms, Saare Jahan Se Accha deserves attention for its respect for the adversary's patriotism and its portrayal of the emotional turmoil of a secret agent. It tells us how, in the service of national interest, morality and personal relationships become collateral damage. However, it does so with the presumption that the audience hasn't come across Raazi or Khufiya, content that highlights the ordinariness of a spy working in extraordinary situations. It's like Mission Majnu has a follow-up operation called Mission Vishnu, where Pratik Gandhi has been called in to lend his everyman resilience to sabotage Pakistan's nuclear programme. Saare Jahan Se Accha (Hindi) Creator: Gaurav Shukla Director: Sumit Purohit Cast: Pratik Gandhi, Sunny Hinduja, Kritika Karma, Anup Soni. Tillotama Shome, Rajat Kapoor Runtime: Six episodes Storyline: When an intrepid Indian spy is smuggled into Pakistan to sabotage the country's nuclear ambitions, he finds his match equally resilient As India's bid to go nuclear suffers a jolt after the mysterious death of atomic physicist Homi J. Bhabha, the intelligence apparatus comes up with the Research and Analysis Wing to secure our interests outside India. Pakistan already had its network of Inter-Services Intelligence. Between the lines, the series tells us how we had to catch up to outsmart the wily neighbour. After the resounding defeat of 1971, when Prime Minister Bhutto decides to secure the country's interests by importing a nuclear bomb, RAW, led by the stoic R.N. Kao (Rajat Kapoor), decides to cripple his plan by sending an intrepid spy, Vishnu Shankar (Pratik), to Pakistan in the garb of a diplomat. But soon, Vishnu discovers that his hum mansab (counterpart) Murtaza (Sunny Hinduja) is no less. As the game of attrition begins, the series finds its mojo. A couple of episodes stand out. The strand of a senior Pakistani military officer, Naushad (Anup Soni), who RAW is blackmailing, makes you suffer his dilemma. The seasoned Anup excels in portraying the emotional flux of a father and an officer, and the writers don't separate RAW and ISI when it comes to manipulation for national interest. The conversations between Vishnu and firebrand Pakistani journalist Fatima (Kritika Kamra) are electric. He wants information, but she has a stance on nuclear bombs; however, there is a lot unsaid between them that sparks an attraction. Pratik and Kritika live in the intensity of the situation. However, Tillotama Shome as the suffering wife of Vishnu, remains a cutout, much like Vishnu's dispensable moles in Pakistan. Suhail Nayyar fleshed out Rafiq, a mole living under a fake religious identity, but it gradually peters into a predictable zone where the intrinsic logic stops working. The unevenness in storytelling also extends to characterisation. While the writers shape the protagonists with precision, they create the political leadership as cardboard. It feels like an outcome of self-censorship. There is an inbuilt dialogue on whether the two countries, particularly Pakistan, can afford to direct their resources towards weapons of mass destruction, but it works out like an explainer. Like the greys of reportage are giving way to neutral explainers in the new scape, in the creative realm, writers of long-form tend to explicate emotions. The makers spend two episodes introducing the characters, with Pratik Gandhi providing a voiceover explaining what a spy goes through to make a living. Instead of tutoring the audience, the writers could have intrinsically woven it into the story, allowing the versatile actor to express the inner conflict. ALSO READ: 'War 2' movie review: Hrithik Roshan and NTR Jr battle it out to keep this bloated sequel afloat Curiously, dim lighting and artistic shot-taking by Ukrainian DOP Nedria Dmytro, who captures the zeitgeist of the period, offset the oversimplification of the writing. It gives the impression that the makers believe that the audience craves technical finesse, but the dramatic complexity must be clearly articulated. This unevenness, resulting from a lack of faith, sends the spy down the slippery slope. Saare Jahan Se Accha currently streaming on Netflxix
