Leo’s Oscar obsession

Leonardo DiCaprio is aggressively campaigning for the Oscar, which has eluded him four times already. He’s fixated on that goal. Will he get fifth time lucky with The Revenant? There is no doubt that he has created enough sympathy for himself in the minds of the Academy members. He wants them to know how much he has suffered for the art and how this has been his most difficult film to date. He has activated his PR machinery to project him as the front-runner for an Academy Award. So while archrival Eddie Redmayne sits quietly waiting for the big night, critics are sneering at Leo saying that no one likes a desperate nominee and that the film has already received more hype than it deserves thanks to his publicity blitzkrieg. While that may be the case, the fact is that what’s got to be done has got to be done. If that is how the cookie crumbles in showbiz, Leo is right in giving it his best shot, regardless of a parallel view that if anyone from The Revenant deserves a statuette, it’s Tom Hardy for his supporting role.

 

Tailpieces

1) When asked if the custody of Jaish-e-Mohammad’s Masood Azhar (a myth if senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh is to be believed) can be termed an ‘arrest’, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah explained that Azhar is in “protective custody” (whose definition needs to be clarified) and will only face arrest and legal action if his involvement in the Pathankot attack is proved beyond doubt. Amusingly, the minister wants proof to indict a man who continues to live freely in Pakistan despite proven links to the militant hijacking of an Indian airliner in Kandahar. Furthermore, the minister’s statement is contrary to the practice often employed in Pakistan wherein other citizens are arrested with reasonable or even little evidence much before the accusation is proven beyond doubt in court. Unfortunately, the preferential treatment for Azhar says a lot that I’d rather not spell out.

2) A cleric of a mosque in Pakistan was arrested for inciting a 15-year-old boy to chop off his own hand believing he had committed blasphemy by claiming that he did not love Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). What is more shocking is how brainwashed the 15-year-old might have been to actually use a fodder-cutting machine to detach his hand, place it on a plate and present it to the cleric, even as his family came together to celebrate and revere the act. If he can chop his hand out of desperation to prove a point, he is capable of doing anything. I mean, anything. This is not faith. This is indoctrination at its worst — clearly reflective of how the innocence, ignorance and gullibility of youngsters are misused by extremist, fanatical and savage elements for nefarious gains.

3) Bad news for Daily Motion in Pakistan. It was raking in the traffic thanks to the ban on YouTube. With the latter getting legally restored, a new national occupation has come into being. And with this, it might just be time to bid adieu to the platform that’s loyally served the youth so far as a poor man’s YouTube. The big question: will pornography be the next to get unblocked?

4) Jerry Hall’s engagement to Rupert Murdoch looks tailor-made for his tawdry tabloids considering one is 59 and the other 84. I’d have expected the two to plunge straight into matrimony. Anyway, good for Hall; it helps to have an elderly fiance with a few billion in the bank! As for him, the old saying “there’s no fool like an old fool” never felt more appropriate! 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 21^st, 2016.

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