Hope and hard lessons

As 2026 dawned over Pakistan with fireworks and familiar countdowns, the country's entertainers signed off from a restless 2025 and stepped hopefully into the new year, sharing reflective notes with fans about gratitude, growth and the work still ahead.

Across film, television and music, familiar names marked the turning of the calendar not with slogans but with considered reflections, weighing up achievements, missteps and the lessons they said would guide them through the uncertainty of 2026.

Mahira Khan's new year message was among the most introspective. In a video stitched from shoots, promotions, fan meetings and quiet escapes, she called 2025 challenging and transformative, a year that demanded strength but also a gentler honesty with herself.

She admitted staying too long inside familiar patterns, saying progress sometimes arrives through loosening rather than breaking. Her note, written with weary optimism, framed 2025 as proof that grief, patience and self-kindness can coexist with public success and relentless schedules.

Urwa Hocane's reflections were lighter in tone but no less heartfelt. Posting photographs with Farhan Saeed, her sister Mawra and Ameer Gilani, she wrote that she was walking into 2026 with her favourite people, grateful for love, stability and a New Year's Eve spent close to home.

Ayeza Khan preferred a simpler gesture. A quiet selfie with husband Danish Taimoor carried a brief prayer that their bond would remain strong and steady as the years gather pace, a reminder that sometimes the smallest messages attract the deepest attention.

Hania Aamir brought her usual mix of humour and vulnerability. Sharing clips from 2025, including her pilgrimage to Hajj, she wrote that the white rabbit caught her again, hinting at a whirlwind year of joy, upheaval and emotional unravelling.

She admitted being the happiest and saddest she had ever been, saying she had slowly learned to let go and hold on at the same time. For followers, it was another glimpse of a star willing to narrate her struggles without polishing the edges.

Singer Asim Azhar, meanwhile, described 2025 as both the best and toughest year of his life. As 2026 began, he said the only non-negotiable he was carrying forward was truth, both in his art and his relationships.

Sonya Hussyn's message looked back on a year shaped by challenges and professional achievements that earned international recognition. She spoke of choosing peace, stepping away from noise and guarding the privacy required to keep moving.

Ramsha Khan described 2025 as emotional yet ultimately uplifting. She said she had shed old layers while discovering a more authentic version of herself, finding meaning in small joys as much as in professional recognition, and carrying a cautious optimism into the present.

Maya Ali closed the year on a note of gratitude. She thanked 2025 for its pauses, disappointments and endings, saying those very disruptions had strengthened her faith and prepared her for a new chapter defined by hope rather than certainty.

Haris Waheed's new year message highlighted the power of solitude, intuition and quiet conviction, arguing that growth means discovering who you truly are and refusing to shrink for approval.

Mawra Hocane, who shared new year photographs from a friend's mayun, said 2025 had been drenched in love and personal milestones, including her own wedding. Her message to 2026 was warm and expectant, rooted in faith rather than spectacle.

Hira Mani, who often turns to humour, offered a lighthearted take on emotional housekeeping. In a photograph of herself eating fruit, she joked that papaya deletes bad memories, a line that travelled widely among followers.

Singer Aima Baig chose celebration. Posting images from a star-studded new year's gathering, she wrote that the last day of the year had been fun, sharing glimpses of a night filled with music, fashion and carefully staged glamour.

Taken together, the messages revealed a showbiz industry reflecting more deeply than the fireworks and filtered photographs might suggest. Behind the smiles, many admitted they had been stretched by professional pressure, shifting expectations and the ongoing negotiation between public image and private reality.

There was no collective manifesto for the year ahead. Instead, there was a quiet agreement that survival, gratitude and honesty may matter more than trophies in 2026, even for those whose lives are filtered, followed and judged more closely than most.