The Buzz

Hammasa Kohistani, Miss England (2005) — the first Muslim (of Afghan origin) to achieve this distinction, overcoming a storm of controversy along the way and definitely silencing the radical, fundamental elements.

Shehzad Roy, the founder of Zindagi Trust had convinced the beauty queen to come to Pakistan and lend a helping hand in the NGO’s charity work. With charity being a strong raison d’etre of Miss England, and Hammasa feeling deeply for the underprivileged, especially girls’ education accepted Shehzad Roy offer.

The 19-year-old beauty moved to England with her family when she was 10. She says that after her parents fled Afghanistan during the Taliban period, they lived in a number of countries before ultimately settling down in the UK.

Hammasa is not a newcomer to the modelling arena, having been a model since she was 14. She has been on the cover of Asiana, Asian Woman, along with being featured in Hello, Vogue, Cosmopolitan and Glamour among other fashion magazines of international repute. She has modelled for England’s SuperDrug, the GAP, and has been on many TV channels — CNN, BBC, ITV, etc — and has appeared in prominent TV shows and radio programmes. “I was 15 when I came on the cover of Asiana magazine,” she says her voice laced with pride.

Victory at the Miss England pageant came as a big surprise as she wasn’t expecting to win. It was with the encouragement of her parents that Hammasa got into modelling and eventually went for the Miss England beauty contest. She defeated 39 girls to be crowned Miss England, but a bigger battle was defeating the critics and the religious cynics who argued that her participation in the pageant was against their religious norms. But by listening to her heart and emboldened by her family’s support, she went for her dream and achieved it.

At five feet, seven-and-a-half inches, Hammasa is a tall girl, especially by Asian standards, but she knows that she would never be able to make it into the mainstream where the minimum height starts from five feet and eight inches & her limitations because of her religious and family values and her own morals. In her spare time, Hammasa enjoys the excitement of tackling new challenges and also loves to travel. She hopes her status as Miss England will give her the opportunity to travel more. She is also one of those very lucky ones who do not have a weight problem. “I have had the same weight since I was 15,” she says, disclosing that she really relishes junk food.

MOST people know Zohaib Hasan as just a singer but I consider Zohaib Hassan and his late sister Nazia Hassan as the founder of pop music in Pakistan.

Zohaib has recently been appointed as the advisor to the Governor of Sindh and he is heading the newly-established area of image building and promotion, which was desperately required. Zohaib was the most suitable person for this job as he has done neumerous promotions, events, expos and festivals, especially in a city like Karachi where there is a lot of work that needs to be done.

There is also a business side to the experienced musician. He plays a pivotal part of his father’s 40-year old real estate business that is spread both in Karachi and in the UK. Zohaib likes to watch sci-fi epics such as War of the Worlds, Star Wars, etc. He is also a big fan of Woody Allen and finds them very intelligently scripted and funny. Zohaib normally doesn’t watch Bollywood movies because he finds them very predictable. “The only movie that appealed to him was a small budget production but very well-scripted comedy called Katha Meetha.

Commenting on Bollywood music, he finds it very commercial & extremely run-of-the-mill. He feels that Pakistani pop has come a long way but still needs more time to grow up. Some of the new entrants show promise but need to concentrate more on creativity rather than the commercial aspect. A lot more younger people are now involved in the music business today as opposed to the time we started. Society has accepted it now as a career option. The media technology has really helped the industry to grow by providing more channels, cheaper musical equipment, etc. Plus, there is less piracy today than before, which is great because that could kill this industry.

Zohaib called it a day after Nazia had passed away but, on the insistence of my wife, family and friends, he decided to do another album. The album "Kismet" was something that Nazia and Zohaib started working on years ago and he has dedicated it to the loving memory of her sister. Interestingly, my wife wrote a story for a drama serial after hearing the score and I have also acted in it for the first time.

Rumours have been flying fast and furious about the trouble between the golden couple Bipasha Basu and John Abraham. Now there’s more buzz. It’s said that bombshell Mallika Sherawat is the reason behind the rift. It was Mallika’s proximity to John during their recent world tour that upset Bipasha. Bipasha did take time out from her shooting schedule in London to go and cheer John at his show in Birmingham and everything seemed fine till then. However, trouble began when she heard of the John-Mallika link-up.

LOLLYWOOD ACTRESS REEMA says she would like to marry a man who is compassionate towards others, is neither a spendthrift nor a miser. All the more, she said in an interview, she will choose a life partner who could keep her happy. She made it clear that so far she had not met the man having such qualities and did not know whether and when she would find him.

In her mid-twenties, Reema started her career over a decade ago & within this short period of time she catapulted to prominence on account of her performance and compelling charm, outmatching all her rivals.

Reema said she would take care of the likes and dislikes of her would-be spouse. The actress said that all the scandals in which she was allegedly involved mushroomed over a period had proved false and that she was still a pure girl.