Asfa Sultan

Oct 26, 2024 | images.dawn.com | Asfa Sultan

The entertainment industry in Pakistan has long been plagued by gender-based double standards, especially when it comes to age. Men are allowed to age while women are not. A male actor seamlessly transitions from one leading role to another, while a woman finds opportunities drastically shrinking for her as she grows older. It is no wonder then that the cosmetic industry is making so much money selling anti-ageing products to women.

Oct 20, 2024 | images.dawn.com | Asfa Sultan

I attended an event honouring the 100th anniversary of Franz Kafka hosted by the Goethe-Institut Karachi on Saturday. Titled ‘Dastangoee and Readings from Kafka Texts’, the event combined the works of Kafka and Saadat Hasan Manto, outlining the artistic parallels between the two literary giants.

Oct 7, 2024 | images.dawn.com | Asfa Sultan

Today marks a year to October 7, the day Palestinian resistance group Hamas fired rockets into Israel in a surprise retaliatory attack killing at least 1,163 people and taking over 240 Israeli civilians hostage. It also marks a year since Israel launched air strikes in a military offensive in Gaza, killing scores of civilians. Today also marks a year to Israel’s renewed assault on Gaza, which has since killed 41,870 Palestinians — roughly 114 Palestinians killed in a day.

Sep 27, 2024 | images.dawn.com | Asfa Sultan

A boyband called ‘As1one’ (pronounced: as one) has become the internet’s latest pet peeve. The six-member act, which prides itself in being the “world’s first Israeli-Palestinian pop group,” came out of nowhere on September 13 and dropped its debut single ‘All Eyes On Us’ — an eerie reminder of the All Eyes on Rafah trend that saw 45 million Instagram users sharing an AI-generated image in support of the besieged city in May.

Sep 20, 2024 | images.dawn.com | Asfa Sultan

In a parallel universe, Ahadadream — whose real name is Ahad Elley — doesn’t exist. Instead, he is Ahad Ali and he lives in Karachi. He’s an accountant and his parents are very proud. He also produces music on the side, in his bedroom, whenever he gets the time. He probably plays a few underground gigs too, because he’s not one to settle. But Karachi isn’t exactly the club central of the world. If only Ali knew what Elley was cutting his teeth on, perhaps he too would move to the UK.