IT’S BEAUTIFUL TO BE YOUNG, FEMALE AND AMBITIOUS…TILL IT KILLS. SANGEETA WADDHWANI PRESENTS A TRAGIC TALE OF A PAKISTANI BEAUTY WHO COULD HAVE GIVEN OUR BTOWN HOTTIES HAUTE COMPETITION
Ever heard of a stupendously popular social media star who came from a small village of Pakistan and who had a tumultuous rise to stardom mostly on the basis of her popular videos on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram?
She had blue eyes, ivory skin, would have made great fodder for Indian cinema. Today, its her story that could make a blockbuster. Somewhere between a DIRTY PICTURE AND A SECRET SUPERSTAR. Here’s how it unfolds. A girl who came from virtually nowhere…a village called Shah Sadar Din…. openly told her parents she wanted to be famous. She adopted the exotic name Qandeel Baloch…( her actual name was Fouzia Azeem) and she actively pursued modelling and TV opportunities.
That didn’t seem enough, and so she took to building up her profile by posting videos shot late in the night, shot on her bed or on a sofa in her empty apartment in Karachi..(as she was a grit girl…living and working by herself in that city)). These videos sometimes had her promising a ‘strip tease’ as an act of gratitude if a star cricketer ..namely Shahid Afridi…then captain of the Pakistan team, helped Pakistan win a T20 series match over India! She generally seemed to enjoy being bull headed and politically provocative…challenging the Pakistani Presidents ban on celebrating Valentine’s Day with a similarly mocking selfie video.
Sadly, though her dreams of fame and wealth did materialise, and she virtually funded her family weddings, paid her parents rent, she had her worst enemy right at home. Her own brother Waseem. The boy cut off all his socialising because his friends were busy leering at his sisters uploads and mocking Waseem and his family.
By and by Waseem murdered his sister. And this is just the beginning of the story. I am reading Sanam Meyer’s book, titled THE SENSATIONAL LIVES AND DEATH OF QANDEEL BALOCH. Watch this space!
LIFE OF A MAGAZINE EDITOR 