In the picture: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

movie review

Despite a little too much exposition, the MCU’s 25th offering is a solid, entertaining adventure

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Starring: Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Meng'er Zhang, Fala Chen, Florian Munteanu, Benedict Wong, Michelle Yeoh, Ben Kingsley, and Tony Leung

Directed by: Destin Daniel Cretton

The last few years have seen the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) embracing diversity and giving characters like Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and Black Widow the chance to helm their own vehicles. The franchise now offers its first Asian-led instalment in the form of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, an action adventure that may falter in places but remains thoroughly entertaining nonetheless.

Canadian actor Simu Liu (that is, Jung from the much-loved sitcom Kim’s Convenience) portrays the eponymous superhero as the film details his origin story while giving the MCU an interesting new world to explore.

After escaping his complicated life in China, the titular Shang-Chi has moved to San Francisco where he works as a valet alongside his best friend Katy (a delightful Awkwafina). But his past ultimately catches up to him when he is ambushed by soldiers while on a bus and it turns out – much to Katy’s shock – that he is skilled at martial arts. The attackers steal a pendant that was given to Shang-Chi by his late mother (Fala Chen), forcing him to return to his homeland – Katy still firmly in tow – in the hopes of warning his estranged sister, the fierce Xialing (Meng’er Zhang), who has a similar pendant. But the unconventional reunion is interrupted when the trio are captured and taken to the intimidating Wenwu (a show-stealing Tony Leung), the siblings’ father and the wielder of the magical ten rings that give their bearer immense power.

Turns out that Wenwu is convinced his wife is still alive and he will stop at nothing to be reunited with her. It is then up to Shang-Chi and his friends to stop his father and thwart his dangerous plan. The story gets more fantastical as things go along, at times to uneven results, while a plethora of exposition and unnecessary reliance on repeated flashbacks threaten to slow down the film’s action, but the excitement still prevails, thanks to the efforts of the talent both in front of and behind the camera.

Destin Daniel Cretton brings the movie’s interesting setting to vivid life and populates it with compelling characters while creating some impressive action set pieces (including the aforementioned bus skirmish). Liu’s central performance is effective even when it’s understated, while Leung is absolutely terrific as the antagonist, portraying both his character’s vulnerability and strength with impeccable skill.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is an exciting, compelling introduction to MCU’s newest addition, even if it does come with some of the same, familiar beats of a reluctant hero coming into his own. And it may be over two hours long but the film makes sure it keeps you invested and entertained the entire time and leaves you looking forward to Shang-Chi’s participation in future crossover adventures.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

- S.A.

Instep, The News on Sunday - 31st October, 2021 *

Combatting the silent killer

pinktober 

Instep speaks to Dr. Amina Khan about breast cancer and how early detection can save lives

“1 in 8 women get breast cancer. Today I’m the one,” actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus wrote in a social media post in September 2017. Her disease was diagnosed at Stage II; that is, the cancer was confined to the breast area. In the subsequent months, she underwent six rounds of chemotherapy and a double mastectomy. A year later, she revealed she was in remission.

Singer Sarah Harding wasn’t as lucky. After putting off a doctor’s visit at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic when she first noticed symptoms, the Girls Aloud star eventually ended up battling Stage IV breast cancer – advanced disease that had spread to other parts of the body and was effectively terminal. She succumbed to the ailment in September this year.

Around the globe, breast cancer is busy casting a shadow on the lives of numerous women (and even some men). According to the World Health Organization, 2.3 million women were diagnosed with breast cancer last year and the disease was responsible for 685,000 deaths worldwide. But as daunting as these numbers may seem, the situation is not hopeless; far from it. Thanks to advances in medical science, women now have more treatment options than ever before. And therapy can be highly effective, given just one caveat: the disease is identified early.

“We lose very few patients in early stage breast cancer because we have really good treatment,” a scrubs-clad Dr. Amina Khan tells me on a busy Friday morning. She is a consultant surgical oncologist at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, where she has spent over 15 years helping save lives. “Breast cancer treatment in Stages I and II has a more than 94 percent success rate,” she continues. “Even Stage III now has a really good prognosis. Only Stage IV – that is, metastatic disease – is where we are not doing so well.”

In all its many forms, cancer – the result of a disturbance in our internal checks and balances due to which the body loses control of when to stop cell multiplication – ranks among the most prevalent diseases that plague our bodies. But we have come a long way in how we tackle this so-called emperor of all maladies. Surgery excises the malignant tumour; chemotherapy drugs kill the excess mass as well as the cells generating this new growth; radiation therapy zaps the mother cells that are producing the growth; and targeted treatment counters specific proteins on the cancer, destroying the abnormal cells without harming the normal ones and thereby reducing side effects. 

Of the over 100 types of cancers that affect humans, breast cancer is the most frequently occurring. And Dr. Amina opines that this is actually a good thing. “Some cancer had to have the highest incidence. Fortunately it’s breast cancer. And I would say fortunately because it is one of the cancers that we know how to treat.” There are cancers – like pancreatic and lung – where the prognosis is dismal. But with breast cancer, the situation is far more optimistic. “We have made such tremendous progress in treatment that now for early stage disease, we are almost talking about a cure for breast cancer.”

That is precisely why it is important to catch the disease as early as possible. Awareness of the symptoms certainly helps. The most common sign, of course, is a lump. “A lump is an abnormal thickening or an area which is harder or more firm than the rest of the breast,” Dr. Amina explains. “Breast cancer lumps,” she elaborates, “are generally painless. That’s why breast cancer is called the silent killer. Breast cancer grows silently; it [usually] does not cause any pain. It’s just completely [mute] till it becomes a really aggressive tumour.” Also worth noting, she points out, is that despite a very common misconception, such lumps and bumps are not normal during pregnancy and breastfeeding and they need to be monitored. Basically every lump that a woman feels in the breast needs to be biopsied, she opines.

“Other signs,” she continues, “can be skin changes, a rash that doesn’t go away, a nipple that becomes excoriated, ulcerated, or starts bleeding, and lumps in the armpit area.”

To notice these changes, women need to be more aware of their bodies, which is only possible if we check ourselves regularly. Self-examination is recommended for women in their 20s and 30s, a baseline mammogram is advised between the ages of 35 and 40, while yearly (or every other year if there are financial constraints) mammograms are suggested for ladies aged 40 onwards. “In Stages I and II, the lumps are so small that you can hardly feel them. The hand of the patient or doctor is not sensitive enough to pick these little tiny cancers which we want to find. The only way to find them is imaging through mammograms and ultrasounds.”

More meticulous surveillance is advised for individuals with a higher risk of developing breast cancer. “There are unmodifiable risk factors – ones that we can’t change but we really need to know about so that we can be cognisant that our risk is high or low – and modifiable risk factors – factors that we have a control over and can change.”

Unmodifiable factors, Dr. Amina details, include the female gender (99% of breast cancer will happen to women; only 1% in men), increasing age (there is low incidence in the 20s and 30s; the risk starts escalating in 40s and 50s, and becomes really high in 60s), having a family history of breast cancer (especially first degree relatives with breast cancer or other cancers; BRCA mutation testing is advised in such cases), mutation in certain genes, and our hormonal milieu (higher risk for girls who develop early and reach menarche at a young age, women who reach menopause at a late stage, women who don’t have children or have their first child very late and perform less breast feeding).

Modifiable factors, on the other hand include everything that goes with a healthy lifestyle: “lots of sleep, healthy diet, regular exercise, maintaining your weight within the average BMI range, no alcohol, no smoking, no sedentary lifestyle.”

“In Stage 0, the cancer is handled with surgery and radiation, and hormone therapy if it is hormone receptor positive, but there is no chemotherapy, so that is huge. Similarly for early Stage I, there is no chemo. In late Stage I and Stages II, III, and IV, chemo comes in as well as all the toxicity [and side effects] that come with it. And when the tumour burden is higher and there is more cancer to fight, it can spread to other parts of the body. You’re trying to kill it in multiple spots, and then it becomes difficult to handle,” she reiterates.

So ladies – and also gents – be vigilant. And encourage your loved ones to do the same. We may not have conquered this nefarious disease altogether just yet, but we can still defeat it. And ultimately it’s early detection that can make a world of difference.

- Sameen Amer

Instep, The News on Sunday - 31st October, 2021 *

“Early detection leads to longer survival rates and reduced mortality and morbidity.” – Dr. Ayesha Isani Majeed

pinktober

To help women with breast cancer screening, the Federal Breast Cancer Screening Centre offers free screening facilities all year round

When you speak to Professor Ayesha Isani Majeed, you can immediately tell just how passionate she is about her work. She is the head of radiology and the head of the Federal Breast Cancer Screening Centre at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad, where she has been working towards providing women with free screening facilities. And you can tell just how important her work is when you see what a big difference screening can make.

“Early detection leads to longer survival rates and reduced mortality and morbidity,” she tells Instep. The survival rates for Stage I and II breast cancer, according to the statistics she has shared, are above 98 percent and 95 percent respectively. But the numbers fall as the stages advance. Stage III has a survival rate of 60 to 70 percent, while Stage IV sadly sees a further decline to below 50 percent. “[Unfortunately,] in our country, women usually come with stage III and stage IV cancer. Screening can help us detect the cancer at Stage I and Stage II [which vastly improves the prognosis].”

Women are encouraged to monitor their breasts by performing self-examinations and also getting clinical examinations wherein trained health professionals – like nurses, lady health workers, general practitioners, and specialists – physically check the breast for lumps and changes. 

Breast screening tests are also highly recommended. Below the age of 40, ultrasounds are advised, while women over 40 are suggested to get mammography. “Recently with younger women getting breast cancer, the American College of Radiology has advocated that mammography can be started at 35 for those who are at high risk and have family history,” Dr. Ayesha informs.

To help women with this testing, the Federal Breast Cancer Screening Centre offers free screening facilities all year round, six days a week, and the centre hopes to continue its work while raising awareness regarding the importance of screening for early detection.

“Pakistan has a higher rate of breast cancer than any other Asian country,” Dr. Ayesha says. “One in every 9 women suffers from breast cancer. According to the Global Cancer Observatory, 34,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer [in Pakistan every year], a number that will double in 2040 to 64,000. The establishment of a ‘one stop breast clinic’ is the answer to the cultural, financial, mental, and physical needs of the women of Pakistan, so that triple assessment can be performed by a surgeon, radiologist, and pathologist under one roof in a single visit. We aim to make the Federal Breast Cancer Screening Centre a role model for other such similar centres in different districts of Pakistan so that this lethal disease is eradicated at the grassroots level.” We hope, for all our sakes, that they manage to achieve just that.

- Sameen Amer

Instep, The News on Sunday - 31st October, 2021 *

In the afterglow of a shooting star

cover story: in loving memory

Family, friends, and colleagues gathered at Riot Studios to celebrate the life and work of the late Farhad Humayun

It’s around 10 pm on Saturday, October 16. We are standing on the fourth floor balcony of Riot Studios, and Atif Aslam is telling me about the time Farhad Humayun broke the drums while recording one of his songs.

“‘Gal Sun Ja’ was a very sad and slow song, but Farhad made it a powerful rock anthem because he said: ‘let’s do it in a different tempo!’, and it turned out so great,” the singer recalls. “And I remember that he broke the toms while recording that song. Uss nae toms phar diyay thay,” he laughs. “Recording studio mein uss nae hashar kar diya tha. And the engineer, Waseem, was like, ‘yaar, meray toms!’”

This is just one of the many stories about Farhad that are being warmly exchanged tonight in an intimate gathering of his family and friends meant to honour the late musician’s life and legacy.

Live music blares in the background – Salman Albert is busy belting out Bryan Adams’ ‘Summer of ‘69’ (one of Farhad’s favourite songs) at the moment – as Atif speaks to me on the dark terrace, the busy neon-lit streets of Lahore bustling with late-night life below us.

“Farhad played on my first and third records,” Atif reminisces, “and they would never have sounded that good without him. Today, whoever I am is because of people like Farhad and Sarmad [Ghafoor] and everyone who played on Jal Pari because they put in a lot of effort.”

“We were going to do two [new] songs together,” he continues, “and I actually wrote the lyrics as well, but didn’t know that he wasn’t going to be around.” As hard as it may be under the circumstances, Atif thinks Farhad would have wanted to be remembered with joy and happiness – a celebration, if you will – a sentiment he can relate to; when his time is up, he, too, would want a joyous commemoration, not sadness.

*****

Celebration is, indeed, the spirit of the night. The event, titled Sunchaser, has been organized by Riot Productions that is now being run by Farhad’s family, which includes his mother, renowned academic-actress Navid Shahzad, and his sisters, Rima and Sara.

The venue is Farhad’s studio. When you get to the building, you go straight down a pristine corridor till you reach the elevator, right across from which is a cream-coloured drum kit that belonged to the Overload frontman. It looks beautiful, majestic. But also oddly forlorn, although that just might be projection.

It’s been four months since Farhad Humayun passed away at the age of 42. He bravely battled a brain tumour and had two surgeries to fight the cancer, but the disease sadly progressed. 

While his life may have been unfairly short, his impact on the Pakistani music industry was substantial. He helped shape the underground music scene of the country, formed bands like Co-Ven and Mindriot before finding success with the percussion rock outfit Overload, and helped launch the careers of then-fledgling artists – including Atif – along the way.

“He achieved more in his short life than people do in a full, 80-year life, so I’m very grateful for that,” Sara tells Instep. “Some stars [are] shooting stars. They shine brighter for a short period of time and then they disappear.” 

Sara describes Farhad as not just her brother, but her best friend, her partner in crime, and a remarkable person. “Great musicians come and go, but great human beings are rare and never forgotten. And he won’t be forgotten, I can assure you of that.”

Rima shares similar sentiments. “We all wish he had more time, but I think his impact is something that … people may live three lives and sometimes not make [such] an impact.”

The sisters say the siblings had a wonderful childhood, shared a strong bond, and had a lot of things in common, including an appreciation of art, culture, music, and travel. “Thanks to our parents, we were free to follow our own paths,” Rima continues, “and I think Farhad just did it beautifully.”

The family now hopes to carry forward Farhad’s legacy. Riot Productions plans to publish his unreleased works, which include an English album as well as several Punjabi and Urdu singles, as early as next year. Riot Studios will keep its doors open for musicians while a trust will be set up for aspiring artists in keeping with his passion for nourishing newcomers.

*****

For tonight though, Riot Studios is busy commemorating its creator. Standing in the middle of a room full of Farhad’s loved ones and mates, it’s hard not to be hit by the immense loss of this remarkable talent. “We ask you to leave your sadness at the door,” the invite had read, but it is clear that this is a hard directive to follow. 

When his mother addresses the crowd after the short documentary about Farhad’s life and the presentation of the studio’s vision, her voice breaks.

“It is said that we die only when we are forgotten, but I can say with great pride that … everyone who ever knew Fadi would continue to help me keep my child alive,” she says, “even as he lives in another dimension.”

When I speak to Anoushey Ashraf later, she too is visibly emotional. “He was just so young that I didn’t think we’d ever lose him, so when we did, it hit me in the worst way possible, and even today I think of him all the time,” she says, tearing up. “I know he’s in a better place and I hope we get to reunite and make some music up there soon.

“[He’d like us to remember him] as somebody who was larger than life, somebody who made people happy, and more than anything else, I think he would just love to see all of us happy, knowing that we are remembering him, thinking of him, and celebrating him every day.”

*****

The atmosphere gets significantly more upbeat as soon as the live music session commences. 

Over the course of nearly two hours, several of Farhad’s friends and cohorts take the stage, first to perform some of his songs and then for an open mic session featuring covers of some of his favourite tracks.

Ali Noor is the first on stage and delivers an energetic rendition of ‘Batti’. Others soon follow. Atif enamours the crowd with ‘Nimmi Nimmi’; Faiza Mujahid is joined by Salman Albert for a performance of ‘Kambakht’; and Abdullah Qureshi delivers a powerful version of ‘Neray Aah’.

As the open mic session begins, Faiza joins me on the aforementioned balcony. “By the turnout here, you can see how many lives Farhad changed. He was very encouraging; we needed someone who could see our talent and polish it and Farhad was that mentor.”

She was impressed by his expertise, appreciative of his humility, and grateful for his advice, encouragement, and support. And she was surprised not only by the fact that he approached her for ‘Kambakht’ but that he made sure she was front and centre in the video instead of in the background. 

“This speaks of the security of a person. And this is why I miss him. Because aisay genuine loag, aisay loag jin ki respect karnay ko dil karay music industry mai bohat kum hain. And trust me, I’ve been in this industry for the longest time,” she says.

I see Ahmad Ali Butt just as Faiza is leaving and ask him about Farhad’s influence on the industry. He replies, “I always said that he is one person with a lot of guts. Because he fought with the corporates, he fought for music rights, he fought for royalties, and he wasn’t afraid of anyone. Even I’ve never done this, but he did it. And hats off to him.

“Whenever I think of him, I smile,” he adds, “and I think that’s the best gift he left us with.”

*****

The proceedings are winding down and Salman Albert finally has time to speak to me. He has helped coordinate the live music session and has had a very busy evening, taking the stage multiple times and performing with many of the artists.

“I knew Farhad since the late ‘80s when the Lahore underground scene began,” he tells me. “We met socially and shared a similar sense of humour because of which we were on good terms.” 

But the two didn’t share a close association until around seven years ago when a performance changed things. “I think I never told Farhad about this, and I regret it now. I saw Overload perform at St. Anthony’s and I said to myself that I want to play the guitar in this band. So I asked Shiraz bhai, and then decided to speak to Farhad myself, and that’s how I started playing with the band. After that we were like brothers, friends, family. We travelled together. We used to hang out before and after jam sessions. Then Aunty would call us to have dinner, and we’d all have dinner together. 

“It is an honour for me that in the days around his death, his mother and sisters said that ‘yeh Farhad ka dost naheen hai, uss ka bhai hai’. This honour will stay with me forever.”

*****

It’s nearly 11 pm now. The event is over. The elevator brings me back down, and there it is again, that cream-coloured drum kit. For some reason it looks even sadder than it did a couple of hours ago. But now I take comfort in the knowledge that there are so many people who loved the man that played these drums and who are trying to ensure that his beat goes on.

- Sameen Amer

Instep, The News on Sunday - 24th October, 2021 *