Model Mahieka Sharma appears unfazed by the trolling and backlash that followed after she joined her cricketer boyfriend Hardik Pandya at the T20 World Cup victory celebrations in Ahmedabad on March 8. A video of the model sharing a hug and a kiss quickly went viral online, sparking mixed reactions on social media. However, Mahieka seems to be taking the chatter in stride and is even laughing along with some of the memes circulating online.

While Hardik has remained silent amid the backlash, Mahieka addressed the trolling on Friday, March 13. Taking to her Instagram Stories, she responded to the critics, making it clear that the negativity hasn’t bothered her.

She shared a meme that read, “Jaa tu, Mahieka jitna luck mere zindagi mein aana (Go, hope my luck is also like Mahieka).” It also featured a man folding his hands in front of a woman.

Re-sharing it on Instagram Stories, Mahieka wrote, “Never settle,” seemingly urging women to know their worth.

Hardik has also landed in legal trouble after a Pune-based advocate filed a complaint with the police, alleging disrespect to the Indian national flag during the T20 World Cup victory celebrations. According to the complaint, several videos of the Indian team’s post-match celebrations have gone viral on social media. In one such clip, Hardik is seen celebrating with the Indian Tricolour draped over his shoulders while dancing and running across the field.

The complaint also alleges that during the celebrations, Hardik was seen lying on the stage alongside his girlfriend Mahieka Sharma while the Tricolour remained draped over him, which the complainant claims amounts to disrespect towards the national flag.

Hardik began dating Mahieka, a 25-year-old model and actor, in 2025. Earlier this year, on her birthday, the cricketer made it official with a sweet birthday post for her on his Instagram. Mahieka has been seen accompanying Hardik to games throughout the World Cup tournament.

Best Picture. Best Director. Best Actress. Best Actor. Best Screenplay. Known as the Oscars’ “Big Five,” these categories garner the most buzz leading up to and during the ceremony.

But it’s time to expand that list to include Best International Feature. At a moment when Americans are more exposed to global headlines — many of them delivered in real time through social media feeds — the category takes on added cultural weight.

Against the backdrop of the conflicts in Iran and Gaza, this year’s contenders — notably It Was Just an Accident and The Voice of Hind Rajab — offer intimate portraits of communities long flattened by Western political rhetoric and media coverage.

Directed by Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, It Was Just an Accident follows a mechanic who kidnaps a man he believes tortured him in prison. Meanwhile, Palestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir’s The Voice of Hind Rajab, based on a true story, documents Red Crescent volunteers’ attempts to save a five-year-old girl from an Israeli military attack in Gaza. Panahi and Jacir use cinema to encourage conversation and evoke feelings — anger, grief, curiosity — that go beyond passive and biased headlines. The directors throw viewers into the thick of the action, portraying characters as fully realized people with inner lives and families, not just names.

That these stories are being showcased on one of the world’s most visible stages matters. With millions of viewers tuning in, the ceremony — and, by extension, the film industry — can be a powerful tool for legitimizing the experiences of marginalized communities.

This is especially true for Palestinians, whose displacement and occupation have often been filtered through coverage that, as analysts have documented, distorts their lived experience. One of the US’ most storied news organizations, the New York Times, has been the subject of multiple studies and backlash over its biased coverage of the Middle East. But it is hardly alone in reflecting these patterns. Decades of research have asserted similar findings across US and UK news coverage more broadly, with people in the Middle Eastern region often portrayed in dehumanizing ways.These narratives also extend to depictions in movies and television. In a 2021 USC Annenberg study analyzing 200 popular films, Muslim characters accounted for only 1.6 % of speaking roles. When they were portrayed, they were often racially profiled, with over 51.1% of Muslim characters appearing only in films set in the past. The media can heavily shape public perception of others, influencing the level of sympathy people receive and whether they are viewed as heroes or villains. Shows such as Showtime’s Homeland widen the gap between understanding and demonizing the Middle East through clichéd portrayals, whereas the Netflix Inc. series Mo and the Oscar-submitted All That’s Left of You thoughtfully contextualize marginalized characters’ experiences without relying on tropes.

The films in this year’s International Feature category are powerful because of the compassion with which their stories and characters are imbued. In the case of The Voice of Hind Rajab, the humanity embedded in the film makes up for the media’s often undignified and passive treatment of the real-life event that inspired it. Rajab is no longer a girl who “has been found dead,” but a child who had a life full of hopes and fears and whose pleas will now echo in people’s hearts.

Crucially, both It Was Just an Accident and The Voice of Hind Rajab encourage the general public to seek out movies told from the perspectives of the people they portray rather than through a Western lens alone. It’s an important distinction. These films bring the unfiltered experiences of Palestinians and Iranians to audiences through a grounded, character-driven approach that avoids the shadow cast by the news cycle and the savior-style storytelling that often casts American characters as rescuers or teachers of minorities.

Movies and shows don’t have to be relatable to be understandable. They are magical that way. So, regardless of who takes home the coveted Oscar statuette, these films accomplish something larger: they restore dimension to people too often discussed and portrayed in the abstract.

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Mae Abdulbaki is a critic, entertainment journalist and podcaster. She has been a member of the Gotham Television Awards nominating committee and a juror at film festivals, including SXSW.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

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The sequel to ‘Now You See Me’ (2009), the movie stars Danielle Radcliffe, Morgan Freeman in the lead roles. The plot has the Four Horsemen and their leader recruited by a criminal mastermind, to steal a data chip. Daniel Radcliffe plays Walter Mabry,a young tech whiz. Walter is the ringmaster of the entire game. It is he who designs a computer chip which makes it easy to access any computer system worldwide. He deceives, betrays and even kills to fulfill his selfish motives. It is through Walter’s character that introduces us to how ruthless businessmen can get when it comes to making money. If you wish to stream this thriller its available on Amazon Prime .

Singer Chinmayi Sripada has reacted strongly to lyricist Vairamuthu being honoured with the Jnanpith Award on Saturday. She took to Twitter to express her anger and also called out those supposting and praising the #MeToo accused. In 2018, Chinmayi had accused Vairamuthu for sexually abusing her and highlighted claims made against others within the music industry.

“A committee from Kerala announced him as for the ONV Kurup award which was later ‘returned’ as voices of justice from their society rose to speak against sullying Sri ONV Kurup’s name. The collective voices of the women who named him, were silenced. I paid a very heavy price – the rest of the women who left their dreams behind weren’t half as lucky as I.”

“End of the day, men WILL stand by their bros, uncles, dads, friends, mentors. Who cares if multiple women were traumatised?”

Kamal’s message in Tamil can be translated as, “Tamil literature, which has a long and rich tradition, has received the prestigious Jnanpith Award for the third time. After the Jnanpith received by Jayakanthan, it has taken a quarter of a century for Tamil to earn this great honour again. My dear friend, the “Emperor of Poets” Vairamuthu, has brought this pride to Tamil.

I feel proud to congratulate my friend—whose poetic words, “The sky is a Bodhi tree for me; every day it brings me a message,” first reached my ears, entered my heart, and eventually blossomed into friendship.”

In 2018, Chinmayi was removed from the South Indian Cine, Television Artistes and Dubbing Artistes Union (SICTADAU) after she came out in support of the women who had named Radha Ravi, president of the dubbing union.