Latest news with #ElisabethSparkle
Indian Express
06-07-2025
- Health
- Indian Express
From the Opinions Editor: The tragic death of Shefalee Jariwala and the anti-ageing trap
Dear Express reader, At some point, in give or take their forties, women are made aware that they are no longer the default setting: Not the protagonist of ads, not the statistical core of a marketing campaign, not, as Gen Z would say, giving main character energy. Instead, they become a certain kind of invisible — their demographic slides quietly off the cultural radar, and the world, with its fresh faces and optimised filters, keeps spinning. The obsession with youth is not new. The Greeks built myths around it. The Renaissance painted it in oils. But the modern world industrialised it. Today, youth is no longer measured in years; it is a product category — rebranded, bottled, injected, and sold into an ideal so pervasive that even the act of resisting it must be done with the right serum, the right lighting, the right kind of denial. Anti-ageing is a billion-dollar industry. In 2024, the global anti-ageing market was estimated to be worth $75.7 billion, according to a survey by market-research firm IMARC. In India, it reached $2.5 billion and is expected to grow to $4 billion by 2033. It sells creams that promise to reverse time, diets that speak in the language of miracles, and procedures that pledge a new you — less tired, less lived-in, necessarily idealised. Even language conspires to soften the blow of ageing, offering euphemisms like 'prejuvenation' to fix what isn't broken. Shefalee Jariwala's death at 42 last week from a cardiac arrest — linked allegedly to anti-ageing treatments and an extreme diet – throws this into sharp relief. The actor, who came into the limelight with the remix of the song Kaanta laga, was reportedly fasting and on anti-ageing medication; an avid consumer of cosmetic drugs, she is said to have taken a Vitamin C IV drip on that fateful day as well. She was, in essence, a woman trying to stay visible in a culture that flits by once you are considered past the bill of 'acceptability'. But what exactly do we mean by youth? Is it the physical resilience — the quick metabolism, the energy that never needs rationing, the sleepless nights that could be followed by 10-hour shifts at the workplace? Or, is it something more elusive: A sense of possibility, an unformedness that has not yet calcified into certainty? Youth, we are told, is when we are most alive. Which implies that ageing, in this cultural grammar, is a kind of dying. What all of this betrays, of course, is a deep unease with the passage of time itself. We live in a culture allergic to impermanence. Where once age was a milestone – of experience, of wisdom — gleaned over a well-lived life, it is now treated as a letdown. This notion becomes especially cruel in midlife, when adulthood comes of age. The body starts sending quiet memos, the mirror betrays a new flaccidity every time. Youth, in this equation, is no longer merely desirable — it becomes mandatory. So, like Elisabeth Sparkle in The Substance, last year's breakaway body horror movie featuring Demi Moore, there is a relentless rush to experiment with new treatments to avoid the inevitability of hoariness. Names of substances such as Ozempic and glutathione, retinol and hyaluronic acid roll off the tongue with an ease that should be terrifying but only shows how steeped we are in this configuration of ourselves into a prospective upgrade. No one tells you how to age. There's no consensus on how much of a fight you are meant to put up, nor a handbook for how to face the first intimations of mortality. The poet Dylan Thomas told us to 'rage, rage against the dying of the light' but he died young, spared the awkward choreography of ageing in public. To age in the modern world is to perform a paradox. Women are expected to look ageless while pretending it is without effort. They must 'own' their years but not wear them too heavily. Ageing 'well' is fine as long as it is styled and shape-shifted into wellness routines and aesthetic enhancements, framed as 'self-care' over vanity or insecurity. Jariwala's story is tragic, but not unfamiliar. Many women live some version of it, quietly calibrating their worth against their age. They don't always die from it. They simply lean into an erasure that comes from letting go of the person they were meant to grow into. Take care, Paromita
Tom's Guide
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Tom's Guide
How to watch 'The Substance' on TVNZ+ (It's free)
You can watch the "The Substance" on TVNZ+ right now, streaming for free. The movie got tongues wagging and pulses racing when it was released last year — "The Substance" was a word-of-mouth hit that propelled Demi Moore back into the Hollywood limelight. Playing Elisabeth Sparkle, her character is struggling to come to terms with the fact that her looks and celebrity are fading. The answer to her prayers seems to come in the form of a miraculous new drug that can create a younger version of herself (played by Margaret Qualley). No prizes for guessing that things don't go entirely to plan. The TVNZ+ platform is streaming the much-discussed, Oscar-winning film now. But how can you watch the stream from anywhere? Can you get the TVNZ+ stream in the U.S., Australia and the U.K. too? And what phones and devices is the TVNZ+ app available on? Here's our full (and quick) guide to how to watch "The Substance" free on TVNZ+. 🇳🇿 TVNZ+ is showing "The Substance" for free right now. You don't need a TVNZ+ subscription to watch "The Substance", just sign up with your e-mail. New to TVNZ+? Register for a free account or download the app on your mobile device. OUTSIDE New Zealand? ACCESS TVNZ+ FROM ANYWHERE WITH A VPN. We signed up to watch the movie and it works perfectly — the streaming quality is very good, just with the occasional ad. TVNZ+ is only available to New Zealand residents who have signed up to the streaming service. Cinema lovers traveling or working outside N.Z. will need to use a VPN to access TVNZ+'s free stream of "The Substance" when overseas in the likes of the U.S., Canada and the U.K. There are lots of VPNs but NordVPN is the one you can rely on to unblock geo-restrictions and stream "The Substance" with ease — plus you can save up to 76% and get a free Amazon gift card right now if you're a U.S. or Canadian resident. "The Substance" is free to watch on TVNZ+ but you'll need a good VPN to unblock if traveling outside of New Zealand NordVPN mega deal: FREE Amazon gift card Traveling outside N.Z.? Use NordVPN to unblock "The Substance" stream. Try it now (30-days risk free) and get our bumper deal package... ✅ FREE Amazon gift card worth up to $50/£50✅ 4 months extra FREE!✅ 76% off usual price It's really easy to use a VPN to watch "The Substance". 1. Install the VPN of your choice. As we've said, NordVPN is our favorite. 2. Choose the location you wish to connect to in the VPN app. For instance, if you want to watch the free "The Substance" stream, choose 'New Zealand' from the list. 3. Sit back and enjoy the action. Head to TVNZ+, sign in, and watch "The Substance" for free! You can use TVNZ+ on all of the following devices and platforms: If you're looking for a free stream of the movie then TVNZ+ is exactly what you need. We're not aware of anywhere else streaming "The Substance" for free. For example, it's on the subscription-based Mubi streaming platform in the U.S., Canada and U.K. And in Australia, you need access to the paid Stan streaming service. For streaming on TVNZ+, a minimum internet speed of 3Mbps is recommended for standard definition (SD) and 5-8Mbps for HD We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
The Star
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Star
Demi Moore knew she was going to lose the Oscar to Mikey Madison
She had an impressive awards season run winning the acting prize at the Golden Globes, the Critics Choice Awards and the Screen Actors Guild Awards for her performance as Elisabeth Sparkle in 'The Substance'. Photo: TNS Demi Moore expected Mikey Madison to win the Academy Award for lead actress, she recently told Time magazine. "I don't know why I knew, but I did," Moore said in the interview. "I was so centred and calm. I didn't feel gutted. I didn't feel any of those kinds of things. I just trusted, and am in trust of, whatever is going to unfold." An industry veteran, Moore had an impressive awards season run, winning the acting prize at the Golden Globes, the Critics Choice Awards and the Screen Actors Guild Awards for her performance as Elisabeth Sparkle in The Substance , a film about an actor filled with so much self-loathing that she takes a drug called "the substance" to create a younger version of herself. She revealed in her emotional Golden Globe acceptance speech that a producer once called her a "popcorn actress," which "corroded me over time to the point where I thought a few years ago that maybe this was it." Despite being the favourite to win (and despite the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' love for a redemption arc), Moore lost to newcomer Madison. Moore acknowledged she was disappointed, but not hurt, by the loss. In fact, she said that during the commercial break before the award was announced, she whispered to her manager, "I think it's going to Mikey." After the awards show, Moore wrote on Instagram, "As this awards season comes to a close, I'm so overwhelmed with gratitude for this journey. It's been the ride of a lifetime and we're just getting started! So grateful for my team, my fellow nominees, and everyone who has made this experience so full of joy and light.... And a huge congratulations to #MikeyMadison – can't wait to see what you do next.️" For her part, Madison told the Hollywood Reporter that after the awards show, "I texted with Demi, who I adore. She's one of the sweetest, kindest women I've ever met, and I'm so grateful that I was able to meet her and witness her brilliance and talent in person." Despite the Oscars snub, Moore told Time that the success of The Substance ultimately increased her profile. "To go from the beginning of this last year feeling like I was never part of the conversation to being acknowledged in a critical way for my work has just allowed me to open up my belief in greater possibilities," she said. At the moment, Moore is filming Season 2 of the Paramount+ drama series Landman . Her next feature will be Boots Riley's I Love Boosters , also starring Keke Palmer and LaKeith Stanfield. – Los Angeles Times/Tribune News Service
