COURTING CONTROVERSIES IN BOLLYWOOD '10

Hi Friends....

How have you been? Trust all's well at your end and you celebrated Christmas and New Year with fervour and enthusiasm and also made some resolutions which you hope to accomplish before another year ushers in! In my last month's blog I had written extensively about the influx of newcomers making their début in Bollywood and more so the need to be cautious and careful when you select your launch pad especially if you happened  to have no backing at all be it star parents,sugar daddies,God pas or any distant relatives in the Hindi film industry.

I had also addressed some key parameters one could consider when making your début, how to keep yourself afloat by way of having the right PR person and an agent to get you the right roles.I had also nominated some promising débuts over the last two decades and asked you to vote on it ....but sadly the response has been far from encouraging with just two people choosing to vote...(that' s exactly the state of our country when youngsters fail to exercise their right and with all might have the gumption to talk about the sorry state of affairs in our country!) Nevertheless, those two votes are definitely counted and I will compile this list when I get at least 10 votes (of course sky is the limit). So wait on and wake up from the slumber! 

Till that happens,let's discuss 5 controversies that shrouded Bollywood in 2010. So lets begin....

My Name is Khan and I 'Khan' do it!!

Bad boy of Bollywood,apna Sallu bhai didn't disappoint this time...our mischievous Khan apparently passed  gibes at Sanjay Leela Bhansali's film Guzaarish when at an event he said, 'Usme machchar udti hai par koi makkhi bhi nahin gaya dekhne...'  Don't really know the reason for Salman's provocation...could it be Ash?! Hmm..Udi Udi...We wonder...let's find out!! But on a more serious note Sallu once again blundered when in an interview to a Pakistani channel the Shiv Sena were up in arm against him when he said that too much hype was created around the 26/11 attack as elite people were targeted and even went on to say that the Pakistani government was not behind it. When he saw the same interview again,he admitted that the statements came out as insensitive and was taken out of context,so as a damage control measure he apologized giving his version on what he meant to convey.

This may have saved Dabangg from bearing the brunt of  the Sena's ire, but Shah Rukh Khan had to face the music when he said that he was hurt at the exclusion of Pakistani players at the IPL3 auction during one of the promotional  events of his film My Name is Khan. As a backlash of his statement meant in the true spirit of the game, the Sena brigade tore down the posters of his film and even banned his film in Mumbai. Not just that, around the same time during the pre-release of his film MNIK, Khan alleged that he was subject to detention, interrogation and humiliation by the US airport authorities for two hours! It's time America learnt her lessons!

When we had Sallu and SRK courting controversy could Aamir have been left behind!The public spat  between Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Chetan Bhagat over the credits of his blockbuster film 3 Idiots which Vidhu Chopra claims was just 'partly' inspired from his book Five Point Someone got uglier when Aamir entered the fray and went on to call the author a liar! Not just that,during the committee meeting of the Copyright Panel, Aamir had a spat with veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar where he went on to say that a lyricist did not contribute much to the success of a song and picturisation was more important.Javed Akhtar gave the actor a befitting reply when he reminded the actor that it was the song,Papa Kehte Hain from his debut film Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak that made him a star! Also known as the 'perfectionist' Khan, Aamir was once again in the news, when his debutant director Anushha Rizvi alleged of the actor's interfering ways throughout the making of the film Peepli Live and hogging all the limelight and taking all the credit for the film (Remember Aamir also had a fall-out with Amol Gupte over Taare Zameen Par!); so she decided to dissociate herself post the release of the film. And on being asked whether she would promote Peepli Live at the Oscars after it was selected as India's official entry, she said, "I will not be going to promote Peeple Live in USA.It's just America's National Awards!" Way to go...Bravo!!

Shobhaa Badnaam hui...darling tere liye!

Taking the war of words ahead...noted columnist and journalist,Shobhaa De who appears to be in a foul mood these days seems to be rubbing people the wrong way by making digs against every second person in the film industry...the latest on her hit-list(s) was Arbaaz Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Puneet Malhotra (newbie director from KJo camp and noted fashion designer Manish Malhotra's bro),Deepika Padukone...phew! and so many others... 

Poor Sallu who's controversial statements on the 26/11 refuse to die down was once again caught on the wrong foot when Shobhaa De told the junta to ban his film Dabangg. Now, Sallu's chhota bhai Arbaaz didn't take Ms. De's comments lightly and came down heavily on her when he tweeted...

1. 'Hey guys what's your opinion on Shobha De a writer of sleaze and pornographic novels. She writes a lot of shit about salman and malaika'
2. 'Her claim to fame is marrying some rich industrialist. I'm not sure if its 3 or 4. Pl lemme know' 
3. 'Mr De hold on to your money or shobha at 60 can still compete with Elizabeth Taylor.'
4. 'One thought that age makes you wiser but unfortunately its not happening in the case of shobha who is 60.'
5. 'Shobha's opinions on my family reeks of bias, jealousy and frustration. I have have ignoring her comments for the longest time but no more'
6. 'If this woman was not to write about celebs she would not even be entertained.'
7. 'Honestly I hate to give people like shobha any importance but she's been writing personal,biased stuff 4 the longest time. Enough is enough'
8. 'Hey guys thanks for all the support. Honestly I hate stooping down to the level of shobha de but she was asking for it for the longest time'

For a while both Sonam Kapoor and Deepika Padukone have been hard on target of Ms. De's criticism right from their debut films. While Deepika for long has maintained a dignified silence and chosen not to react on De's unsavoury remarks but the fiery Sonam Kapoor and Puneet Malhotra, the director of her film I Hate Love Stories lambasted the author and columnist when De lashed out heavily on the film and performances.And the young 'uns took to twitter...Psst...it seems microblogging is fast becoming a Rannbhoomi of words! ;-)

Puneet Malhotra tweeted --"Guys please don't take Shobhaa De seriously. She's a fossil who's getting no action and going through menopause". 

Sonam retweeted  -- Punit's line and added a "hahahaha" to boot at her.

Now with Papa Anil to guide beti on not taking pangas with journalist, Sonam was quick to heed, she promptly deleted her tweets and apologized! Let's hope it's once again peace time in 2011!

Phas Gaya Re Bachchan!

This year the entire Bachchan family minus Jaya and bahu Aishwarya (just recently in the news on the Elle magazine's skin-whitening row for apparently no fault of hers!)were making wrong news! Many eyebrows were raised by the film industry, media and people at large when Amitabh consented to becoming the brand ambassador of Modi's Gujarat. And not just that, when he was watching sonny boy's Raavan, he came down heavily on the film when he said that the film was shoddily edited. Now,now Mr. Bachchan that's the limit...you're forgetting, the maverick film-maker has given some of the biggest hits like Roja and Bombay among the Hindi films and by the way, the South version of Ravan was a big hit! Whatever the fate of the film, you have to be grateful to Mani Ratnam for 3 reasons...

1. He resurrected Abhishek's flagging career by giving him not one but 3 performance-oriented films when he had several flops behind him and no one was willing to take him in their films.
2. Your bahu has acted in 2 Hindi films directed by Ratnam minus the South film Iruvar which was incidentally her debut, otherwise the count makes 3!
3. And finally 3 years ago when Guru catapulted Abhishek to the top, it was also when love blossomed between him and Aishwarya so much so Abhishek proposed her after the Toronto premiere of the film...and that's how you got your bahu just the way you got Jaya during Zanjeer!

So as we understand here is that Ratnam is in many ways lucky for Abhishek...just as Prakash Mehra was for you Sr. AB! So, before you criticize Mr. Ratnam again think thrice!!

Abhishek's flops seems to have become the talk of the town and ad man Prahlad Kakkar seemed to have a hearty laugh over it when at a film festival he said that Abhishek should get his name registered in the Guinness Book of World Records for giving 17 flops and yet standing strongly in the industry.

On a serious note, he was also of the opinion that the film industry had become ‘a mom and pop show’ where star sons had flooded the industry leaving no chance for good actors. And thus the war of words began... (remind me of another such incident!) Abhishek took to twitter with a vengeance when he tweeted,"I love Prahlad Kakkar, he should be a stand-up comic not an ad film-maker. Maybe then someone will take him seriously! This coming from a man who makes commercials with his own son. Hmmm. Oh ya, Prahlad, I'm already in the Guiness book of world records and a very proud son. I hope you give your sons an opportunity to say the same someday!" And Prahlad on a lighter note tweeted that if AB Jr. considered him a better stand-up comedian then there was no reason for Abhishek to have taken him seriously! Last I heard,Prahlad Kakkar was trying to make peace with AB Jr. as the jibes were not meant to be personal! Let's hope it's peace time in 2011!

Bugles! It's War time! -

KJo. Vs. Rishi Kapoor 

Sonam Kapoor, Deepika Padukone Vs. Ranbir Kapoor 

Don't get addicted to koffee (it's a processed concoction, beware!) you may end up spilling the beans  on the carpet...Ha-ha, didn't get it...am talking of Koffee with Karan, Karan Johar aka KJo's signature show where stars are on the hot-seat and relationships put to test! Something like that happened when Ranbir's exes- Sonam and Deepika were on the chat show...and the devil's advocate got the girls in their true elements and shocked the viewers when Sonam said that Ranbir didn't have a sex-appeal and this she came to know when she saw him in the towel-dropping act in Saawariya while Deepika on being asked by KJo what she'd like to gift Ranbir, she promptly replied that it had to be a pack of condoms!

Now that's getting too personal...and naturally papa Rishi was annoyed at the girls as well as with KJo for instigating them into talking so brashly. So, now the latest on this front is -- Sonam and Deepika are booted out of Ranbir's world tour whereas Rishi Kapoor is out of KJo's remake of Agneepath! I thought KJo said that the comments in the show were meant to be taken in the right spirit...then why did he react by chucking out Rishi Kapoor from the film? KJo haazir ho...are you guilty?

By the way we were a while ago talking of Sonam Kapoor's brashness and I was reminded that her co-star Imran Khan in the rapid fire round in good spirits advised her to do less magazine covers and more roles (which is a fact..if she wants to call herself an actress!) Sonam took it far too seriously and reacted to it when she said that she wouldn't take advice from a star who is still 'wet behind the ears'. We wonder what you meant by that Sonam!!

CATFIGHT - Meoooowww!!

In Bollywood it is a known fact that two actresses never get along with each other,likewise was the case  with  Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra who had a bitter fall-out first during the shooting of their film, Aitraaz and later on Shahid Kapoor became a bone of contention between the two actresses! We really don't know what further intensified the cold war, but when they were invited in turns on Koffee with Karan (once again for the wrong news!!) Bebo snidely questioned Piggy Chops accent and threw pot-shots at her. Later, PC gave Bebo a befitting reply when she said she got her accent from the same place her boyfriend got his. Not just that, PC mocked whether the techno-shy Bebo even had a laptop! PC was flattered to know that Kareena thought of her as a good actress but at the same time poked fun at her when she said that people didn't take Bebo seriously as an actress!! This may have provided good fodder to the media...but hold on, this cat-fight won't last long. Last heard, Karan Johar was trying to broker peace between the two warring actresses....Role reversal!!

And controversies galore.....

Nude Act -- In the meanwhile,Bipasha Basu had a blast from the past when a nude ad shot during her early days of modelling hit the internet Meanwhile Yana Gupta who was in the city after a long hiatus forgot her undies at home while she was attending an NGO function for kids.  Was this a slip or deliberate...Yana knows best! Did you think this move of hers be detrimental to her career?? Think again! Not just limelight and publicity, Yana bagged the opportunity to participate in Jhalak Dikhla Jaa (Yeah yeah...India's response to Dancing with the Stars) and was also offered a whopping amount to go nude for a foreign magazine cover. Pssst...come to think of it, Shamita Shetty wasn't all that lucky though! ;-) Remember??

Wicked Wicked Bollywood ! -- We were all aware of the casting couch that exists in Bollywood but no one came out in the open until recently Ishaa Koppikar shook some skeletons from her past when she said she was approached by a top Bollywood actor for sexual favours when she was starting out in films; she declined and decided to concentrate on work down South. Shame Shame Bollywood, Shabaash Ishaa!! We wonder who could it be? 

Bollywood, IPL aur dhokha -- And of course Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty were in news and frequenting in and out of court when questioned on their stakes and ownership details in the IPL row...please leave the poor girls aside! I think someone by the name of Modi would have the answers to your questions!

Hope you enjoyed reading this month's spicy and chatpata blog....quite unlike me,nah?!

Wishing you a fun-filled, fantastic and fabulous New Year ahead!!

Until I meet you next month...

Love,

Sonyaa