Bollywood and controversies go hand in hand and the year gone by was no different as stars continued to hog headlines with their share of public fights and scandals.
The year started with the news of superstar Shah Rukh Khan getting involved in an alleged “slapgate” with his former best friend Farah Khan’s director husband Shirish Kunder.
Khan, who is otherwise known for his gentle and witty demeanour, apparently lost his cool with Kunder at a celebration bash for Hrithik Roshan-starrer “Agneepath”.
Kunder had been provoking the actor for sometime by making uncharitable remarks against his ambitious project ‘Ra.One’.
However, unlike his fight with Salman Khan some years ago, the latest brawl ended on a positive note. Kunder and Farah met Khan and sorted out their differences. The actor has also resumed his professional relationship with Farah.
SRK got involved in another public spat with the officials at the Wankhede stadium. The actor, who owns an IPL team, was accused of misbehaving with the security personnel there for not allowing him and his entourage to enter the cricket ground.
However, Shah Rukh defended himself saying that the security personnel manhandled the kids with him, including his daughter, which led to the altercation.
SRK was also linked to his ‘Don’ co-star Priyanka Chopra. It is not clear how the rumour began but it is said to be the reason behind SRK’s best friend Karan Johar and Chopra’s cold war, which spilled out onto Twitter.
Though not directly involved, SRK was in news again when his friend and former co-star Kajol’s husband Ajay Devgn took legal action again Yash Raj Films over the release of Khan-starrer ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’.
Yash Chopra’s last film ran into trouble with Devgn claiming that his ‘Son Of Sardar’ was not getting enough screens due to the dominant position of YRF with the distributors, an allegation denied by the production house.
Another Khan to create controversy was Saif. Even though it was a great year for the actor, who tied the knot with his long-time girlfriend Kareena Kapoor, Said faced controversy when he got involved in a scuffle with an NRI businessman named Iqbal Sharma in Mumbai.
At a dinner with his friends and Kareena at Wasabi, a Japanese restaurant in the Taj Mahal hotel – Saif allegedly hit Iqbal after he asked the actor to tone down his noisy party.
Saif denied hitting the man first and said he was defending himself after Iqbal came on him. Saif was briefly detained and now both parties have filed cases against each other.
The scandal involving veteran star Rajesh Khanna and Anita Advani was yet another one to take the industry by surprise.
Anita, who claimed to be Khanna’s live-in partner, approached court after the superstar’s death in July, saying Khanna’s son-in-law Akshay Kumar and wife Dimple Kapadia were denying her share in the property.
Bachchan bahu Aishwarya might have been away from the big screen for long now but she remained in news thanks to her post baby flab. The ‘Devdas’ star came under fire for not losing weight even a year after giving birth to her daughter. Aishwarya took on the critics by making a stunning appearance at Cannes.
Aamir Khan earned praise for his debut TV show ‘Satyamev Jayate’ but it also landed him in controversy with the Indian medical association demanding an apology from the actor for undermining doctors. The actor refused to apologize.
Melody queen Lata Mangeshkar addressed her famous fallout with Mohammed Rafi in an interview, which ended up angering the late singer’s son Shahid. In the interview, Mangeshkar said that she stopped singing with Rafi because of his fierce temper and also they had dispute over royalty rights. She said the cold war ended only when Rafi apologized to her in writing. However, Shahid lashed out at Mangeshkar, saying if she had any letter then she should show it.
Rani Mukerji’s brother Raja was accused of molestation by TV actress Priya Mishra and was also arrested after she filed a police complaint. Raja, who has a wife and a daughter, is currently out on bail.
The year’s most loved movie ‘Barfi!’, also India’s entry for the Oscars, landed in trouble with critics who accused that the film was copied from various Hollywood movies.
Director Anurag Basu said he did take inspiration from old Hollywood classics but it was only as a tribute. The film is out of the Oscar race after it failed to make it to the nine shortlisted films.
Director Shirish Kunder’s project ‘Joker’ may have failed to bring audience at the box office but it generated enough news otherwise. The director and producer blamed the film’s failure on its lead actor Akshay Kumar, who was absent from film promotions.
