Nishi Tiwari (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 9, 2017)

It started out in March last year as the story of a blue-eyed Bollywood boy being taken to the cleaners by an underdog, which, in fraternity parlance, is a female actor with no connections. A yearand- a-half and copious rounds of ‘he said she said’ later, it has transmogrified into flash fiction unravelling in real time.

The war of words between past co-stars and alleged former lovers Hrithik Roshan and Kangana Ranaut started with an interview in which, while reacting to incessant rumours about their break-up being responsible for her ouster from Aashiqui 3, Kangana had allegedly alluded to Hrithik Roshan as a “silly ex”. Hrithik retorted, “There are more chances of me having had an affair with the Pope than any of the (I’m sure wonderful) women the media has been naming.”

It snowballed into countless rounds of mud-slinging, alleged hacking of mailing IDs, FIRs and an online dialogue on feminism till inevitably losing steam in February this year. In early September, Kangana appeared on a TV show to rake up the ugly controversy once again. Hrithik broke his silence with a Facebook post a month later, followed by an appearance on national television last Saturday to tell the story of choosing grace over all else and being inherently non-confrontational. His Bollywood allies, including Farhan Akhtar, Kunal Kapoor, Twinkle Khanna and exwife Sussanne Khan, Sonali Bendre and Goldie Behl, Dia Mirza, have rallied behind him. Meanwhile, Kangana has her sister and former manager, the pregnant and Twittersavvy Rangoli Chandel, and lawyer Rizwan Siddiquee, to watch her back.

Their performances have been a study in contrast. She waltzed in with a devil-may-care attitude while reiterating allegations; he was restrained and refined in his defence. He met her irreverence with the dignity of a concerned parent and family man. Both followed up these television appearances with a concerted salvo of interviews, open letters, legal notices and friendly support.

At the same time, while Hrithik has attempted to reclaim his stake in a narrative seemingly dominated by his Krrish co-star, there is an uncanny resemblance between both their second bouts in the ring. Kangana’s TV show turn coincided with the promotional rounds of her last release, Simran.

Previously, it had been around the release of Vishal Bhardwaj’s Rangoon in February. Hrithik’s rebuttal has coincided with the announcement of his next film, a Vikas Bahl-directed drama on the life of Patna mathematician Anand Kumar. The film, produced by Vikas’s close-friend and partner Madhu Mantena (whose wife Masaba Gupta has also taken up for Hrithik), is expected to roll in the next few months. But sources close to the 43-year-old actor argue that Kangana’s timing was the primary reason for Hrithik to speak up after months.

While the law will take its own course, spectators have grown tired of the theatrics, resorting to jokes about ‘photoshopped pictures’ and online petitions to have the controversy behind them.