Mumbai Mirror special: A to Z of Bollywood in 2017
8:20 AM
The movers and the shakers, the desis and the pardesis, the hits and the misses that made headlines in 2017
Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; December 25, 2017)
A*nushka, Virat And A Big Fat Italian Wedding
After four years of hide-and-seek, the Indian skipper bagged his Lifetime Achievement Award, even if he had to go to a Tuscan vineyard for it. It was a picture perfect wedding for Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli on December 11 with mehendi, sangeet, pheras and all things desi except the usual filmi crowd. Finally, it’s official with Virushka. PS: Neil Nitin Mukesh married Rukmini Sahay, Bharti Singh tied the knot with beau Haarsh Limbachiyaa, Zaheer Khan was clean bowled by Sagarika Ghatge and Aashka Goradia said ‘I do’ to American beau Brent Globe.
B*aahubali
S S Rajamouli ended his epic reign by redefining the box-office. Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, a Tamil-Telugu bilingual, dubbed in Hindi, Malayalam and Japanese, became the highest grossing Indian film of all time with all-India collections of Rs 600 crore+ and worldwide collections of Rs 1600 crore.
C* ensor
The Pahlaj Nihalani-led CBFC continued to confound with a no-no to Lipstick Under My Burkha for being a “lady-oriented story” and asking Khushboo Ranka and Vinay Shukla to get an NoC even from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for using his footage in their documentary, An Insignificant Man. The film frat rejoiced when, after two years, Pahlaj was replaced by Prasoon Joshi. Soon after, the sanskari censor chief ‘presented ’ the “bold, beautiful and blessed” Julie 2.
D*igital Revolution
Entertainment found a new platform and more than films and TV shows, everyone was talking about shorts, web series and streaming sites. With global players like Netflix and Amazon entering the market and desi entrants like Jio and Balaji sprouting, new avenues and business models offer muchneeded oxygen to an industry suffocating under the burden of demonetisation, GST and a steady stream of debacles.
E*ndings
Om Puri suffered a heart attack on the morning of January 6 while the effervescent Reema Lagoo was felled by a cardiac arrest on May 18. Vinod Khanna and Sitaram Panchal succumbed to cancer and evergreen Lekh Tandon to old age. Death came calling early for ‘masoom’ Inder Kumar and robbed Rani Mukerji of her filmmaker-dad Ram Mukerji. It was ‘pack-up’ for writer-director-actor Neeraj Vora and the year ended with the world bidding adieu to gentleman actor, Shashi Kapoor. He passed away on December 4 at the age of 79 following a prolonged illness and left his fans crooning the Aa Gale Lag Jaa chartbuster, “Tera Mujhse Hai Pehle Ka Naata Koi Yun Hi Nahin Dil Lubhata Koi.”
F*irangi connections
Deepika Padukone made inroads into Hollywood with xXx: Return of Xander Cage and is poised for a second innings. Priyanka Chopra continues with the third season of Quantico but her Baywatch turned out to be a damp squib. But there’s still A Kid Like Jake and Isn’t It Romantic to watch out for. Anupam Kher’s The Big Sick bagged six nominations at Critics’ Choice Awards and got him adulation during the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards where Shabana Azmi and he served as jury, with Russell Crowe as the head, for the Academy’s inaugural Best Asian Film Award which was bagged by Aamir Khan’s Dangal. Ali Fazal made heads turn as he walked the red carpet in Venice, clutching his Victoria & Abdul co-star, Oscar-winner Judi Dench’s arm. But Kapil Sharma’s Firangi was a joke which fell flat.
G*olmaal
In a year when star-studded bonanzas were swept away without a trace, Golmaal Again added to the Diwali sparkle. With a double century run at the box-office, it has made the Ajay Devgn-Rohit Shetty jodi as commercially viable as Amitabh Bachchan-Manmohan Desai/Prakash Mehra, David Dhawan-Govinda/Salman Khan and Karan Johar-Shah Rukh Khan. This Golmaal, despite the chaos it brings to the screen, has made the cash counters ring four times in a row.
H*rithik Roshan
The actor began the year with a game of blind man’s buff to prove what a Kaabil actor he is. Then, provoked by Kangana Ranaut’s repeated jibes, he entered the boxing ring to throw a few punches of his own. The good news is that Hrithik and ex-wife Sussanne Khan have come out of the divorce as ‘good friends’ who frequently go out on dinner dates and family vacations. The actor enters the new year on an optimistic note with the Anand Kumar biopic, Super 30, and talks of Krrish 4.
I*ndia Calling
From Vin Diesel and Jackie Chan to Brad Pitt, Will Smith and Joel Edgerton, who came for film promotions, to Halle Berry and Michael Douglas-Catherine Zeta Jones, who were here for a vacation, there’s been a lot of Hollywood action and traction this year. David Guetta, Justin Bieber and Ed Sheeran made the B-townies dance to their tunes while Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi shot an entire film, Beyond The Clouds, in India with desi actors and an interpreter.
J*ury
The 13-member jury of the Indian Panorama (feature) section of the International Film Festival of India stole the thunder from I&B Minister Smriti Irani with their support for Ravi Jadhav’s Marathi film Nude and Sanal Sasidharan’s Malayalam thriller S Durga, which were omitted from the final list. Chairman Sujoy Ghosh, and two members, Apurva Asrani and Gyan Correa, resigned in protest. The remaining 10, except for new chairman Rahul Rawail, rallied around Sanal but despite a court order their verdict didn’t prevail. Durga eventually missed the bus.
K*angana
Still smarting from Kangana Ranaut’s comment on his chat show about him being “the snooty flagbearer of nepotism”, Karan Johar, while speaking at the London School of Economics, hinted that the actress may not have understood the meaning of the word ‘nepotism’ and instead of playing the ‘woman card’ and ‘victim card’ should pack her bags and leave. Kangana retorted saying she was playing the ‘badass card’ and such talk was demeaning to all women, particularly the vulnerable. The Battle of Sexes crossed into foreign shores with Saif Ali Khan, KJO and Varun Dhawan heckling her from the Big Apple, only to apologise later. The actress courted more controversies by dragging Hrithik Roshan’s name to a telly adalat, as also that of Aditya Pancholi and Adhyayan Suman. She also fought with Apurva Asrani over writing credits for Simran and ended the year on the wrong side of Bollywood. Unfazed, she gears up to give a speech at the Harvard Business School next year on ‘The Changing Entertainment Ladscape in India’ and ‘Disrupting the Indian Mainstream Cinema’.
L*ove, pyar, ishq, mohabbat...
Ranbir Kapoor and Mahira Khan enjoying ‘we’ time in NYC proved love knows no borders while Ali Fazal and Richa Chadha took their ishq beyond the borders. Sonam Kapoor and Anand Ahuja made merry together, sparking talk of a marry-go-round. Ditto Karisma Kapoor and her recently divorced beau, Sandeep Toshniwal. Salman kept Cupid guessing, while the ‘relationship status’ of Kriti Sanon-Sushant Singh Rajput, Farhan Akhtar-Shraddha Kapoor, Nargis Fakri-Uday Chopra is uncertain.
M*otherhood
After a babymoon in Greece, Esha Deol welcomed daughter Radhya on October 20. On September 29, Soha Ali Khan and Kunal Kemmu welcomed Inaaya while Celina Jaitly and Peter Haag made a bittersweet announcement on Dusshera, that they’d been blessed by a second set of twins, Arthur and Shamsher, but lost Shamsher to a heart condition. Karan Johar became a single father to twins, Yash and Roohi, born through surrogacy earlier this year. Lisa Haydon gave birth to Zack Lalwani on May 17; Adnam Sami raved about Medina, who was born a week earlier.
N*ewton
Rajkummar Rao’s Newton scored a goal this year when it was voted India’s official entry for the Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language category. But celebrations were short-lived as the film failed to make it to the Oscar nomination list. But Oscar or no Oscar, one thing’s for sure, Newton will no longer be only about falling apples and laws of gravity. Rajkummar was voted Variety magazine’s Asian Rising Star and is an unexpected hero in Bollywood with rave worthy performances in the year’s other releases, Trapped, Bareilly Ki Barfi and Omerta, which put him in the big league with films opposite Aishwarya (Fanne Khan) and Sonam (Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga).
O*mnipresent Karan Johar
Karan Johar was here, there and everywhere. He co-produced OK Jaanu, Badrinath Ki Dulhania and Ittefaq, presented Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, announced Kesari with Akshay Kumar, Raazi with Junglee Pictures and Dhadak introducing Janhvi Kapoor. He got into radio as agony uncle and after judging a singing reality show, is now judging a talent hunt show. He also turned author and single dad.
P*hantom P Tales
While Harvey Weinstein’s sexploits opened a Pandora’s box in Hollywood, B-town’s offenders remain under covers. Sex abuse charges were levelled against TVF boss Arunabh Kumar and cofounder of Phantom Films, filmmaker Vikas Bahl, was accused of sexual harrasment but as both the victims remained anonymous, observers cast aspersions on the veracity of the allegations. Other offenders are yet to be named and shamed, but we live in hope.
Q*ueen Padmavati
When Sanjay Leela Bhansali greenlit his Padmavati, little did he know that like the Queen of Mewar, he too would have to go through a trial by fire. Following rumours of a fantasy romance between the Rani and Alauddin Khilji, members of the Karni Sena barged on to the film’s sets in Jaipur, roughing up Bhansali and bringing the shoot to an abrupt halt. Trouble followed Bhansali to Kolhapur where miscreants sneaked in at night and started a fire. Violence escalated a few weeks prior to its release with death threats against Bhansali and Deepika Padukone, and states banning the film. Even the BJP agreed that it could not open before the Gujarat elections and the CBFC brought in experts to verify the authenticity of his vision. The filmmaker fought back with every weapon, including hosting special screenings for Arnab Goswami and Rajat Sharma both of whom confirmed there was nothing objectionable about Padmavati. But it still could not keep its December 1 date and is still waiting for censor clearance inviting introspection against this kind of creative dictatorship in the world’s biggest democracy.
R*emakes, remixes and returns
Salman revived Tiger (Zinda Hai) while Varun Dhawan stepped into his shoes for Judwaa 2 and Akshay Kumar entered the courtroom as the new Jolly LLB. All three films hit bullseye as did Fukrey in its second innings and Golmaal in its fourth. But Big B’s Sarkar seemed to have run out of steam and sex doesn’t always sell, as Julie 2 and Aksar 2 reiterated. The sequels will, however, continue to thrive, just like remixes, including “Humma Humma” (OK Jaanu), “Tamma Tamma” (Badrinath Ki Dulhania) and “Mere Rashke Qamar”
S*mall is big
In a year where story was the hero rather than the stars, Fukrey Returns is a ‘superhit’. Hindi Medium, Bareilly Ki Barfi and Shubh Mangal Saavdhan also minted money with their small town romances and kahani mein twists. Vidya Balan is back in the running with her late-night RJ, Sulu, and it’s no secret that Zaira Wasim is Aamir Khan’s lil’ superstar.
T*ubelight to Tiger
Kabir Khan’s Tubelight with a 50-year-old Salman Khan acting 15 and literally moving mountains with his conviction, went out even before the first show ended. But he came back with a bang, as his Tiger Zinda Hai has set the cash registers ringing. He will now flashforward to the third instalments of the Dabangg and Race franchises. He reunites with Remo D’Souza for Dancing Dad as a father who has to prep up for a dance competition to keep a promise to his daughter. It will also be a hattrick for Ali Abbas Zafar who will helm Atul Agnihotri’s Bharat, an official adaptation of the South Korean film, Ode To My Father.
U*nfair
In a series of sardonic Facebook posts, Abhay Deol lampooned his colleagues, including Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Sonam Kapoor, Vidya Balan and Shahid Kapoor for endorsing fairness creams, calling the campaigns ‘demeaning, false and racist’. The music frat was up in arms, insisting it was unfair that Sonakshi Sinha who’s not really a singer should open the Justin Beiber concert. The actress made Twitter sing with her rejoinders but eventually didn’t get to sing. Singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya also sounded a discordant note, calling Gul Panag’s father, Lieutenant General (retd) Harcharanjit Singh Panag who is the recipient of two gallantry medals, a “Pak suppporter” and Kavita Krishnan, secretary of All India Progressive Women’s Association, “anti-National, ugly face besharam budhiya”. Now, that’s taking border disputes a little too far.
V*arun Dhawan
‘Student’ Varun Dhawan has graduated to the big league with two hits in a year of misses. Badrinath carried his dulhania to a happily-ever- after end on his shoulders while a double dose of Dhawan powered Judwaa 2 to a 100-crore glory. Varun is now set to step into Salman Khan’s shoes and get himself a Biwi No 1 in reel life.
W*rite track
‘An Unsuitable Boy’, Karan Johar, got booked this year and ended up on the bestseller list. Hema Malini drew a full house at the launch of her biography, Beyond The Dream Girl, while Rishi Kapoor’s ‘Khullam Khulla’ got him plenty of readers too and Asha Parekh became a “Hit Girl’ again. Towards the year end, Soha Ali Khan documented the perils of being moderately famous while ‘closet poet’ Vishal Bhardwaj came out with his first book of nazms titled Nude. But Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s memoir, An Ordinary Life, didn’t last on the shelves for too long. It was abruptly withdrawn following a sharp statement from his Miss Lovely co-star, Niharika Singh, who accused him of exploiting and disrespecting a woman and the brief relationship they’d shared to sell his book. This was followed by a Facebook post by another lady mentioned in the book, Sunita Rajwar, who dismissed everything he’d written about her as “extraordinary lies” and threatened to sue him. Nawaz certainly went wrong when he embarked on the write track.
X*(E)x-files
Nandita Das and Subodh Maskara decided to go solo after seven years as also Rajinikanth’s daughter Saundarya and husband Ashwin. Malaika Arora and Arbaaz Khan ended an 18-year marriage while Himesh Reshammiya went through an amicable divorce with wife of 22 years, Komal. Farhan Akhtar-Adhuna Bhabani also called it quits, as did steady dates Alia Bhatta and Sidharth Malhotra. The silver lining? Many of them continue to remain good friends.
Y*oga and yogis
Yoga guru Ramdev is the subject of a TV series produced by Ajay Devgn and was a guest judge on the TV show, Om Shanti Om. Anurag Kashyap attributes his weight loss to two hours of yoga while filming Mukkabaaz and erotic pranayams with new love Shubra Shetty. Gurmeet Ram Rahim is behind bars on rape charges so we’ll be spared the Messengers of God for now.
Z*ero
Jagga Jasoos fell flat while Ittefaq should have stayed in the ’60s. Chef didn’t impress with his food and Lucknow Central with its Band of Boys. Rangoon was marooned and Bhoomi grounded. A Gentleman bombed even with the ladies while Big B, RGV’s Sarkar Raj seems to have ended. After Jab Harry Met Sejal, Anushka Sharma ran off to Italy to find a real-life happy ending.
Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; December 25, 2017)
A*nushka, Virat And A Big Fat Italian Wedding
After four years of hide-and-seek, the Indian skipper bagged his Lifetime Achievement Award, even if he had to go to a Tuscan vineyard for it. It was a picture perfect wedding for Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli on December 11 with mehendi, sangeet, pheras and all things desi except the usual filmi crowd. Finally, it’s official with Virushka. PS: Neil Nitin Mukesh married Rukmini Sahay, Bharti Singh tied the knot with beau Haarsh Limbachiyaa, Zaheer Khan was clean bowled by Sagarika Ghatge and Aashka Goradia said ‘I do’ to American beau Brent Globe.
B*aahubali
S S Rajamouli ended his epic reign by redefining the box-office. Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, a Tamil-Telugu bilingual, dubbed in Hindi, Malayalam and Japanese, became the highest grossing Indian film of all time with all-India collections of Rs 600 crore+ and worldwide collections of Rs 1600 crore.
C* ensor
The Pahlaj Nihalani-led CBFC continued to confound with a no-no to Lipstick Under My Burkha for being a “lady-oriented story” and asking Khushboo Ranka and Vinay Shukla to get an NoC even from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for using his footage in their documentary, An Insignificant Man. The film frat rejoiced when, after two years, Pahlaj was replaced by Prasoon Joshi. Soon after, the sanskari censor chief ‘presented ’ the “bold, beautiful and blessed” Julie 2.
D*igital Revolution
Entertainment found a new platform and more than films and TV shows, everyone was talking about shorts, web series and streaming sites. With global players like Netflix and Amazon entering the market and desi entrants like Jio and Balaji sprouting, new avenues and business models offer muchneeded oxygen to an industry suffocating under the burden of demonetisation, GST and a steady stream of debacles.
E*ndings
Om Puri suffered a heart attack on the morning of January 6 while the effervescent Reema Lagoo was felled by a cardiac arrest on May 18. Vinod Khanna and Sitaram Panchal succumbed to cancer and evergreen Lekh Tandon to old age. Death came calling early for ‘masoom’ Inder Kumar and robbed Rani Mukerji of her filmmaker-dad Ram Mukerji. It was ‘pack-up’ for writer-director-actor Neeraj Vora and the year ended with the world bidding adieu to gentleman actor, Shashi Kapoor. He passed away on December 4 at the age of 79 following a prolonged illness and left his fans crooning the Aa Gale Lag Jaa chartbuster, “Tera Mujhse Hai Pehle Ka Naata Koi Yun Hi Nahin Dil Lubhata Koi.”
F*irangi connections
Deepika Padukone made inroads into Hollywood with xXx: Return of Xander Cage and is poised for a second innings. Priyanka Chopra continues with the third season of Quantico but her Baywatch turned out to be a damp squib. But there’s still A Kid Like Jake and Isn’t It Romantic to watch out for. Anupam Kher’s The Big Sick bagged six nominations at Critics’ Choice Awards and got him adulation during the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards where Shabana Azmi and he served as jury, with Russell Crowe as the head, for the Academy’s inaugural Best Asian Film Award which was bagged by Aamir Khan’s Dangal. Ali Fazal made heads turn as he walked the red carpet in Venice, clutching his Victoria & Abdul co-star, Oscar-winner Judi Dench’s arm. But Kapil Sharma’s Firangi was a joke which fell flat.
G*olmaal
In a year when star-studded bonanzas were swept away without a trace, Golmaal Again added to the Diwali sparkle. With a double century run at the box-office, it has made the Ajay Devgn-Rohit Shetty jodi as commercially viable as Amitabh Bachchan-Manmohan Desai/Prakash Mehra, David Dhawan-Govinda/Salman Khan and Karan Johar-Shah Rukh Khan. This Golmaal, despite the chaos it brings to the screen, has made the cash counters ring four times in a row.
H*rithik Roshan
The actor began the year with a game of blind man’s buff to prove what a Kaabil actor he is. Then, provoked by Kangana Ranaut’s repeated jibes, he entered the boxing ring to throw a few punches of his own. The good news is that Hrithik and ex-wife Sussanne Khan have come out of the divorce as ‘good friends’ who frequently go out on dinner dates and family vacations. The actor enters the new year on an optimistic note with the Anand Kumar biopic, Super 30, and talks of Krrish 4.
I*ndia Calling
From Vin Diesel and Jackie Chan to Brad Pitt, Will Smith and Joel Edgerton, who came for film promotions, to Halle Berry and Michael Douglas-Catherine Zeta Jones, who were here for a vacation, there’s been a lot of Hollywood action and traction this year. David Guetta, Justin Bieber and Ed Sheeran made the B-townies dance to their tunes while Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi shot an entire film, Beyond The Clouds, in India with desi actors and an interpreter.
J*ury
The 13-member jury of the Indian Panorama (feature) section of the International Film Festival of India stole the thunder from I&B Minister Smriti Irani with their support for Ravi Jadhav’s Marathi film Nude and Sanal Sasidharan’s Malayalam thriller S Durga, which were omitted from the final list. Chairman Sujoy Ghosh, and two members, Apurva Asrani and Gyan Correa, resigned in protest. The remaining 10, except for new chairman Rahul Rawail, rallied around Sanal but despite a court order their verdict didn’t prevail. Durga eventually missed the bus.
K*angana
Still smarting from Kangana Ranaut’s comment on his chat show about him being “the snooty flagbearer of nepotism”, Karan Johar, while speaking at the London School of Economics, hinted that the actress may not have understood the meaning of the word ‘nepotism’ and instead of playing the ‘woman card’ and ‘victim card’ should pack her bags and leave. Kangana retorted saying she was playing the ‘badass card’ and such talk was demeaning to all women, particularly the vulnerable. The Battle of Sexes crossed into foreign shores with Saif Ali Khan, KJO and Varun Dhawan heckling her from the Big Apple, only to apologise later. The actress courted more controversies by dragging Hrithik Roshan’s name to a telly adalat, as also that of Aditya Pancholi and Adhyayan Suman. She also fought with Apurva Asrani over writing credits for Simran and ended the year on the wrong side of Bollywood. Unfazed, she gears up to give a speech at the Harvard Business School next year on ‘The Changing Entertainment Ladscape in India’ and ‘Disrupting the Indian Mainstream Cinema’.
L*ove, pyar, ishq, mohabbat...
Ranbir Kapoor and Mahira Khan enjoying ‘we’ time in NYC proved love knows no borders while Ali Fazal and Richa Chadha took their ishq beyond the borders. Sonam Kapoor and Anand Ahuja made merry together, sparking talk of a marry-go-round. Ditto Karisma Kapoor and her recently divorced beau, Sandeep Toshniwal. Salman kept Cupid guessing, while the ‘relationship status’ of Kriti Sanon-Sushant Singh Rajput, Farhan Akhtar-Shraddha Kapoor, Nargis Fakri-Uday Chopra is uncertain.
M*otherhood
After a babymoon in Greece, Esha Deol welcomed daughter Radhya on October 20. On September 29, Soha Ali Khan and Kunal Kemmu welcomed Inaaya while Celina Jaitly and Peter Haag made a bittersweet announcement on Dusshera, that they’d been blessed by a second set of twins, Arthur and Shamsher, but lost Shamsher to a heart condition. Karan Johar became a single father to twins, Yash and Roohi, born through surrogacy earlier this year. Lisa Haydon gave birth to Zack Lalwani on May 17; Adnam Sami raved about Medina, who was born a week earlier.
N*ewton
Rajkummar Rao’s Newton scored a goal this year when it was voted India’s official entry for the Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language category. But celebrations were short-lived as the film failed to make it to the Oscar nomination list. But Oscar or no Oscar, one thing’s for sure, Newton will no longer be only about falling apples and laws of gravity. Rajkummar was voted Variety magazine’s Asian Rising Star and is an unexpected hero in Bollywood with rave worthy performances in the year’s other releases, Trapped, Bareilly Ki Barfi and Omerta, which put him in the big league with films opposite Aishwarya (Fanne Khan) and Sonam (Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga).
O*mnipresent Karan Johar
Karan Johar was here, there and everywhere. He co-produced OK Jaanu, Badrinath Ki Dulhania and Ittefaq, presented Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, announced Kesari with Akshay Kumar, Raazi with Junglee Pictures and Dhadak introducing Janhvi Kapoor. He got into radio as agony uncle and after judging a singing reality show, is now judging a talent hunt show. He also turned author and single dad.
P*hantom P Tales
While Harvey Weinstein’s sexploits opened a Pandora’s box in Hollywood, B-town’s offenders remain under covers. Sex abuse charges were levelled against TVF boss Arunabh Kumar and cofounder of Phantom Films, filmmaker Vikas Bahl, was accused of sexual harrasment but as both the victims remained anonymous, observers cast aspersions on the veracity of the allegations. Other offenders are yet to be named and shamed, but we live in hope.
Q*ueen Padmavati
When Sanjay Leela Bhansali greenlit his Padmavati, little did he know that like the Queen of Mewar, he too would have to go through a trial by fire. Following rumours of a fantasy romance between the Rani and Alauddin Khilji, members of the Karni Sena barged on to the film’s sets in Jaipur, roughing up Bhansali and bringing the shoot to an abrupt halt. Trouble followed Bhansali to Kolhapur where miscreants sneaked in at night and started a fire. Violence escalated a few weeks prior to its release with death threats against Bhansali and Deepika Padukone, and states banning the film. Even the BJP agreed that it could not open before the Gujarat elections and the CBFC brought in experts to verify the authenticity of his vision. The filmmaker fought back with every weapon, including hosting special screenings for Arnab Goswami and Rajat Sharma both of whom confirmed there was nothing objectionable about Padmavati. But it still could not keep its December 1 date and is still waiting for censor clearance inviting introspection against this kind of creative dictatorship in the world’s biggest democracy.
R*emakes, remixes and returnsSalman revived Tiger (Zinda Hai) while Varun Dhawan stepped into his shoes for Judwaa 2 and Akshay Kumar entered the courtroom as the new Jolly LLB. All three films hit bullseye as did Fukrey in its second innings and Golmaal in its fourth. But Big B’s Sarkar seemed to have run out of steam and sex doesn’t always sell, as Julie 2 and Aksar 2 reiterated. The sequels will, however, continue to thrive, just like remixes, including “Humma Humma” (OK Jaanu), “Tamma Tamma” (Badrinath Ki Dulhania) and “Mere Rashke Qamar”
S*mall is big
In a year where story was the hero rather than the stars, Fukrey Returns is a ‘superhit’. Hindi Medium, Bareilly Ki Barfi and Shubh Mangal Saavdhan also minted money with their small town romances and kahani mein twists. Vidya Balan is back in the running with her late-night RJ, Sulu, and it’s no secret that Zaira Wasim is Aamir Khan’s lil’ superstar.
T*ubelight to Tiger
Kabir Khan’s Tubelight with a 50-year-old Salman Khan acting 15 and literally moving mountains with his conviction, went out even before the first show ended. But he came back with a bang, as his Tiger Zinda Hai has set the cash registers ringing. He will now flashforward to the third instalments of the Dabangg and Race franchises. He reunites with Remo D’Souza for Dancing Dad as a father who has to prep up for a dance competition to keep a promise to his daughter. It will also be a hattrick for Ali Abbas Zafar who will helm Atul Agnihotri’s Bharat, an official adaptation of the South Korean film, Ode To My Father.
U*nfair
In a series of sardonic Facebook posts, Abhay Deol lampooned his colleagues, including Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Sonam Kapoor, Vidya Balan and Shahid Kapoor for endorsing fairness creams, calling the campaigns ‘demeaning, false and racist’. The music frat was up in arms, insisting it was unfair that Sonakshi Sinha who’s not really a singer should open the Justin Beiber concert. The actress made Twitter sing with her rejoinders but eventually didn’t get to sing. Singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya also sounded a discordant note, calling Gul Panag’s father, Lieutenant General (retd) Harcharanjit Singh Panag who is the recipient of two gallantry medals, a “Pak suppporter” and Kavita Krishnan, secretary of All India Progressive Women’s Association, “anti-National, ugly face besharam budhiya”. Now, that’s taking border disputes a little too far.
V*arun Dhawan
‘Student’ Varun Dhawan has graduated to the big league with two hits in a year of misses. Badrinath carried his dulhania to a happily-ever- after end on his shoulders while a double dose of Dhawan powered Judwaa 2 to a 100-crore glory. Varun is now set to step into Salman Khan’s shoes and get himself a Biwi No 1 in reel life.
W*rite track
‘An Unsuitable Boy’, Karan Johar, got booked this year and ended up on the bestseller list. Hema Malini drew a full house at the launch of her biography, Beyond The Dream Girl, while Rishi Kapoor’s ‘Khullam Khulla’ got him plenty of readers too and Asha Parekh became a “Hit Girl’ again. Towards the year end, Soha Ali Khan documented the perils of being moderately famous while ‘closet poet’ Vishal Bhardwaj came out with his first book of nazms titled Nude. But Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s memoir, An Ordinary Life, didn’t last on the shelves for too long. It was abruptly withdrawn following a sharp statement from his Miss Lovely co-star, Niharika Singh, who accused him of exploiting and disrespecting a woman and the brief relationship they’d shared to sell his book. This was followed by a Facebook post by another lady mentioned in the book, Sunita Rajwar, who dismissed everything he’d written about her as “extraordinary lies” and threatened to sue him. Nawaz certainly went wrong when he embarked on the write track.
X*(E)x-files
Nandita Das and Subodh Maskara decided to go solo after seven years as also Rajinikanth’s daughter Saundarya and husband Ashwin. Malaika Arora and Arbaaz Khan ended an 18-year marriage while Himesh Reshammiya went through an amicable divorce with wife of 22 years, Komal. Farhan Akhtar-Adhuna Bhabani also called it quits, as did steady dates Alia Bhatta and Sidharth Malhotra. The silver lining? Many of them continue to remain good friends.
Y*oga and yogis
Yoga guru Ramdev is the subject of a TV series produced by Ajay Devgn and was a guest judge on the TV show, Om Shanti Om. Anurag Kashyap attributes his weight loss to two hours of yoga while filming Mukkabaaz and erotic pranayams with new love Shubra Shetty. Gurmeet Ram Rahim is behind bars on rape charges so we’ll be spared the Messengers of God for now.
Z*ero
Jagga Jasoos fell flat while Ittefaq should have stayed in the ’60s. Chef didn’t impress with his food and Lucknow Central with its Band of Boys. Rangoon was marooned and Bhoomi grounded. A Gentleman bombed even with the ladies while Big B, RGV’s Sarkar Raj seems to have ended. After Jab Harry Met Sejal, Anushka Sharma ran off to Italy to find a real-life happy ending.
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