Journalism of Courage
Controversially speaking, Bollywood as always delivered blockbuster hits this year with many top stars getting mired in controversies that they could have done without. We take a look at the top controversies that took Bollywood by storm in 2015.
AIB roast- The year started on a controversial note for actors Ranveer Singh, Arjun Kapoor and filmmaker Karan Johar after their jig at AIB roast went viral on YouTube. The show which featured dirty jokes, in-your-face sexual innuendos saw Karan Johar, Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor letting loose expletives with glee and insulting many from the industry as part of roast comedy. While the 'liberals' enjoyed the show, the 'morally upright' ones were left seething with rage after watching the dirty shenanigans of top celebrities.
Obscenity cases were slapped on actors Ranveer, Arjun and KJo. With cases pending against them, all three preferred to stay mum to escape the heat. Team AIB later had to tender an apology to Christian groups for offending their sentiments on the show.
Aamir Khan gets roasted: Aamir Khan famously said he didn't like the antics of KJO and co. performed on AIB roast and the superstar got panned by the 'liberals' for raising his opinion against them. Most said he criticised the show without having watched it entirely.
Radhika Apte and nudity: Radhika Apte found herself at the unfortunate end of two 'nude' related controversies. First, MMS video of a porn actress who had faint resemblance to Radhika and it surfaced on the internet that went viral with the headline, 'Radhika Apte Nude'. The actress had a hearty laugh at the fake video.
The next one, however, was a more serious one involving the leaking of a nude clip from one of her international projects directed by Anurag Kashyap. The actress and the director saw red at the leak and pulled all strings to trace down the culprit. They were however unsuccessful.
Maggi's 2 minutes controversy: Maggi and its brand ambassadors like Big B, Madhuri Dixit and Preity Zinta found themselves in hot waters after it was declared that the lead levels in Maggi was above the permissible limits. A district court in Bihar even ordered the police to register a FIR against the actors.
Aishwarya Rai's racist jewellery ad: The former Miss World was criticised for featuring in a jewellery ad that showed a thin black child carrying an umbrella over Aishwarya's head earning the wrath of many on social media for being racist in nature. The image was replaced with a solo picture of Aishwarya and the actress issued a statement clarifying that the actual image was change by the brand.
FTII deadlock: The government's decision to appoint actor Gajendra Chauhan as the institute's chairman miffed students to no end. A majority of them bunked classes as a mark of protest and discontinued attending classes for 140 days. Support came in from all quarters but finally the students blinked and returned back to their classes after ending their strike.
'Sanskari' Censor Chief: Pahlaj Nihalani became the most hated man in Bollywood for imposing his ultra conservative norms and censoring films brutally. Matters reached a head recently when Nihalani snipped out lengthy kissing sequences from Spectre (James Bond film) thereby earning him the moniker of Sanskari censor chief.
Big B v/s Deepika Padukone: No one knows what exactly happened but some friction ensued between Big B and Deepika Padukone post the release of Piku. Things came to light when Deepika threw a success bash for Piku and Big B was missing. When quizzed later, the legendary actor said, 'I was not invited.' Much water has flown under the bridge since then and both actors are now believed to be back to being friends again.
Sonam Kapoor gets trolled for meat ban comments: The municipal body of Mumbai imposed a four-day meat ban in Mumbai on religious grounds and Sonam ended up calling it misogynistic on Twitter. Twitterati trolled her and that only made the actress more angry. After a bitter Twitter exchange with followers, the actress called it a truce.
Salman Khan's twitter rant against Yakub Memon's conviction: Salman Khan's series of tweets in favour of terrorist Yakub Memon created a huge political uproar. Effigies of the actor were burnt. Political parties demanded cancellation of his bail then in the 2002 hit-and-run case in view of his irresponsible statements. Finally, on advise of his father Salim Khan, Salman retracted his tweets and tendered an apology.
Award Wapsi gang: Filmmakers like Dibakar Banerjee, Anand Pathwardhan and others decided to adopt a new way of protesting against Gajendra Chauhan and other issues plaguing the nation. The filmmakers returned their National Awards to express their displeasure. Not many in the industry agreed to this way of protest.
Pinga and Bajirao Mastani controversy: Sanjay Leela Bhansali's magnum opus Bajirao Mastani was heavily criticized by the descendants of Bajirao and Mastani for wrongful portrayal of their ancestors. Objections were raised against the vulgar display of women in Pinga song where Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone play Kashibai and Mastani respectively.
Intolerance and Bollywood: The biggest controversy erupted towards the end of the year when SRK fanned the intolerance debate by saying 'There is intolerance, there is extreme intolerance… there is, I think… there is growing intolerance,' in an interview with a TV channel. SRK's comments spread life wildfire and found takers and non-takers from the within the industry. Vociferous objections were raised against the actor and the government increased security around SRK's house to prevent any untoward incident.
The issue of intolerance grew even bigger when Aamir Khan at Ramnath Goenka awards revealed how his wife Kiran Rao had expressed fears and even discussed the idea of leaving India. The comment snowballed into a larger controversy which saw many ruthlessly criticising Aamir including veteran actors Anupam Kher and Rishi Kapoor. Aamir Khan later issued a statement saying he is proud Indian and has no intentions of leaving India.
