Top 10 Controversies of Bollywood in 2016!

1. Aamir’s Dangal Body Aamir Khan’s Dangal ran into controversies before and after its release. Just before the release of the film, a Fat to Fit video of Aamir Khan putting on weight and then shedding it in six months achieving an unbelievable six packs was released on the net and went viral. In an interview to a news portal, Ranveer Allabadia, a fitness expert said that this was next to impossible and what Aamir is not revealing is the amount of steroids he has used to achieve this. “It takes six years to shed off 97 kilos and achieve those six packs. At 51 it is even tougher because testosterone levels drop,” said Ranveer. Dangal deals with the journey of wrestler Mahavir Phogat and his daughters Geet and Babita who become wrestling champs. The real-life coach of the girls PR Sondhi, who has been portrayed as PR Kadam in the film is upset about the way the film has twisted facts. He alleges, “The film shows I locked up Mahavir in a room. Something like that never happened. I am upset that they show the character of the coach in such poor light.” 2. Fawad Khan’s Pakistani connection India has been raving about Pakistani actor Fawad Khan since his debut in the 2014 romantic comedy 'Khoobsurat'. He instantly bagged the Filmfare Award For The Best Male Debut. With hits like 'Kapoor & Sons' the going was good till he got dragged into a political tussle between India and Pakistan. Terror attacks and surgical strikes dragged him into a controversy he could not escape. Indians on social media demanded the return of Fawad Khan to his home country and Karan Johar had to actually make a statement that he would not cast Pakistani actors anymore before he was allowed to release his film 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil' which starred Fawad Khan. 3. Hrithik Roshan-Kangana Ranaut Spat No one could imagine that stars like Hrithik Roshan and Kangana Ranaut could have a spat in the media that would take such an ugly turn. It all started when Kangana in an interview on television mentioned a certain “silly ex”. She didn’t mention any name but she was served a legal notice by Hrithik Roshan saying that she should apologize to him. What followed was a slug fest where nameless relatives and friends quoted as sources in the media made matters worse. Kangana’s ex-boyfriend quickly jumped in too. While Kangana held her head high and held on to the fact that she had a relationship with Hrithik Roshan he kept denying the whole thing. 4. Udta Punjab and Censor Board Fiasco Udta Punjab, a film directed by Abhishek Chaubey and produced by Ekta Kapoor and Anurag Kashyap ran into serious trouble with the Censor Board that demanded 89 cuts in the film including taking off the name Punjab from the title of the film. The producers fought a legal battle with the Censor Board and finally emerged victorious with a single cut. 5. Panama Papers A group of journalists worked for months on the Panama Papers to find out which prominent people had their wealth stashed away where and how they were connected to offshore companies earning in millions. Names of Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai featured in these Panama Papers where Amitabh was found to be the director of 4 offshore shipping companies between 1993 and 1997. Both denied that whatever was published in the Panama Papers was not true. 6. Naming of Taimur When Kareena Kapoor and her husband Saif Ali Khan named their newborn Taimur social media went on an overdrive criticizing them for naming their child after the infamous conqueror Timur or Tamerlane. The naming of Kareena-Saif son and reaction on social media slamming their choice of the name shows how people suffer from a myopic vision and also have half-baked knowledge. Taimur is a Muslim name that means a person with good problem-solving capabilities with a creative approach and has leadership qualities. Strangely when this came to the fore no one apologized to the star couple on twitter for their rant the day before. 7. Salman’s rape comment Salman Khan while shooting for the film 'Sultan' where he played a wrestler said that he followed such a grueling schedule that he often found himself exhausted and couldn’t virtually walk. He compared his state to the situation of a raped woman. People found this to be an extremely sexist comment and he was even summoned by the Maharashtra State Commission for Women where he failed to turn up. Salman Khan did not apologize for the comment despite National Commission of Women taking it up. The movie Sultan went on to set the box office on fire and Salman established his supremacy in Bollywood. His comment was quickly forgotten as one of his many follies. 8. Karan Johar VS Ajay Devgan Karan Johan ad Ajay Devgan clashed at the box office with their films Shivaay and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. But Ajay Devgan alleged that Karan Johar had paid Kamal R Khan (KRK) Rs 25 lakhs to tweet negative about Shivaay and say good things about his film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. An audio clipping where KRK admits he has taken money surfaced on the net. Ajay Devgan vehemently criticized this and said this shows where the film industry is going. Karan Johar did not comment on this while sources close to Karan Johar said that he would not care to have a conversation with KRK so the question of using him for his films publicity did not arise. Shivaay didn’t do well Ae Dil Hai Mushkil managed to keep its head above the water. And many wouldn’t be surprised it Karan and Ajay planned this to give their own films some publicity. 9. Naseeruddin Shah’s Comment Naseeruddin Shah commented that the late superstar Rajesh Khanna was a poor actor. Despite the fact that there were thousands always standing outside his bungalow and he was a hit machine at one time Naseer said he only liked two of his films Anand and Aradhana. This comment did not go down well with his fans and even the late actor’s daughter Twinkle Khanna demanded an apology. Naseer apologized but maintained that he was not retracting his statement although he felt he should not have hurt the sentiment of his family. Naseeruddin Shah is known for making such comments that kick up controversies. He was merely expressing an opinion. This shows how Bollywood is totally not open to any kind of criticism. 10. Priyanka Chopra’s T-shirt Controversy Priyanka Chopra was on the cover of an international magazine and it the T-shirt had the words 'Refugee, Immigrant and Outsider' struck off leaving 'Traveller' as the only right choice. Everyone felt the actress was insensitive to the plight of the refugees. The actress quickly issued an apology by saying, “I am really, really apologetic about the fact that sentiments were hurt. The point the magazine wanted to make was actually something good.” Priyanka Chopra did not elucidate further but it was probably her way of fighting racism. Because in the western world, brown or dark skin is usually associated with refugees, immigrants, and outsiders. But she probably she did not want to get into another controversy by trying to get out of one by making an anti-racist statement.

Zoya Ghosh

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