By Varsha Agarwal

From Sushant Singh’s death to Kangana Ranaut’s scathing attack, without doubt, the year turned out to be the most controversial for Bollywood.  A large part of it can be attributed to the deadly virus which hit the film industry beyond imagination and anticipation. The unfortunate demise of Irrfaan Khan, Rishi Kapoor, SP Balasubramanyam, Jagdeep among others made the year more tragic, heavier and harder to handle. From theatres shutting down to coronavirus hitting livelihood of industry daily wagers, Amitabh Bachchan’s family contracting the virus and recovering. Despite his potential on screen, Sonu Sood became a real-life hero by sponsoring migrant labourers on their way home across the country. Cinema survived, with releases finding first-day-first-show on OTT instead of the silver screen.

Sushant Singh Death:

In 2020, many actors such as Rishi Kapoor, Irrfan Khan bid adieu to the world, but one loss that shook the country was that of Sushant Singh Rajput. The 34-year-old actor was found dead, hanging from the ceiling fan in his Bandra apartment on June 14 in Mumbai. His death sparked outrage all over social media with many suspecting his death due to depression, while many felt nepotism in the film industry was responsible for his death. As a result, the industry received criticism of epic proportions due to his demise. Several Bollywood celebs such as Alia Bhatt, Deepika Padukone, Karan Johar, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar were slammed massively on social media, since people believed that they were some responsible for driving the actor to death by suicide. While many celebrities initiated discussions on mental health, the actor’s psychiatrist revealed publicly that he was suffering from bipolar disorder. This was also condemned by several people as defeating the confidentiality between a doctor and a patient.

Soon after, the Mumbai Police investigation began in Sushant’s death, during which many names cropped up including the names of the actor’s close friends and film industry members. Sushant’s girlfriend and actress Rhea Chakraborty, directors Mahesh Bhatt, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Aditya Chopra, Karan Johar among others were called to Bandra Police station for questioning. The officials also recorded statements of late actor’s family members in the probe. With the Mumbai Police declaring the death a suicide, the ensuing drama then took over.

Sushant’s estranged father accused Rhea and her brother Showik Chakraborty of abetting his son’s suicide and filed FIR in Patna, prompting Bihar Police to join the death probe. 

The FIR also stated that Rhea took all of Rajput’s wealth, and therefore, he had no choice but to die by suicide. With the two states bickering over who will probe the case, the Supreme Court transferred the case to the CBI. The cases were then divvied up between the CBI, the, Enforcement Directorate and the Narcotics Control Bureau.

While ED stepped in after the money laundering allegation was put against Rhea, NCB began questioning her when alleged drug chats of Rhea surfaced online. Meanwhile, CBI continued investigating Sushant’s death.

Based on Sushant’s father’s complaint, the ED confirmed that Rs 15 crore was transferred from Rajput’s account, but did not find any trace of the money in Rhea’s accounts. The NCB arrested Rhea and Showik for allegedly procuring drugs for Sushant. Later, she was granted bail, while her brother remained in custody. Eventually, the cause of the actor’s death was ruled to have been suicide. But the controversy seems to be far from over.

Also Read: Rajinikanth decides against political plunge after health scare

Rhea Chakraborty 

Rhea Chakraborty, a minor Bollywood actor, shot into the limelight after her live-in boyfriend and actor Sushant Singh Rajput reportedly died by suicide. His death became a political and media circus, with Chakraborty becoming a pawn. From battling the allegations of abetment of suicide in his death case to being labelled as gold digger, to being a drug kingpin to being black magic witch, the actress gradually became the national villain. 

The 28-year-old actor was subjected to the most harrowing media trial which ruined her and her family’s reputation without any evidence. She was arrested in a drug probe linked to Sushant’s death, so was her brother. She was also questioned by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case filed by Sushant’s father. Her arrest divided the nation, even though many came out in support of her, saying she was being treated unfairly.

The beleaguered actor stayed strong throughout and truth found a way to assert itself. All the evidence put forth against her turned out to be either fake or couldn’t be proved. Nearly a month after, she was granted bail by the Bombay High Court. However, the Rhea episode restarted the discussion on the prevalent sexism and misogyny across the nation.

Also Read: Gone in 2020: The stars who died this year

NCB’s Bollywood drugs crackdown

Amid a suspected drug angle in Rajput’s death case, the NCB began investigating drug nexus in Bollywood. As part of its probe, Bollywood big names including Deepika Padukone, Shraddha Kapoor, Sara Ali Khan, Rakul Preet Singh were summoned for questioning. 

While Deepika and Rakulpreet were called on basis of alleged chats that surfaced online, Shraddha Kapoor and Sara Ali Khan were summoned as co-stars of Sushant in movies Chhichhore and Kedarnath respectively. From being called druggie and charsi, the Bollywood celebrities faced it all when the major crackdown happened. 

The NCB has arrested more than 20 people in the Sushant death case including Rhea Chakraborty and her brother Showik. As the investigation widened its scope, several other celebrities came under scanner. Comedian Bharti Singh and her husband Haarsh Limbachiyaa were arrested by the agency after 86.5 grams of ganja was recovered from their home. Both Arjun Rampal and his partner Gabriella Demetriades were summoned by NCB officials after a raid of their residence.

The NCB officials also arrested Bollywood producer Firoz Nadiadwala’s wife Shabana Saeed after ganja was found in her possession. Karan Johar’s Dharmatic Entertainment employee Kshitij Prasad was booked in the same case. Karan Johar himself had been issued a notice by the anti-drug agency over a video of a party that he had hosted last year. Shiromani Akali Dal leader Manjinder Sirsa had accused the latter of alleged use of drugs in the party. The party was attended by Deepika Padukone, Vicky Kaushal, Ranveer Singh, Ranbir Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor among others. 

Kangana Ranaut 2020

The 3-time national award-winning actor started her year with Ashwini Iyer Tiwari’s sports drama Panga, but gradually the year became all about her panga with everyone. Throughout the year, she ensured she was in the limelight almost every day. Within a few months of Covid-19 outbreak, the motormouth actor began a full-fledged roller coaster with tweets, videos and views on everything. Beginning with her statements on late Sushant Singh Rajput’s death to her war of words with singer-actor Diljit Dosanjh on the farm laws, the year ended with her becoming controversy’s favourite child and most talked about celebrities on social media.

It all started when her video on Twitter surfaced soon after the tragic death of Sushant Singh Rajput, which set social media on fire. She seized the baton to provide justice to Sushant, saying that she and the late actor were the outsiders persecuted by the Bollywood mafias. In a two-minute video, she spoke highly of Sushant and alleged that he was a victim of nepotism in the film industry. Later, she dismissed reports of Sushant death due to clinical depression and bipolar disorder, rather termed his death a planned murder. When the Narcotics Control Bureau began investigating the drug angle in his death, Kangana called out actors Ranbir Kapoor, Vicky Kaushal, Ranveer Singh and others and asked them to prove they are not drug addicts.

When it was not enough, she accused Deepika Padukone of running a business in the name of mental health. She even called Taapsee Pannu, Richa Chadha, Swara Bhasker, B grade actors on Twitter. Rhea Chakraborty who was arrested in a drug case linked to Sushant Singh’s death was also not spared, she was called a small-time gold digger by Kangana.

In one of her tweets, Kangana compared Mumbai to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, and within no time a comment came from Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut, asking her not to come back to the city if she feels unsafe. Thereafter, protests, condemnations, derogatory comments and what not followed between them. Few days later, she was granted Y+ security from the government amid threats of her death.

Later, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) partially demolished her property in Pali Hill, citing that alterations had been made without the civic body’s approval. After a weeklong standoff with the Shiv Sena, she moved court in the matter. Finally, the court verdict came in favour of the actor. The next controversy followed when Kangana termed fellow actor Urmila Matondkar a soft porn star. 

To wrap the year, she took more panga with actor-singer Diljit Dosanjh. Diljit hit out at Kangana for wrongly identifying an elderly Sikh woman from the farmers protest as the Shaheen Bagh activist Bilkis Bano. She had said the woman had joined the protests for Rs 100. While Kangana later deleted her tweet and instead of apologising, she began a  personal attack on Diljit, addressing him as Karan Johar ka paltu kutta. Diljit, on the other hand, gave a befitting reply to Kangana’s tweet and shut her down.

Boycott Chhapaak

Ahead of the release of her upcoming film Chhapaak, actor Deepika Padukone marched into Jawaharlal Nehru University to express solidarity with protesting students who were allegedly assaulted by a masked mob in January. Following her appearance at the protest against violence, hashtags both in support and against Deepika began trending on social media. While many lauded her bold move, others called for a boycott on Chhapaak and urged people not to watch her film. BJP spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh called for a boycott of the film for her support to the Tukde Tukde gang and Afzal gang.

(Sigh) Milind Soman’s (sigh) nude (sigh) run

Model- actor Milind Soman stirred controversy on his 55th birthday and landed in a legal soup after he shared a nude image of him running on a south Goa beach. While most people were amazed by the tenor of his physique, and attracted over 147,000 likes and thousands of comments on the viral picture, the jealous lot got offended and filed an FIR against him for obscenity.

Following a complaint by political party Goa Suraksha Manch, police were called to action. The party claimed that Soman had indulged in public obscenity, and tainted the city’s image. He has been booked under Section 294 of Indian Penal Code and section 67 of the Information and Technology Act.

Reacting to the controversy, the fitness enthusiast said he had no idea if anyone filed a complaint against him, as he was not informed about it. He did not get any official notification in this regard, he said. Furthermore, talking about his nude photoshoots, Soman said what is a naked person but the way God made us all.

Top Bollywood houses move Court

After the media tirade against Bollywood, 38 Bollywood industry associations and producers including Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, and Karan Johar’s production house filed a suit in the Delhi High Court against media channels Republic TV, Times Now and four senior journalists – Arnab Goswami, Rahul Shivshankar, Pradeep Bhandari, Navika Kumar –  seeking to restrain them from publishing irresponsible and defamatory remarks against Bollywood as a whole. 

The lawsuit was filed in the wake of the channels using highly offensive words and expressions such as dirt, filth, scum and druggies especially during the coverage of late Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case. The producers alleged that new channels are conducting parallel private investigation and declaring Bollywood personalities as guilty without any evidence. Such practices are thereby making mockery of the criminal justice system.

The producers who moved the High Court include Dharma Productions, Reliance Big Entertainment, Aamir Khan Productions, Salman Khan Films, Ad-Labs Films, Ajay Devgn Films, Yashraj Films,, Ashutosh Gowariker Productions and Red Chillies Entertainment, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra Pictures,, Rohit Shetty Pictures, Vinod Chopra Films, and Kabir Khan Films.

Earlier, the Producers Guild of India issued an open statement on social media highlighting the relentless attacks on the Indian film industry’s reputation. They noted that the tragic death of young actor Sushant had been used as a tool to defame the film industry and its members. Many celebrities including Sonam Kapor, Zoya Akhtar, Nikkhil Advani, Farhan Akhtar, Sonakshi Sinha among others had expressed solidarity with the views put forward by the Producers Guild of India.

2020: Bollywood’s year of tired remakes, yucky sequels and theatre on phones

Bollywood came to a screeching halt when theatres were shut amid the coronavirus pandemic. The industry bore its share of the brunt and took the OTT route, releasing their mega-budget movies digitally. The lined up projects including remakes and sequels had either excited audiences with their trailer or their star cast, but the fact is not a year goes by when the audience aren’t left disappointed by certain releases. Despite having the A-listed stars and directors, few movies left one utterly disappointed, while few were like by cine-lovers. 

Coolie No.1

The much-hyped movie of the year, Coolie No.1, became the biggest disaster of 2020 with the viewers disliking Varun Dhawan’s overacting and Sara Ali Khan’s zero-acting. A remake of the Govinda and Karisma Kapoor-starrer of 1995 directed by David Dhawan himself, it fell flat on its face on the day of its digital release. The cast failed to bring to the table what Kader Khan and Govinda alone did to make the film blockbuster. 

Sadak 2

Touted to be the comeback film of Mahesh Bhatt, the story of Sadak 2 picked up from where the 1991 film Sadak starring Sanjay Dutt and Poooja Bhatt left off, 30 years ago. The sequel seemed a complete misfit in 2020, in terms of plot, screenplay and directorial aesthetics. Despite having a stellar star cast including Alia Bhatt, Sanjay Dutt, Aditya Roy Kapoor, Jissu Sengupta, the movie failed to live up to the expectations.

Love Aaj Kal 2 

A remake of sorts of Imtiaz’s Ali’s Love Aaj Kal, the film featured Kartik Aaryan and Sara Ali Khan in lead roles. After watching the movie, the audience reiterated the movie’s famous dialogue ‘Tum Mujhe Tang Karne lage ho’, after getting disappointed by the performances of actors and progression of the storyline. The film also starred Randeep Hooda in a supporting role, his performance somehow helped viewers sit through.

Baaghi 3

Though the third instalment of Tiger Shroff’s Baaghi franchise earned profit at the box office, the movie brought nothing new for viewers to watch. From the storyline to action sequences to performances, the movie was pretty same as the first two parts. Except for the fact that in this movie, Tiger takes on an entire nation, one man against a nation seemed exaggerated, The film also featured Shraddha Kapoor, Riteish Deshmukh, Ankita Lokhande and Jackie Shroff in key roles.

Shubh Mangal Zyaada Saavdhan 

Shubh Mangal Zyaada Saavdhan, a laughter riot written and directed by Hitesh Kewalya, featured Ayushmann Khurrana and Jitendra as lovers fighting for acceptance. The standalone sequel to the 2017 film Shubh Mangal Saavdhan gives out the important message that love has no boundaries in both a sly and humorous way. It became the year’s boldest movie, showing crackling chemistry between two men on a big screen, not to forget the kissing scene which had the effect that it deserved. The much appreciated movie also stars Gajraj Rao, Neena Gupta, Maanvi Gagroo in prominent roles.

Angrezi Medium

The sequel to blockbuster 2017 film Hindi Medium may be tedious in parts but late actor Irrfan Khan as the doting father was fabulous. The story revolves around a mithaiwala who fulfills his motherless daughter’s dream of studying abroad. Although Irrfan gets into the groove effortlessly, the film lets him down. Directed by Homi Adajania, the film features Radhika Madaan, Kareena Kapoor, Ranvir Shorey, Pankaj Tripathi, Dimple Kapadia among others. 

Meanwhile, notable movies like Anubhav Sinha’s Thappad, Sudhir Mishra’s Serious Men, Siddharth Dhiwan’s Bulbul, Janhvi Kapoor starrer Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl, Sushant Singh Rajput’s Dil Bechara, Vikramaditya’s meta movie AK Vs AK and Anurag Basu’s Ludo, kept audiences engaged and entertained in an unprecedented year.

Weddings bells:  

Celebrity weddings, which usually have been grand affairs turned into low-key events in the pandemic. But celebrities went ahead and celebrated this pure union in a simple yet beautiful way while following all guidelines set by the government. From Rana Daggubati to Neha Kakkar, the year saw several couples getting hitched in the presence of just their close family and friends.

Rana Daggubati and Miheeka Bajaj

Baahubali actor Rana Daggubati tied the knot with his long-time girlfriend and designer Miheeka Bajaj on August 8. The low-key wedding ceremony took place in Hyderabad’s Ramanaidu Studios with close relatives and friends in attendance.

Neha Kakkar and Rohanpreet Singh

Wedding bells rang for singer Neha Kakkar and her long-time boyfriend and singer Rohanpreet Singh in October. They had a five-day grand wedding celebration including haldi, mehendi, roka, anand karaj and reception ceremony at a five -star hotel in New Delhi. The couple fell for each other while shooting the music video Nehu Da Vyah.

Gauahar Khan and Zaid Darbar

Actor Gauahar Khan and social media influencer Zaid Darbar tied the knot in a lavish nikah in Mumbai on December 25. They announced their marriage on social media much after rumours of them being in a relationship made headlines. They were often seen commenting on each other’s photos which added to the rumours. Zaid Darbar is the son of music composer Ismail Darbar. 

Kajal Aggarwal and Gautam Kitchlu

Southern sensation Kajal Aggarwal and businessman Gautham Kitchlu got married in Mumbai on October 30. Before getting married, they were friends for seven years and later dated for three years. Because of the coronavirus outbreak, the couple had to settle at the Mumbai Taj Palace hotel for wedding celebrations. 

Aditya Narayan and Shweta Aggarwal

After some 10 years of dating, singer-TV host Aditya Narayan tied the knot with girlfriend and actor Shweta Aggarwal in an intimate celebration at Iskcon Temple in Mumbai on December 1. It was followed by a grand wedding reception which was attended by celebrities including Govinda, Bharti Singh among others. The couple met on the sets of their movie Shapit. 

2020: From the Rasoda to petty hatreds, a year of memes

2020 may have been catastrophic for humankind, one that it will hopefully remember and learn from for a long time. Despite the several ups and downs, folks on the internet dished out humorous memes and videos which brought joy and made us chuckle even in these difficult times.

Rasode Mein Kaun Tha 

The character ‘Kokilaben’ from television serial ‘Saath Nibhana Saathiya’ became a viral phenomenon years after the end of the serial when music producer Yashraj Mukhate compiled a hilarious music video out of a small scene from the show. He gave an interesting twist to a conversation between Kokilaben and her daughters-in-law, Gopi Bahu and Rashi. The rap became so popular that it inspired people to come up with funnier memes in reply.

Binod

The interesting trend Binod began when a user of video sharing platform Binod Tharu wrote Binod on the comment section of a Slay Point Youtube Channel video. The channel’s content creators then started mentioning the same name when creating videos on the weird comments they received on the clips. Soon it turned out to be Binod trend, and people also used it as a meme.

Tanishq controversy

https://youtu.be/jnfxtq7DWwg

In October, the Titan Group’s jewellery brand Tanishq Ekatvam advertisement was caught in a controversy for showing a Muslim family preparing a traditional Hindu baby shower. The advertisement was criticised for promoting “love jihad” (interfaith marriages) by those opposed to such intermingling of Hindus and Muslims. The hashtag BoycottTanishq began trending on Twitter and the brand succumbed to trolls. As  the outrage grew, the brand removed the controversial video across all the platforms subsequently.

Coronavirus impacted movie business and release

The year kicked off swimmingly with theatrical release of Ajay Devgan’s Tanhaji: The Unsung warrior, Deepika Padukone’s Chhapaak, Kangana Ranaut’s Panga, Ayushmann Khurrana’s Shubh Mangal Zyaada Saavdhan, Street Dancer 3D and Jawaani Jaaneman.  And then the fearsome coronavirus pandemic struck the world and it was never the same again.

In March, the Covid-19 roared into our lives, perhaps impacting Bollywood the most. Film shoots were halted, it brought the box-office to standstill. No new films saw the light of the day as theatres were shut down due to imposed lockdown restrictions.Major shooting were cancelled for big and small productions alike, putting thousands of livelihoods at risk in both Hindi and other regional cinema.

The virus restrictions pushed big releases to next year, which included Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha, Akshay Kumar’s Sooryavanshi, Ranveer Singh’s 83, Salman Khan’s Radhe among others. Meanwhile some producers skipped theatrical release and took the OTT route instead.

Amitabh Bachchan and Ayushmann Khurrana starrer Gulabo Sitabo was among the first films released on OTT platform. Following which Vidya Balan’s Shakuntala Devi, Gunjan Saxena:The Kargil Girl, late Sushant Singh Rajput’s Dil Bechara, Sanjay Dutt’s Sadak 2, Akshay’s Laxmii, Anurag Basu’s Ludo, Khaali Peeli, Bhumi Pednekar’s Durgamati and Varun Dhawan’s Coolie No.1among others made way to small screen for its release.

Mahabharata, Ramayana to rescue the locked-down

With television shoots also stopped in the wake of lockdown, popular 80s and 90s shows were aired on TV channels and got record ratings. The epic drama like Mahabharata and Ramayana on channels made a comeback. 

OTT streaming

In the absence of film releases, people switched to watching web series for their daily entertainment dose. The OTT platform like Amazon, Netflix among others then emerged as the biggest player of the year. Scam 1992, Mirzapur 2, Paatal Lok, Aarya, Panchaayat, Asur, The Suitable Boy, The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives, Jamtara, Ashram were most of the successful Indian web shows and web films that astounded audiences with their sensational plots.

Amid the coronavirus scare, what shocked cinema fans the most when India’s megastar Amitabh Bachchan tested positive for infectious virus. However, the 77-year-old beat the deadly virus and soon resumed his work.Later the list of stars tested positive for Covid-19 became long with names including Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Arjun Kapoor, Varun Dhawan, Rakulpreet Singh, Kriti Sanon, Neetu Kapoor, Kanika Kapoor, Malaika Aror and Genelia D’Souza.

Benevolent Sood 

Meanwhile, dubbed a migrant messiah, Sonu Sood won hearts with his social work during pandemic. In the wake of nationwide lockdown, he ensured that migrants reached home safely. From arranging special flights to busses to chartered planes, the actor helped those stranded due to lockdown reach their villages and towns. The actor also used to send mobile phones for kids who could not afford online learning. Suddenly, he became the biggest saviour in town.

Unlock scene

The Bollywood industry has currently resumed shooting following strict guidelines of coronavirus issued by the government. The theatres have reopened in many states, limiting the number of viewers in view of the ongoing pandemic. The film Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior, was released again after lockdown was removed. The producers of Suraj Pe Mangal Bhari also took initiative to release the movie during Diwali at this time.

The celebrities who were stuck inside their home due to lockdown were seen taking a trip to Maldives, safe and far  from a highly contagious virus to spend holidays. Their beach looks took the internet by storm. From Arjun-Malika to Rakulpreet, all of them sizzled in bikini photos  snapped in and around the beautiful Maldives.