Padmaavat, #MeToo, Manmarziyaan – 5 controversies that rocked Bollywood in 2018

Glitz and glam spell Bollywood, but it also has its share of scandals and shocking revelations that rock the boat from time-to-time. 2018 was no different and the industry was plagued with a variety of controversies all through the year. Right from the #MeToo hurricane sweeping across B-Town to Bhansali’s epic battle to release his magnum opus Padmaavat. From PC stepping out of Bharat to Loveratri being changed to Love Yatri, to Papon being fired from his show after kissing a minor girl contestant – the year saw it all and there was enough action off screen as there was on screen. Read on to find out the top five controversies that gave our industry sleepless nights.

# Epic battle for an Epic film!

The controversy surrounding the release of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s mega-budget historical Padmavati that ruled high all through 2017 had Bollywood kickstart its 2018 innings on the same controversial note as well. The days leading up to the release witnessed a heavily fought tussle as the filmmakers moved the Supreme Court against the film being banned in four states even after receiving a clearance from the CBFC. Padmavati finally released titled Padmaavat, but not minus much drama witnessed in some theatres.

#BollywoodToo

However, it’s the surfacing of the #MeToo movement in B-Town that actually occupied reams of newsprint and hundreds of prime time debate hours! With Tanushree Dutta accusing Nana Patekar of sexual misconduct on sets of Horn Ok Pleassss in 2008, the allegations helped blow the lid off many such hushed up cases and had many involved running for cover. While some accused got a clean chit, many others continue to be embroiled in the movement that has not even spared Hollywood biggies. And Bollywood’s proving that it’s not just a flash in the pan here either. Several names have either stepped down or have been asked to drop out from projects. Sajid Khan, Vikas Bahl, Alok Nath, Subhash Kapoor, Utsav Chakraborty, Anu Malik are just some of the names that found themselves in the midst of the storm.

The movement is naturally expected to dent several ongoing projects and also have long-lasting effect on upcoming ventures as well, but the industry is also hoping to ensure more safety norms, better ethics and stronger regulations to avoid further such incidents in the future.

# Prernaa’s Prison Diaries

Prernaa Arora and her production company KriArj Entertainment Pvt Ltd found themselves at loggerheads with many of their collaborators and were embroiled in public fights with actor-producer John Abraham, filmmaker Abhishek Kapoor and producer Vashu Bhagnani over several issues including monetary troubles. The producer was eventually arrested for fraud.

# Kapil Sharma’s not so funny meltdown

First it was Kapil Sharma’s big fallout with Sunil Grover in 2017 that threw the spotlight on the bitter undercurrents brewing between the comedians. And even as he was struggling to cope-up with his split from several other cast members of his show, Kapil failed to hit high TRPs with his comeback show. Buzz is that it was probably his inability to grapple with this new turn of events that led him to publicly slam an entertainment website in a series of abusive tweets directed at a journalist. The actor claimed that his account was hacked, and is said to have sought help for his mental health and well-being.  However, the year ended on a good note for Kapil when he tied the knot with his girlfriend Ginni Chatrath. He has now returned for a third innings on Sony.

# Whose Marzi was it?

Manmarziyaan ran into trouble with the Sikh community for hurting their religious sentiments with some of the scenes including ones that showed Abhishek Bachchan and Taapsee Pannu (both playing Sikh characters in the film) smoking. The filmmakers were asked to delete the scenes, which led to a fresh bout of controversy when director Anurag Kashyap took to Twitter to criticise the producers for deleting the objectionable scenes from the film. He tweeted: “Before my tweet is taken down – Congratulations. Here by all problems of Punjab are solved and Sikh youth have been saved. Happy to be back in La La Land again. Next time you are threatened by a film please call Kishore Lulla directly on Eros knows how to solve matters in minutes” Kashyap however did issue an apology to the Sikh community, stating that the intention was no to hurt any religious sentiments.

With so many controversies raging in B-Town, do let us know of the ones you think should be part of this list. Write your comments below.