Knotty affair
* Ritesh Deshmukh got married to his first co-star and long-standing ‘friend’ Genelia D’Souza in a traditional Maharashtrian style as well as a Christian wedding. Ritesh’s parents did not attend the church wedding. Reportedly, politician Vilasrao Deshmukh (who died months later due to kidney and liver failure) was not wholeheartedly in support of the alliance. A fortnight after Ritesh’s wedding, his brother Dheeraj married producer Vashu Bhagnani’s daughter and actor Jackky’s sister Honey.
* Esha Deol’s mum Hema Malini was quite vocal that since Esha was not cut out for the film industry (read: Her films were flopping without fail), she ought to marry. Out came a handsome diamond merchant’s son from Mumbai, reportedly Esha’s long-standing beau, and next we know Esha was getting married to him. She had a beautiful temple wedding with the entire Bollywood in attendance. Except her brothers. Ouch.
* Saif and Kareena finally got married. The air was always thick with speculation about their date, venue and even trousseau designer, but when Saif’s mom Sharmila announced the October wedding date to the press, the duo stuck to it. They reportedly had only a nikaah after the legal registration at Saif’s Bandra home but had an elaborate, (need-we-mention) star-studded sangeet and reception later. And yes, she prefers to call herself Kareena Kapoor yet.
As for the upcoming celeb weddings, there is reportedly Soha Ali Khan-Kunal Khemu and Aditya Chopra-Rani Mukherjee. But we don’t know when.
Controversies galore
2012 could well be one of the most controversial years in Bollywood too. Ironically, Shah Rukh Khan was involved in three of the most-talked about Bollywood-related messes this year. Remember Slapgate? Shirish Kunder, Farah Khan’s ‘creative’ editor-director husband who shows off quite an amount of witticism on Twitter, should have known better than to display it to SRK in person. Especially about Ra.One . Apparently, some Ra.One jibes and other assorted nonsense got SRK so angry that he pinned Shirish down on to a sofa and planted some slaps on his face. This was at a party hosted by Sanjay Dutt who reportedly later joined SRK! Farah Khan spewed venom the next day on social media platforms almost severing relations with her best friend but is now working on Happy New Year with him (?!) SRK even helped Shirish to promote his film Joker . Moral of the story: There are no permanent foes or friends in Bollywood.
SRK’s name popped up once more when he reportedly hurled choice expletives on officials during an IPL match where his team Kolkata Knight Riders defeated the home team. He alleged that cricketing officials had misbehaved with his daughter and her girlfriends, while they claimed he was excessively drunk and abused a female fan. Neither party apologised.
SRK has never had an affair all these years in the industry so it came as a shock to some and a pleasant surprise to the rumour mills that he might have been involved in one with his Don co-star Priyanka Chopra. Wife Gauri was so miffed that she reportedly ensured that Priyanka be left out of A-list parties across Bollywood. Apparently, even Karan Johar had to make his choices in favour of good friend Gauri and leave Priyanka out in the cold. Nothing substantiated on this one yet!
* Saif and his punches are well-known. We aren’t talking about his comic timing here. Just days before the release of his high-budget over-hyped film Agent Vinod , the junior Nawab was engaged in a bar brawl with NRI businessman Iqbal Sharma. And why? Apparently the ‘victim’s family had asked his party to tone down the volume a bit. Saif, of course, pleaded innocence, saying it was in fact Iqbal’s party that had misbehaved with the women present. Some even suggested this to be a publicity stunt to enhance the prospects of Agent Vinod. Nothing could save that film and this only got the actor into a legal hassle.
* Aishwarya Rai got into an unnecessary controversy this year. The new mom who was attending the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year was hounded by the press for not being in shape! The actress, who had delivered her first child in November last year, was questioned incessantly about her post-partum weight gain, and had to put on her most graceful face while answering. Her not-so-flattering pictures went viral on the Internet inviting nasty comments. She stuck to her guns, saying her priority was being a mom. Attagirl!
