Several controversies reared their ugly but very interesting heads in 2011
Several controversies reared their ugly but very interesting heads in 2011From being trapped in airport customs net with unaccounted bling and designer wear to petty squabbles and from temper tantrums at birthday bashes, 2011 had its fair share of controversies.
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Stars were not afraid to speak their mind, especially on micro-blogging sites, which was a free-for-all. The clearer you said it, the more you were bound to get noticed.
Here's looking at some of the most colourful controversies of 2011...
TWEET OUTRAGERANT NOTES: The year began with Mahesh Bhatt and Javed Akhtar exchanging barbs over the issue of lyricists' copyrights versus film producers. Akhtar was upset when Bhatt took a few producers to meet government officials to arrive at an amicable solution.
SHOE BITES: Bipasha Basu posted a snapshot of two little girls tying her shoelaces on Twitter in February. The snapshot met with overwhelming outrage and Bips accused of child labour. The actress claimed of the girls in question one's a sister, the other a friend who were only helping her tie her heavy boots. But who was buying it?
NO LAUGHING MATTER: Pakis-tani fans who follow Sonakshi Sinha pulled her up when she uploaded a morphed photo in May of an Indian batsman hitting their captain Shahid Afridi. Calling the picture 'De Ghumaake', she expected her followers to be amused. But no sooner did the photo go viral, there were a string of abuses from fans across-the-border. She later issued an apology stating, "Pak fans very upset. Jung ke maidan mein ladne se toh achcha hi hai khel ke maidan mein ladein! I am all for 'love thy neighbour'. Be a sport, yaar".
THEY DON'T WANT ME!Amitabh Bachchan explained his reasons for giving a skip to an awards event he has been associated with as brand ambassador. When his parivaar didn't attend the awards in Sri Lanka last year, speculation was rife that it was due to the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce coming out with a statement that Southern stars and filmmakers would boycott all Bollywood stars who attended the event. However, Big B decided to give the event a miss this year in Toronto in June, too. Speaking his mind out, Big B said the organisers did not want him.
RINGED, HITCHED, PREGNANTEarly in the year Celina Jaitley admitted to being in a committed relationship with Dubai-based hotelier Peter Haag but denied the buzz that she was married. In August through her micro-blogging site stated that she had had a quiet wedding in July and soon there was news that she was pregnant with twins, which she claimed was honeymoon pregnancy.
The picture Bipasha Basu tweeted that caused an outrageCAUGHT IN THE ACTWhile Shahid Kapoor was found in Priyanka Chopra's Versova flat the morning of the IT raids (January 24), Ranbir Kapoor escaped being caught at girlfriend Katrina Kaif's flat in Bandra, as he left a couple of hours before the officials arrived. Apparently Ranbir and Kat had been meeting every night at her place after he finished his workouts at a gym nearby. That night too, RK is said to have come over a little after 10 pm and spent some time with her. Ranbir was apparently with Kat till 4 am while IT officials came to Katrina's home at 6 am.
EARLY BIRD GETS THE SQUIRMMallika's over eagerness to reach the Oscar red carpet early didn't pay off. She reached the venue way before the media did! Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai who were also on the red carpet did not want a run-in with Mallika. They had apparently told their agents to make sure they weren't around at the same time as Madame M. The Bachchans arrived at the scene only after 4.30 pm by that time the over zealous siren had already finished her walk.
KANGS V/S DUTTSKangna Ranaut and the Dutts drifted apart. It all began with a change of equation in the bonding of Ameesha Patel and Kangna Ranaut with the Dutts. Both the actresses felt they were part of Sanjay and Maanayata's coterie and for a while earlier in the year Kangs emerged close to the couple. However a miffed Ameesha bared her fangs and Kangs went missing from the Dutt picture while Miss Patel remains family for them.
SEVERAL RESERVATIONSPrakash Jha's film Aarakshan based on the reservation issues faced a ban in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab ahead of its release in August over certain controversial scenes and dialogues. The UP government cited law and order problems. The filmmaker agreed to make the necessary cuts that were found offensive. Pankaj Kapur's flick Mausam too had issues with the Indian air force folk.
MEOW TIMEOne-time rivals in love Katrina Kaif and Deepika Padukone weren't ready to bury the hatchet and make peace. The bone of contention was DP's Dum Maaro Dum item number in the film which released in April and which would upstage her Sheila ki Jawaani. Kat apparently had been telling friends that her song was much better than Deepika's track.
COME FIGHT WITH MEProducer Mozez Singh picked fights with the likes of Shah Rukh and Sohail Khan at Maheep Kapoor's birthday bash in April.u00a0u00a0 He got into a tiff with Sohail when Singh passed offensive remarks on some women at the bash. When he decided to leave the party, he saw SRK near the elevator and began passing nasty remarks. While Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt got into a tussle at Maanayata Dutt's birthday bash when Sallu made some statements about his business manager.
CLAWS OUTIt has all the making of one great story eligible bachelor, jealous ex and interested gal. Sonakshi Sinha and Anushka Sharma said to have gotten ready to get their claws out to fight over Ranveer Singh. It began with a remark Sonakshi made on a chat show earlier. She had said that she'd love to work with Anushka's 'good friend' Ranveer Singh. When Ranveer met Sona at an event in May, there was yet again buzz about them rediscovering their bonding.
Minissha Lamba, Bipasha Basu, Ekta Kapoor and Anushka Sharma found themselves being interrogated by the Customs over what was in their baggage. The series of incidents made B-Town folk more wary of their shopping on their overseas trips and a certain Customs officer.
