Whether it was the protest against film-maker Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmavati that resulted in the film’s release date being pushed to uncertainty, actor Kangana Ranaut branding film-maker Karan Johar as a ‘flagbearer of nepotism’ or singer Sonu Nigam facing a backlash for calling Azaan”forced religiousness” – Bollywood had enough controversies grabbing headlines in 2017.
* PadmavatiThis Sanjay Leela Bhansali directorial raised controversy after the Karni Sena, an organisation of the Rajput community, urged a nationwide ban on the film claiming that it “distorts historical facts”.
Bhansali also appeared before a Parliamentary committee and maintained that the row over the yet-to-be released movie was just based on rumours, strongly rejecting charges that he had distorted “historical” facts about the possibly mythological Rajput queen, played by Deepika Padukone in the film.
* Kangana Ranaut vs Karan JoharOne of the most fearless and outspoken divas in Bollywood, Kangana Ranaut called film-maker Karan Johar a ‘flagbearer of nepotism’ on his own chat show, Koffee With Karan.
It not just sparked a debate about the prevalence of nepotism, but snowballed into a bigger controversy when Karan and actors Saif Ali Khan and Varun Dhawan poked fun at Kangana and chanted “Nepotism rocks” at the IIFA Awards event this year in the US. They later apologised for their act once it attracted widespread criticism.
* Sonu Nigam and the AzaanRenowned singer Sonu Nigam lashed out at “forced religiousness” in India after being woken up by the Azaan from a nearby mosque.
In a tweet, he said, “God bless everyone. I’m not a Muslim and I have to be woken up by the Azaan in the morning. When will this forced religiousness end in India?”
After the brouhaha that ensued, he even shaved off his hair in reaction to a maulvi’s supposed call to have his head shaved for a INR1 million reward.
* Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s memoir
Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui had to apologise and withdraw his book An Ordinary Life after a complaint was reportedly filed against him for outraging the modesty of his Miss Lovely co-star Niharika Singh who slammed the actor for not taking her consent before sharing their personal equation with the world in his memoir
* Fatima Sana Sheikh trolled for wearing a swimsuit
Some of the other controversies that made people think were when Fatima Sana Sheikh of Dangal fame was trolled for wearing a swimsuit at a beach and posting the photograph on her social media page during the month of Ramzan.