#2021Recap: Bollywood’s BIGGEST and SHOCKING controversies of 2021 2021 : Bollywood News

Like every year, 2021, too, was riddled with some big controversies involving our film stars and film fraternity members. However, some controversies were unprecedented and hence, 2021 surely stands out. Bollywood Hungama brings to you the major controversies that made the maximum news in 2021.

1. Aryan Khan’s arrest

#2021Recap: Bollywood’s BIGGEST and SHOCKING controversies of 2021

The month of October started on a shocking note as Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan got arrested from a cruise by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on charges of consuming drugs. SRK moved heaven and earth and assembled the best of lawyers. Yet, Aryan had to spend 26 days in jail before he was granted bail. The public sympathy was in favour of Shah Rukh as many believed that Aryan didn’t carry and drugs and hence, the charges against him were frivolous.

2. Ananya Panday summoned by the NCB

The investigation of Aryan Khan led NCB to question Ananya Panday. It was alleged that she and Aryan had exchanged chats related to drugs. She was called for a couple of rounds of questioning. The NCB hasn’t given an update so far on Ananya and whether they believe she was involved in any case of drug consumption.

3. Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn get trolled for their tweets

After Rihanna made a tweet supporting the farmer’s movement, many celebs tweeted using the #IndiaAgainstPropaganda hashtag. Two of them – Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn – got a bit into trouble. Ajay was once stopped by an angry group for his post. Akshay’s films, Bellbottom and Sooryavanshi, meanwhile faced release problems in certain towns of Punjab.

4. Raj Kundra’s arrest in a porn case

Shilpa Shetty’s business tycoon husband, Raj Kundra, got arrested in an alleged porn case that was going on ever since the Mumbai Police conducted a raid on a shoot in a hotel in February 2021. Raj was arrested in July, a few days before Shilpa’s comeback film, Hungama 2, was scheduled to release on Disney+ Hotstar. Raj was granted bail in September. Meanwhile, actresses like Sherlyn Chopra and Poonam Pandey claimed that they were approached by Raj Kundra and offered work in adult videos and shows.

5. Jacqueline Fernandez gets into ED row

An alleged conman, Sukesh Chandrasekhar, was arrested and he made a sensational revelation that he was dating Jacqueline Fernandez. Jacqueline’s spokespersons denied these allegations. But soon, the internet was ablaze with pictures of Jacqueline cozying up with Sukesh. According to the chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate, the actress was gifted Gucci and Chanel bags, diamond earrings, Louis Vuitton shoes and Mini Cooper from Sukesh Chandrashekhar. Meanwhile, Nora Fatehi too was dragged into this row after it was reported that Sukesh had gifted her a BMW. A statement posted by her spokesperson claimed that she was a victim in this case and had nothing to do with Sukesh Chandrashekhar’s dealings.

6. Kartik Aaryan ousted from Dostana 2

In April, news came in that Kartik Aaryan has been removed from Dostana 2 by producer Karan Johar due to his unprofessional behavior. The same day, Dharma Productions, posted a tweet confirming that Kartik is no longer a part of the film. However, they refused to elaborate on the reason for his ouster. In the next 10-15 days, the media reported that he has been kicked out of two more projects – Freddy and Aanand L Rai’s next. Bollywood Hungama later found out that Kartik was never removed from Freddy and the film later got shot this year. Aanand L Rai, meanwhile, denied that Kartik was on board for any of his projects

7. Kareena Kapoor Khan’s younger son’s name row

Kareena Kapoor Khan and Saif Ali Khan gave birth to their second son on February 21 this year. The controversy around the name of their first child, Taimur, led to a lot of trolling and negativity. Hence, they probably refused to divulge what they have named their second son. In July, a newspaper reported that they call their younger son, Jeh. On August 13, however, the suspense was lifted. That day, the actress released a book called ‘Kareena Kapoor Khan's Pregnancy Bible: The Ultimate Manual for Moms-To-Be’. Co-written by Aditi Shah Bhimjyani, Kareena revealed in the end that the name of her second child is Jehangir. Bollywood Hungama was the first one to publish this news which soon went viral and attracted another round of negative comments for the couple.

8. Kareena Kapoor and many others get infected with Covid-19

A friendly get-together at Karan Johar’s residence on December 8 turned into an ugly experience after some of the party attendees like Kareena Kapoor, Seema Khan, Maheep Kapoor etc. tested positive for Coronavirus. Maheep’s daughter, Shanaya, too was infected with the virus. The BMC quickly sealed the residential societies of these celebrities and tested the high-risk contacts. A section of the media, as expected, went into overdrive and called the get-together ‘a super-spreader party’. Karan, who tested negative for Covid-19, released a statement and made it clear that his house is no Covid hotspot and that he was not having a party at his house.

9. Kareena Kapoor asks for Rs. 12 crore for the role of Sita

Netizens got upset after Kareena Kapoor Khan reportedly asked for Rs. 12 crore to play the role of Sita. Many trolls brought out the communal angle to it needlessly, since she’s married to Saif Ali Khan. In short, Kareena got in the news for the wrong reasons as many as three times this year.

10. Tandav controversy

Kareena’s husband, Saif Ali Khan, too got into turmoil. The first major controversy of 2021 was when his web series, Tandav, was released on Amazon Prime on January 15 and upset a section of people for hurting religious sentiments. In the first episode, Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub dresses up as Lord Shiva and talks about ‘azaadi’ in a scene set around a college play. This sequence was found objectionable. The matter became so ugly that the makers had to apologize and even removed the scene from the show. It was expected that the makers of the show would get arrested but thankfully, they were spared. The incident however led to the introduction of censorship for web content.

11. The Family Man 2 row

The much-awaited web series was scheduled to release on February 12, 2021. Reportedly after the Tandav row, it was pushed to June 4. Though the show received a favourable response and became a rage, certain people were upset with the depiction of Tamilians in the show. Samantha Ruth Prabhu, who played the role of a suicide bomber, even apologized for unintentionally hurting the sentiments.

12. Kangana Ranaut banned from Twitter

Controversy’s favourite child, Kangana Ranaut, continued to remain in the news for the wrong reasons. After Trinamool Congress’ stunning victory in the Assembly Elections, she made a hate tweet wherein she urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ‘tame’ Mamata Banerjee. This tweet led to her suspension from Twitter. In 2020, her sister Rangoli Chandel was also suspended from the microblogging website for her communal rhetoric.

13. Jackky Bhagnani embroiled into a #MeToo case

Jackky Bhagnani, Krishan Kumar of T-Series, photographer Colston Julian, founder of talent management company Kwan Entertainment Anirban Blah and others were named in the complaint of rape and molestation by a model at the Bandra Police Station in May. She had accused 11 people but she claimed that the police mentioned only 9 of them in the FIR. She also alleged that the violation incidents took place over a span of four years, from 2013 to 2019. In July, the complainant claimed that she has been receiving death threats on Instagram. There have been no updates since.

14. Sooryavanshi vs Eternals; 83 vs Spider-Man vs Pushpa

The advance booking of the first film to revive cinemas, Sooryavanshi, opened 10-12 hours before the first show as the studio, Reliance Entertainment, couldn’t settle the show sharing and revenue sharing deal with the exhibitors. Reliance asked for 100% showcasing and a high revenue share. Ultimately, the film was released widely and theatre owners had no choice but to give step-motherly treatment to Eternals, which was also released on the same day as Sooryavanshi. Reliance tried the same tactic during the release of ’83. However, this time, the exhibitors refused to budge as they were happy playing Spider-Man: No Way Home and Pushpa, both of which have emerged as super successes. Ultimately, Reliance had to bow down and let exhibitors share shows.

15. Thalaivii’s limited theatrical release

Kangana Ranaut’s Thalaivii was released in cinemas on September 10, at a time when the crucial state of Maharashtra was still shut. To minimize risk, the makers opted to release the film on Netflix in 2 weeks. The multiplex chains, however, felt it’s unfair and refused to release the political fare. Thalaivii, hence, had a very limited release and it failed at the box office.

16. Aashram row

In October, Bajrang Dal activists stormed into the sets of the web series Aashram. They disrupted the shoot and smeared ink on director Prakash Jha’s face as they felt that it shows the Hindu religion in a bad light. As an off-shoot of this episode, the district administrators in Madhya Pradesh in December 2021 were given the power of approving the scripts of movies, web series, serials and short films before allowing filming in their jurisdictions.

17. Vir Das’s Two Indias’ video leaves the country divided

Vir Das uploaded a video in November titled ‘Two Indias’. While some loved it and praised him for exposing the realities of the country, many denounced it and felt that he’s degrading the country.

18. Raj Anadkat-Munmun Dutta's link-up reports

Raj Anadkat, who plays Tapu in ‘Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah’, stormed into the limelight after reports emerged that he’s dating Munmun Dutta, who plays Babita on the show. It resulted in many memes and jokes, more so because Dilip Joshi, who plays Tapu’s father Jethalal, is shown to be smitten by Babita in the daily soap. Munmun Dutta took to social media wherein she wrote that the link-up reports caused her mental pain and blasted trolls for slut-shaming her.

19. Sonu Sood's I-T Raid Controversy and Sonu Sood run-in with BMC

Sonu Sood continued to be a messiah for the downtrodden this year. However, he also faced roadblocks from the government authorities. In September, his house was raided by the Income Tax Department over allegations levelled against the actor regarding the usage of funds collected under his foundation. The actor, however, vehemently denied any wrongdoings. Meanwhile, he got into trouble with the BMC after it was said that he converted a residential building into a hotel. In June, he agreed to convert the building back to a residential one.

20. Income Tax Raid on Taapsee Pannu, Anurag Kashyap

Besides Sonu Sood, even Taapsee Pannu and Anurag Kashyap faced raids from the Income Tax Department. In March, the raid was conducted as part of a tax evasion probe against the now-defunct production house Phantom Films.

21. Anniyan remake row

Shankar announced in early 2021 that he has signed Ranveer Singh for the reimagined version in Hindi of his film, Anniyan. However, Anniyan’s producer Aascar V Ravichandran claimed that he has the remake rights and any adaptation of the film without his consent would be illegal. Shankar, however, refuted the allegations.

22. Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi-Pagglait ‘plagiarism’ row

In March, Bollywood Hungama broke the explosive story that the unit members of Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi were upset as they alleged that the Netflix film, Pagglait, was similar to their film in many ways. Director Seema Pahwa confirmed to Bollywood Hungama that Pagglait makers even shot in the same house as her film, Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi. However, she made it clear that Pagglait makers haven’t copied from their film.

23. Mimi leaked days before its Netflix premiere

The Kriti Sanon-starrer Mimi was leaked on the internet on July 26, 4 days before its scheduled premiere on Netflix. With no other option, Netflix released the film on the same day. As per reports, Netflix renegotiated the deal with Maddock Films and the latter was paid less due to the leak.

24. Raavan Leela’s title changed to Bhavai

Pratik Gandhi’s film Raavan Leela ran into rough weather after certain groups objected due to the title of the film. To avoid a controversy, the film was renamed Bhavai. Reportedly, a few dialogues were also cut from the final version.