23 biggest controversies that rocked Bollywood since 1999

From Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai’s ugly break-up to Shiney Ahuja accused of rape, from Hrithik Roshan and Kangana Ranaut’s public spat to Aryan Khan’s drug scandal… here’s a lowdown on the 23 biggest controversies that shook the film industry since 1999.

1.SALMAN KHAN – AISHWARYA RAI BREAKUP

Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s affair was the talk of the town until it turned ugly. It started on the sets of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999), where they met for the first time and fell in love. But it ended in 2001, and Aishwarya remarked in an interview a year later that Salman used to physically abuse her. She told a leading daily, “After we broke up, he would call me and talk rubbish. He also suspected me of having affairs with my co-stars. I was linked up with everyone, from Abhishek Bachchan to Shah Rukh Khan. There were times when Salman got physical with me, luckily without leaving any marks. And I would go to work as if nothing had happened.” Actor Vivek Oberoi, who started dating Aishwarya, claimed Salman called him 40 times abused him and his family, following which he held the infamous press conference, where he revealed all this. They later parted ways.

PRESENT: Salman remains unmarried, while Aishwarya got married to Abhishek Bachchan. The two have a daughter, Aradhya.

2.SHAH RUKH KHAN- SALMAN KHAN’S HEATED EXCHANGE AND FALLOUT

The co-stars in the titular roles of Karan Arjun (1995) were good friends, before their fight at Katrina Kaif’s birthday party in 2008. Reports state that Aamir Khan, who was also present, tried to mediate between the two, but couldn’t succeed. A cold war started between the two, and continued until 2014, when the two reunited at Baba Siddiqui’s iftaar party by shaking hands and hugging.

PRESENT: Both the superstars are on good terms, and will make an appearance in each other’s upcoming films, Pathan and Tiger 3 as well.

3.SUSHANT SINGH RAJPUT’S DEATH

The actor’s death on June 14, 2020, when he was found hanging in his Mumbai house, surely shocked the entire country and the cause of death was widely discussed. While some claimed it was because of the pressures of showbiz, some claimed it was a murder. Whether Rajput abused drugs made headlines. The cause of death was finally revealed to have been suicide. A lot of celebrities came under the scanner for their digs at Rajput over the years, including filmmaker Karan Johar. The nepotism debate was also brought in.

PRESENT: Official postmortem reports concluded Rajput had died due to asphyxiation

4.HRITHIK ROSHAN-KANGANA RANAUT PUBLIC SPAT

“Silly ex” — this one comment by Kangana in one of her interviews had made Hrithik Roshan send a legal notice. He had first responded on Twitter saying there were more chances of him having had “an affair with d (sic) Pope”.He demanded a public apology from her, which she refused and claimed that they had been romantically involved in 2014. She sent a counter notice to Hrithik, asking him to take his notice back or face a criminal case. His legal notice alleged mental harassment by Kangana, claiming that she had sent him 1,439 emails, to which he never replied, besides telling people in the film industry that they had been in a relationship. It suggested that whoever she had been in touch with was an imposter, pretending to be Hrithik. He even appeared on a news channel and gave a lengthy interview.

PRESENT: The two haven’t been spotted or engaged in any communication till pubic ever since the controversy. Kangana, however, recently took a dig at Hrithik. While hosting a reality show, she said ever since her reality show was announced, “Log apne pancho ungliyan jodh kar…haath jodh rahe hai… aur 6 ungliyon wale ka bhi gala sukh raha hai”.

5. BOLYLWOOD’S DRUGS SCANDAL

Sushant Singh Rajput’s death in 2020 triggered a controversy about whether there is a drug culture in Bollywood. His girlfriend, actor Rhea Chakraborty, reportedly told Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) that Sara Alia Khan had offered her marijuana and vodka once, and further said she would have hand-rolled doobies. Actors Rakul Preet Singh and Ananya Panday were also called in for questioning.

6.SHINEY AHUJA RAPE CASE

In June 2009, actor Shiney Ahuja’s maid lodged a complaint against him, alleging that he raped her at his residence. He was arrested and released on bail three months later. But in 2010, while she identified him in court, she claimed that he never raped her. Following this, the court declared her hostile. Shiney in his defence said he was falsely implicated.

7.RAKHI SAWANT- MIKA SINGH KISS

Singer Mika Singh courted controversy when in 2006, he forcibly kissed actor Rakhi Sawant at this birthday party. She filed a molestation case against him and he was held, but granted bail.

UPDATE: The two are cordial with each other, but recently when Singh was asked whether Sawant would participate in his swayamvar. The singer later abused the journalist who asked this question.

8.AMAN VERMA’S CASTING COUCH STING OPERATION

Host-actor Aman Verma made headlines in March 2005, when a news channel aired footage from a casting couch sting operation. H was seen asking Suhaib Ilyasi to remove his footage from it. Aman in turn filed a criminal complaint against the same channel, alleging that they wanted to blackmail and extort money from him.

9.ME TOO MOVEMENT (TANUSHREE DUTTA, NANA PATEKAR, SAJID KHAN)

Tanushree Dutta opened a can of worms when she revealed in 2018 that while working on the film Horn ‘Ok’ Pleassss (2008), she was pressured to perform an intimate scene. She further claimed that choreographer Ganesh Acharya was complicit in this. She filed a sexual harassment case against him. A lot of other female actors and technicians from the industry came forward to share their #MeToo incidents.

PRESENT: The police filed a closure report in 2019, saying there was not enough evidence against Patekar.

10.JHANVI KAPOOR – ABHISHEK BACHCHAN CONTROVERSY

In 2007, while Abhihek Bachchan was getting married to Aishwarya Rai, a model named Jhanvi claimed that the latter stole him from her. She claimed that Abhishek had tied the knot with her in 2006, but failed to reveal the names of the witnesses. She later went to the police station to file a police complaint against him, which didn’t go through. Instead, she was charged with attempt to commit suicide by them and granted her bail on the surety that she won’t attempt it again.

11.SALMAN KHAN HIT AND RUN CASE IN 2002

Salman Khan was arrested in September 2002 for running over five homeless people on the roads of Mumbai. He was charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder. After several years of court hearings, Khan was acquitted of all charges in 2015.

12.ARYAN KHAN DRUG CASE

It was October 2021 when headlines screamed that Shah Rukh Khan’s elder son, Aryan had been arrested from a rave party on a cruise, and had to stay at Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail for 22 days.He did the rounds of the court, and after several days, the Bombay High Court granted Aryan Khan bail on October 28.

13.PAK ARTISTES BANNED IN THE WAKE OF PULWAMA ATTACKS

Following the Pulwama attacks, the All Indian Cine Workers Association (AICWA) announced a total ban on Pakistani actors and artistes in India on Monday in the aftermath of the deadly terror attack.

14.SHILPA SHETTY KUNDRA- RICHARD GERE KISS IN 2007

Hollywood actor Richard gere invited the ire of many people when he kissed actor Shilpa Shetty Kundra on stage at a 2007 event. Pople claimed it was an insult of Indian values. Gere apologized for it, but the case filed against Kundra for it was finally cleared this year.

15.AAMIR KHAN- JESSICA HEINES ALLEGED AFFAIR

Aamir Khan was reported to be in love with British journalist and author Jessica Heines, and a report in Stardust claimed that they were in a live in relationship. He was said to have a fathered a child with her too, Jaan. Aamir refused to own up and had told her to allegedly undergo an abortion, but she chose to give birth to him in the early 2000s.

PRESENT: Aamir recently divorced his wife Kiran Rao. They have a son, Azaad together.

16.ATTACK ON PADMAAVAT FILM SETS

Rajput Karni Sena workers created ruckus and vandalised the sets of filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmavat in Jaipur in 2017. They accused the makers of the film for ‘distorting history., and manhandled the director too. Various people from the film industry came out in Bhansali’s support and condemned the incident. The title of the film was officially changed from Padmavati to Padmaavat after the censor board asked them to. The film was eventually released.

17.KARAN JOHAR AND KAJOL FALLOUT

Best friends Karan Johar and Kajol had an ugly episode in 2016, during the release of their films Karan’s Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Kajol’s husband Ajay Devgn’s Shivaay . The relationship between the two went for a toss when Ajay alleged that Karan had allegedly paid self-styled critic Kamaal R Khan money to praise ADHM and trash Shivaay. Kajol retweeted Ajay’s reply to it and said “shocked”.

PRESENT: The two are friends again.

18.KABIR SINGH MISOGYNY

Shahid Kapoor’s 2019 blockbuster Kabir Singh raised eyebrows over it’s depiction of male aggression and a scene which involved the male protagonist slapping his girlfriend.

19.ZAIRA WASIM QUITS BOLLYWOOD

On 30 June 2019, Wasim announced she is quitting her acting career as it conflicts with her religious beliefs. In November 2020, Zaira requested fans to take down her pictures from social media as she was trying to start a new chapter in her life.

20.AAMIR KHAN INTOLERANT

Aamir Khan invited the anger of Indians when he said in 2016 that he felt a sense of insecurity and fear had been growing in the past couple of months owing to intolerance. He further said that his wife, Kiran Rao had also suggested moving out of India, but later clarified after an uproar that his leaving India” comments linked to the “intolerance” never meant that he wanted to leave the country or that India was intolerant.

21.JIAH KHAN’S DEATH UNDER SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES

Actor Jiah Khan was spotted hanging at her Mumbai residence in 2013, at the age of 25. A six-page suicide note allegedly addressed to her boyfriend, actor Sooraj Pancholi, was found by her sister. Her mother Rabia claimed that Khan had been murdered by her boyfriend, actor Sooraj, leading the prosecution to make a failed attempt to lay charge. A special court in 2021 rejected an application filed by the CBI to conduct further probe in the case filed against Soorajancholi.

22.MMS SCANDALS – ASHMIT PATEL, SHAHID-KAREENA

Two MMS scandals rocked the industry — an MMS leaked of Ashmit Patel and Riya Sen, and then couple Kareena Kapoor Khan and Shahid Kapoor. The latter were spotted kissing in the leaked video.

23.NEPOTISM DEBATE- KANGANA Vs KARAN JOHAR

The entire nepotism debate started when actor Kangana Ranaut appeared on Karan Johar’s chat show, and called him the ‘flagbearer of nepotism’. Ever since, it’s been a tussle of words between the two, with the actor referring to him as ‘papa Jo’ in many of her social media posts, taking digs at the filmmaker, alleging that he didn’t let ‘outsiders’ flourish. Even months after Rajput’s death, Ranaut wrote in a post, “Dear Sushant, movie mafia banned you bullied you and harassed you, many times on social media you asked for help and I regret not being there for you. I wish I didn’t assume you are strong enough to handle mafia torture on your own. I wish …”