As is the wont, 2022 has been a mixed-bag year for Bollywood. Theatres finally opened after two years due to the coronavirus lockdown and several movies made it to the cinema halls. Some came a cropper while several minted money giving a huge sigh of relief to producers and filmmakers. However, there was no dearth of controversies with ‘Boycott Bollywood’ trending all over social media.
Nevertheless, the year had been remarkable with more good news than bad. Here’s a recap of the movers and shakers of Bollywood who made it to the headlines with their films, personal lives and shenanigans.
Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor
2022 will be called Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor’s year. The couple started the year on a great note as they got married in an intimate wedding ceremony on April 14 at their residence after dating for five years. Soon after the couple announced their pregnancy on social media on June 27, ruled the box office with their first film together in Brahmastra Part One: Shiva and finally welcomed their baby daughter Raha Kapoor on November 6, 2022. Alia also made headlines with her professional life as she wrapped her first Hollywood film Heart of Stone opposite Gal Gadot and Jamie Dornan and was also made it to the TIME100 Impact Awards. She also started her own maternity fashion line called Edamamma and her first production venture Darlings was released on Netflix.
Boycott Bollywood
Bollywood was looking forward to some of the biggies hitting the screens in 2022. However, what the filmmakers did not anticipate was the backlash and the boycott call issued by netizens which resulted in several films finding no takers on the box office. Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chadha, Ranbir Kapoor’s Shamshera faced the ire of the audience. Actors’ past comments on religion and the nation were unearthed and fueled the hatred on social media which resulted in a boycott of their films. However, some films did not work for their poor story lines and stereotypical narratives that again was called out for boycott.
Movie Buzz- Brahmastra, RRR, Kantara, KGF: Chapter 2, Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Drishyam 2, Gangubai Kathiawadi, The Kashmir Files
However, all was not dark in the film industry as several films raked in a lot of moolah at the box office and brought new life to Bollywood. Films like Alia-Ranbir’s Brahmastra, Kartik Aaryan’s Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, SS Rajamouli’s RRR, Yash’s KGF: Chapter 2, Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri’s The Kashmir Files, Ajay Devgn’s Drishyam 2, Rishab Shetty’s Kantara and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi got the cash registers ringing and made every one rejoice.
The Kashmir Files
Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri’s The Kashmir Files emerged as one of the most profitable and popular films at the box office. Starring Anupam Kher, Mithun Chakraborty, Darshan Kumaar, Pallavi Joshi the film managed to garner a whopping Rs 340.92 crore (US$43 million) worldwide becoming the second highest-grossing Hindi film of 2022. The film centers around the 1990s exodus of Kashmiri Pandits or Kashmiri Hindus from Kashmir and presents the genocide that resulted with harrowing and gruesome detail. The film was widely hailed by the audience and screenings saw several people in the audience bursting out in tears remembering the brutality and atrocity meted out to their family members. The film also was mired in controversy as none of the bigwigs from the industry gave a shout out to it except a few including Yami Gautam, Aditya Dhar and Kangana Ranaut.
The Kashmir Files again courted controversy when Israeli filmmakers Nadav Lapid who was the chairman of the IFFI jury called the movie ‘vulgar’ and a ‘propaganda film’. However, he had to retract his statement after the Israel ambassador Naor Gilon derided him on social media and stood by the film and the genocide of the Kashmiri pandits.
Salman Khan death threats and Sidhu Moosewala assassination
Salman Khan received Y+security after he started getting death threats from Lawrence Bishnoi gang members. His security was beefed up by the Maharashtra government after his father Salim Khan received an anonymous letter proclaiming a threat to the actor’s life. Several of Bishnoi’s henchmen corroborated the fact when police arrested them and confessed on targeting Salman. The actor got arms license in self-protection after the death threats too.
Lawrence Bishnoi’s gang also claimed responsibility for the murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala and in the letter given to Salim Khan it threatened to do a ‘Moosewala’ to the actor. Sidhu Moosewala was shot dead on May 29, 2022 in Jawaharke, Punjab. The police said his death was a culmination of inter-gang rivalry. His real name was Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu.
Urfi Javed
Urfi Javed or Uorfi Javed made headlines throughout the year with her revealing dressing sense which was often tagged ‘vulgar’ and ‘bizarre’. The actress kept the social media feed alive and kicking with her numerous revealing yet quirky outfits. However, she was also targeted by a lot of celebs for it such as Farah Khan Ali, Chahatt Khanna, Hindustani Bhau and even Chetan Bhagat. But Urfi did not take things lying down and managed to shut all of them with her befitting replies.
Shehnaaz Gill
Shehnaaz Gill has gone from strength-to-strength ever since she burst on pan-Indian scene ever since she participated in Bigg Boss 13 which her rumoured boyfriend late Sidharth Shukla won. The actress was torn up after Sidharth’s demise but bounced back and is all set to make her Bollywood debut in Salman Khan’s Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan. She also has started her own talk show called Desi Vibes with Shehnaaz Gill in which she interviews celebs. Rajkummar Rao, Ayushmann Khurrana and Vicky Kaushal have already appeared on it.
Shah Rukh Khan and his films
Trust the Badshah to stake his claim in the year even without any film release. Shah Rukh Khan made the headlines at regular intervals throughout the year by teasing his fans with announcements about his upcoming films Pathaan, Jawan and Dunki. SRK’s Pathaan teaser was released on his birthday and broke the internet. The actor also made a lot of noise when he walked the red carpet at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah and left Hollywood icon Sharon Stone awestruck. SRK also made his fans’ day with his cute banter with his kids Aryan Khan and Suhana Khan and wife Gauri Khan on social media. Aryan and Suhana both will be making their Bollywood debuts next year. Aryan has completed the screenplay of his first directorial while Suhana will be debuting with Zoya Akhtar’s The Archies.
SRK and Deepika Padukone also faced a lot of backlash for their song Besharam Rang from Pathaan where netizens complained about the revealing clothes, choreography and lyrics of the track. They also dissed Deepika for her attire and compared her golden monokini to Priyanka Chopra's in Dostana giving thumbs up to the latter but slamming the former.
Ranveer Singh –nude photo shoot, FIFA, divorce rumours
Ranveer Singh owned the ‘thirst trap’ tag this year when he posed nude for a fashion magazine. His posing in the buff sent internet in frenzy and resulted in FIRs being lodged against the actor. However, the actor was supported by several leading ladies of Bollywood who were all gung-ho about the photo shoot. Despite the controversy, the actor will be making India proud as he has been invited to attend and represent the country at the ongoing FIFA World Cup final in Qatar. Ranveer also rubbished divorce rumours with wife Deepika Padukone which started after a tweet went viral. Ranveer will be seen on screens at the far end of the year with his comedy film Cirkus in which he plays a double role for the first time. The film is directed by Rohit Shetty and has Deepika in a cameo appearance.
Jacqueline Fernandez & Nora Fatehi embroiled in Sukesh Chandrashekhar’s money laundering case
Jacqueline Fernandez tackled legal woes this year. She was named as an accused in a money laundering case involving conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar, and was finally granted bail by the Patiala House Court in Delhi. The Enforcement Directorate had filed a supplementary charge sheet before the Prevention of Money Laundering Act court naming her as an accused. Jacqueline, who was summoned for questioning by the ED on several occasions, was stopped from travelling out of India earlier this year. The agency also issued a Lookout Circular (LOC) to stop her from leaving the country. The Sri Lanka-born is said to be conman Sukesh's girlfriend. Reportedly, Sukesh gifted jewellery, diamond-studded jewellery sets, crockery, four Persian cats (the cost of one cat is around Rs 9 lakh) and a horse worth Rs 52 lakh to Jacqueline. It was even reported that he arranged private jet trips, hotel stays for her and promised to produce a superhero film featuring her in the lead. Sukesh, along with actress Leena Maria Paul and six others, is currently serving a jail term for allegedly duping former Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder Mohan Singh's wife Aditi Singh of Rs 200 crores. Apart from Jacqueline, Nora Fatehi was also summoned by the ED for questioning but she was let off after the authorities found that she did not accept any of Sukesh’s gifts.
KRK arrest and Drishyam 2 controversy
Kamaal Rashid Khan, aka KRK was granted bail by a Mumbai court in connection with a 2021 molestation case registered against him by Versova police. However, his legal troubles are far from over as the case against him for his derogatory comments against Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan and others are still pending. He was also embroiled in a controversy when he claimed that a special screening was held for him by Kumar Mangat Pathak for Ajay Devgn’s Drishyam 2 and said that now he will have to give the film a 4-star rating. However, Pathak exclusively told PeepingMoon that no such screening was held for the self-proclaimed critic and called out KRK’s tweet as completely false and untrue.
Karan Johar – Koffee With Karan Season 7
Karan Johar ruled OTT in 2022 with his chat show Koffee With Karan Season 7. The chat show saw a record viewership with each and every episode and dropped some really juicy bombshells and startling revelations from the celebs that appeared on the show. Almost all the A-listers of Bollywood including Alia Bhatt, Ranveer Singh, Sara Ali Khan, Janhvi Kapoor, Vijay Deverakonda, Ananya Panday, Gauri Khan, Maheep Kapoor, Bhavana Pandey, Varun Dhawan, Anil Kapoor, Kiara Advani, Shahid Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Vicky Kaushal, Sidharth Malhotra, Ishaan Khatter, Siddhant Chaturvedi and several others appeared on the show bringing in record viewership on Disney+Hotstar.
Aryan Khan-clean chit in drugs case, viral photo shoot and upcoming directorial debut
Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan was wrongly arrested by the NCB in a drugs case last year from a luxury cruise. After spending almost a month in jail, the youngster was granted bail last year. However, this year he was cleared of all charges as the Narcotics Control Bureau could not tie him up with any larger drugs conspiracy or an international drugs trafficking syndicate and it was deduced that Aryan and SRK were targeted and the case was fabricated.
Aryan later broke the internet when he put his harrowing ordeal behind him and posed for a photo shoot for Adidas. SRK and Gauri commented on the photos much to the glee of netizens.
The star kid is also gearing up for his directorial debut with a web series and has finished writing its script. Making the news of his directorial debut, he shared a picture of the script and a clapboard with "Red Chillies Entertainment" written on it. His Instagram caption read, "Wrapped with the writing…can’t wait to say action (sic)."
Sajid Khan, Vikas Bahl – MeToo accused get back to work
Usually being raped or sexually assaulted bring a woman’s life to a standstill. The trauma is immense and more often than not the victim bears the brunt of society and has a tough time getting back to normal life. However, the perpetrators, majority of which are men continue to live a life of relative calm and have no trouble leading a normal life. Sajid Khan who was accused by several women of sexual harassment during the #MeToo movement is back in the mainstream as he is currently participating in Salman Khan’s Bigg Boss 16. Even though his participation has been called out by netizens, Sajid continues to be in the good books of Bigg Boss and even was named captain of the house.
On the other hand, another #MeToo accused Vikas Bahl also got back to direction after lying low for a couple of years. He directed Goodbye that starrer Amitabh Bachchan and was the debut launch vehicle of Rashmika Mandanna.
Tunisha Sharma suicide and Sheezan Khan arrest
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Tunisha Sharma’s death at the young age of 20 years left the TV industry in shock. The actress died by suicide on the sets of her TV show Ali Baba: Dastaan-E-Kabul in which she played the role of Shehzaadi Mariam. She was found hanging in the washroom. Her co-star Sheezan Khan has been arrested by police for alleged abetment of suicide. The two were supposedly in a relationship and had broken off only a couple of weeks ago.
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