#ThatWas2019: What made news in the entertainment space this year?
With Zaira Wasim deciding to quit the industry, Kangana Ranaut getting into (another) dirty brawl, Karan Johar grabbing headlines for the infamous house party allegedly involving drugs, Hrithik Roshan making a roaring comeback, and Shahid Kapoor bringing us one of the most polarizing Hindi films ever, 2019 has been an eventful year for Bollywood. Let's revisit the biggest entertainment news of this year.
In June, National Award-winning actor Zaira Wasim (19), who shot to fame with Aamir Khan's sports film Dangal (2016), announced her retirement from movies, after completing just five years in Bollywood. Zaira has also starred in Advait Chandan's musical-drama Secret Superstar. This year's The Sky Is Pink, which released in October, happened to be Zaira's last film.
In July, during a promotional event for her film Judgementall Hai Kya, actor Kangana Ranaut got into an ugly argument with a journalist, Justin Rao. She accused Justin of "running a smear campaign" against her. Following this, the Entertainment Journalists' Guild issued a media boycott against Kangana, and demanded a public apology. Thereafter, Kangana fired back and sent a legal notice to the Guild.
Then, in August, filmmaker Karan Johar and several other Bollywood celebrities including Vicky Kaushal, Deepika Padukone, and Ranbir Kapoor found themselves embroiled in a major controversy, for allegedly consuming drugs. These top stars were accused of being under the influence of drugs, during a house party hosted by Johar. The party videos/images had gone incessantly viral. However, Johar ardently rubbished these allegations.
To say that Kabir Singh was the most polarizing movie of 2019 would be an understatement. The highly controversial film by Sandeep Vanga was brutally slammed for its unabashed glorification of misogyny and toxic masculinity, but it still emerged an absolute winner at the box-office. The Shahid Kapoor-starrer earned a mind-boggling Rs. 379cr (globally), the second highest box-office collection this year.
Zoya Akhtar's dream project Gully Boy, based on the life of real-life rappers from the slums of Mumbai, was in September declared as India's official entry to the Oscars 2020. However, earlier this month, the movie got eliminated from the coveted race, as it didn't make it to the Academy shortlist. The jury asserted that the film was plagiarised, and thus rejected it.
