And yet it is a testament to the disconnect that exists sometimes between critics and the audience that Half Girlfriend is actually not doing very badly at the box office. The movie has crossed Rs50 crore and has still some life left to it. While that number might not be earth shattering, it is good enough for an Arjun Kapoor-Shraddha Kapoor movie to pass off for a hit. It keeps the reputation of the two intact as very saleable stars.
Director Mohit Suri, who has had a good run in recent times until the debacle of Hamari Adhuri Kahani, will get solace from the fate of Half Girlfriend. As to the spurning by critics, no really is bothered by it if the movie does well. As Arjun Kapoor commented in one interview when asked about the panning by reviewers that they should watch it with an open mind like the audience and not seek only just one kind of movie.
Twitter wars
Paresh Rawal, who is a member of Parliament now representing the Hindu right wing Bharatiya Janata Party, found himself in the midst of a controversy that then boomeranged to some of his other supporters in the film world.
It began oddly with him being fooled by a fake news about the author Arundhati Roy which had her making alleged statements to the Pakistan media against the Indian government on the situation in Kashmir. Roy, while a critic of the government, had never made that statement.
Rawal, believing the news to be true made a number of tweets against Roy, the most controversial of them being, ‘Instead of tying stone pelter on the army jeep tie Arundhati Roy!’. This was in reference to recently an army officer using a civilian as a human shield to protect his men from an angry mob. Rawal’s words were construed as a call to incite violence and soon there was an angry debate online between those supporting him and Arundhati.
Ultimately, a large number of complaints were made to Twitter who told Rawal to remove the offending tweet and he complied. He later said that he had been forced to do so under threat of having his account blocked. He however averred that he had no regrets about making that tweet.
Another person who supported Rawal however did find his Twitter account blocked. This was Abhijeet, the playback singer who is largely famous nowadays for being foul mouthed on social networking to try to cosy up to the party that Rawal belongs to. He had a verbal spat with a female student leader and made crude comments with sexual overtones. Again complaints were made to Twitter which suspended his account.
But the story still didn’t end there. Singer Sonu Nigam, who has lately been in the news for protesting in Twitter against the use of loudspeakers in mosques, announced out of the blue that he was also getting out of Twitter for what was done to Abhijeet. He made as many as 24 tweets to explain why he was doing this and the gist of it was that Twitter was an arena of much mud-slinging and to single out only Abhijeet was unfair.
He however clarified that he was not part of any ideological divide. But there was also a line about ‘never say never’ which sounds like suspiciously leaving the door open for a return.
Profit confusion
Neerja had been an unexpected hit last year. Based on the life of airhostess Neerja Bhanot, who had given up her life while protecting passengers of a hijacked plane in 1986, the movie had resuscitated the career of Sonam Kapoor. It had earned over Rs100 crore, an impressive number for a movie with a female lead character. The entire cast and crew had felt that their faith in the movie had been vindicated.
But, now, a controversy seems to have erupted. Apparently one of the producers had promised the family of Neerja ten percent of the movie’s profits towards the charitable foundation in her name. They are now contemplating going to court. However, the producer is saying that there is no merit to their demand.
The share was to come from his profits and that had indeed been offered but the family refused it. Now they are seeking the share of the studio that co-produced it. Who is in the right is not clear at present but it is an unsavoury note in a movie that inspired so many.
Careless whispers
A rumour is brewing about Aamir Khan and Fatima Sana Shaikh, the actress who played his daughter in Dangal. It started during the casting of Thugs of Hindustan, the Yash Raj Films project which stars Aamir and Amitabh Bachchan. For a heroine, Yash Raj had apparently been keen on Vaani Kapoor, who they have featured in their earlier movies. A series of other names were also floating around. But finally Fatima was settled on and it is insinuated that this was due to pressure from Aamir.
In fact, even while the casting was going, an image of Fatima dressed in the part of the movie with a sword got leaked. No one owned responsibility for how that photo got out, especially since this was at a time when the role had not even been finalised. Then recently, there was a photo that Fatima herself uploaded on her Instagram account of Aamir sitting in a chair with a caption titled ‘Such Modesty Mr. Perfect’. But it was soon removed.
In fact, one reporter even asked Kiran Rao, Aamir’s wife, about the casting of Fatima in the movie and her reply was that it was not Aamir’s decision but Yash Raj’s since they were the producers. It is possible that there is all smoke and no fire as is the case with most Bollywood rumours but the whispers are growing louder.
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