Varun Dhawan found himself in an odd situation recently and, to be fair, he was only trying to be a nice guy. Varun had been stuck at a traffic jam when he noticed that in a car next to him, a woman had become excited at seeing him and was trying to shoot his photo. He tried to make her day even better by leaning out of the window, asking her to lean out of her window and then clicking a selfie of the both of them together with her phone.
This image of them clicking was in turn shot by another nearby photographer. The photo then made its way to a newspaper. While this should have just given a good feeling to a lot of readers, one party that was not amused was the police. They put up a tweet addressed to him along with the photo that said he was going to be fined.
The tweet read: ‘.@Varun_dvn These adventures surely work on D silver screen but certainly not on the roads of Mumbai! U have risked ur life, ur admirer’s & few others. V expect better from a responsible Mumbaikar & youth icon like U! An E-Challan is on d way 2 ur home. Next time, V will B harsher’.
This was probably a tad bit too strict since it was obvious that all the cars were stationary when the selfie was clicked. Varun however accepted his mistake and tweeted back: ‘My apologies. Our cars weren’t moving since we were at a traffic signal and I didn’t want to hurt the sentiment of a fan but next time I’ll keep safety in mind and won’t encourage this.’.
The matter should have ended there but the police wanted to have the last word on this. They replied with another tweet to him: ‘Quite a galactic coincidence for the photographer to be on the same signal to capture your gesture, in a good intent nevertheless risky. Leaning out even in a stationary vehicle can be distracting for others considering your popularity. Glad you took our message in d right spirit’.
Opposition to Padmavati release continues to mount
The inevitable happened with Padmavati following protests by lumpen elements whom the government didn’t want to antagonise because they feared losing their vote bank.
First the Censor Board refused to certify the film and sent it back citing some minor technicality. This brings into question the belief that Prasoon Joshi would be a more independent voice as the Board’s head after the disastrous reign of Pahlaj Nihalani.
Then the film’s producers also decided that they would shift the release of the movie from its earlier date of December 1. They probably had no choice in the matter given that chief ministers of almost all the north Indian states had said they wouldn’t allow the movie to be screened in their regions.
But what brought to the fore the irrational reaction in India to a movie the agitators had not seen yet was the news that the certifying body in the United Kingdom had cleared Padmavati for release without any cuts.
One of the big caste organisations that led the protests said they would also lobby abroad to prevent the movie being screened anywhere. But the producers are clear that they will anyway not screen the movie abroad without first releasing it in India. And for that they will need to negotiate a lot with protestors.
Meanwhile Deepika Padukone, Padmavati’s lead actress, on whose head a bounty was announced by some of the agitating people, said that she would not be cowed down. She told a tabloid that she was angry, disappointed and also amused. But she was not scared.
Aishwarya upset over
ruckus by photographers
When you are a member of the Bachchan family, one would think that the tyranny of photographers shouldn’t affect you. Especially if you are Aishwarya Rai, who was anyway the biggest female celebrity around even before she married into the Bachchan clan.
But that didn’t prove to be the case when she faced photographers recently. She had a reason for it. Her father had passed away in March this year. And last week was his birth anniversary. To remember him, Aishwarya had decided to sponsor the corrective surgeries of 100 children who had been born with cleft lips. An event to mark this was hosted at the hospital and Aishwarya’s little daughter Aaradhya had accompanied her.
It was then that the photographers had in their usual manner tumbled over each other to shoot the photographs of the mother and daughter ignoring the presence of the other children around as these children were not used to this. Aishwarya, it is said, was upset at how her daughter was being forced to be subject to paparazzi and reportedly even broke down there. It seems now the family have decided that they would keep Aaradhya out of line of photographers in future.
Priyanka may not be heroine in Don 3
The relationship that once was between Shah Rukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra reportedly began in the sets of the movie Don when they grew close to each other. At one point it even acquired very serious dimensions with star wives taking the side of Gauri Khan, Shah Rukh’s wife, and virtually ostracising Priyanka from their gatherings.
It is not clear what transpired later but the break up was sudden and all rumours ceased with Shah Rukh and Gauri going on to have a third child. And since then Shah Rukh and Priyanka have assiduously stayed away from each other’s path. But an interesting rumour is floating around about the lengths to which they are going to exhibit distance. Don 3 is now in the works and since Priyanka features in the first two editions of the franchise there was always the question of whether she will be part of this one too.
It is now being said that Shah Rukh didn’t want her in it. Instead he was keen on Deepika Padukone stepping in for the role that Priyanka did. And since Shah Rukh is the superstar obviously what he wills will prevail. This might sound somewhat unfair to Priyanka but then she was probably not angling for the role either. Imagine the slew of rumours that would be floating around throwing both their professional and personal lives in turmoil once again.
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RECKLESS: Mumbai police imposed fine on the Bollywood star for leaning out of his stationary vehicle for the selfie.
