Anybody
who follows filmy gossip on a regular basis knows that celebrity scuffles are
not rare occurrences, and the news only gets more scintillating when two arch
rivals are involved. Even my loquacious maid will vouch for the fact that most
celebrity brawls are truly as wild and violent as they can get. After all,
there is no smoke without fire, and no bruise without a mean hit if you get my
drift.
Leading the bruise battle (mostly egos in this case) is of course superstar and ironically someone whose last hit was called Bodyguard, Salman Khan who almost always seems ‘ready’ for a fighting match- boxing gloves, flexing biceps and flashy six packs intact. Even though humanitarian by heart, Salman unfortunately seems to have a history of getting rough, even with his numerous lady loves (think Somy Ali, and a former Ms.World turned actor). Whether this is purely a pernicious image cultivated by the sleazy tabloid media forever hungry for such dirt or bitter facts spiced up for readers’ benefit and fructified by constant media speculation is never really clear. That said, in most cases, either the assailant or victim has either chosen to remain silent or sound dubiously defensive when asked to verify the truth. Sometimes of course, either party may also try to play peacemaker by brushing off the altercation as a minor mishap and sing the ‘forgive & forget’ mantra.
Incidentally, Dabangg Khan shares the honours of being in the boxing ring with another superstar and so called nemesis, Shahrukh Khan. In fact, even both of them are rumoured to have had spilled some bad blood at a certain party meaning they aren’t on talking terms the last time I checked. Remember a very forlorn SRK on the couch (no pun intended) with best buddy Karan Johar’s Koffee with Karan expostulating on the virtues of friendship and how he has been on the losing side of many such precious bondings thanks to ‘misunderstandings’ that he seems to have brought upon himself, very often. Result: Once buddy Salman Khan and filmmaker Farah Khan no longer seem to be his bumchums. Of course, another Khan- Farah’s brother Sajid in this case, seems to have pacified Farah and SRK to bury the hatchet, last time SRK decided to shower his errr…angst on her tweet happy, SRK-maligning hubby Shirish Kunder. So far so good. But please spare us the ‘we are one big family’ charade and hence ‘love winneth over’ monologues. If only happy endings were as common in the real world as they are in the reel one. We aren’t falling for that one unless SRK-Farah together groove to another rendition of ‘Om Shanti Om’ or even that corny ‘Happy Ending’ song in their first hit together Main Hoon Na.
So just when I was going to close the Hall of Fame column on the dhishoom dhishoom brigade of Bollywood came news of Saif Ali Khan’s reported tiff with a South African businessman in a popular five star hotel. I don’t need to tell you that this is not the first time he has been in the midst of such unflattering news. While most of these stars have often been caught manhandling ‘misbehaving’ media hounds, even breaking their cameras and ruining their film in the process, when their ire spreads to the odd civilian or two, it makes the sticky situation a tad more worrisome. After all, aren’t these superstars supposed to be people’s stars- the youth icons of current times, the glamourous poster boys of a modern, upmarket & suave India often winning awards for their wonderful contribution to upholding the values & significance of Hindi cinema within the country and abroad? Aren’t these very stars supposed to be ambassadors of peace, goodwill and charm when it comes to representing our nation? So do such vile stories tarnish and taint their glitzy reputations? True or false, it’s not like we are going to stop watching their films just because they had a boorish night out, right? Nah, I think I will still go see Agent Vinod and Ek Tha Tiger and Don 3 or whichever SRK film is to release next. What I am eagerly looking forward to enjoying is a female fight though- WWE style- the hair pulling, teeth gashing, tongue lashing variety. Highly sadistic I know but I am getting a bit tired of 40- something heroes acting particularly juvenile, no matter how bad the raison de etre. Let the sleeping dogs lie and let the cat or should I say Kat out of the bag for a change!
Leading the bruise battle (mostly egos in this case) is of course superstar and ironically someone whose last hit was called Bodyguard, Salman Khan who almost always seems ‘ready’ for a fighting match- boxing gloves, flexing biceps and flashy six packs intact. Even though humanitarian by heart, Salman unfortunately seems to have a history of getting rough, even with his numerous lady loves (think Somy Ali, and a former Ms.World turned actor). Whether this is purely a pernicious image cultivated by the sleazy tabloid media forever hungry for such dirt or bitter facts spiced up for readers’ benefit and fructified by constant media speculation is never really clear. That said, in most cases, either the assailant or victim has either chosen to remain silent or sound dubiously defensive when asked to verify the truth. Sometimes of course, either party may also try to play peacemaker by brushing off the altercation as a minor mishap and sing the ‘forgive & forget’ mantra.
Incidentally, Dabangg Khan shares the honours of being in the boxing ring with another superstar and so called nemesis, Shahrukh Khan. In fact, even both of them are rumoured to have had spilled some bad blood at a certain party meaning they aren’t on talking terms the last time I checked. Remember a very forlorn SRK on the couch (no pun intended) with best buddy Karan Johar’s Koffee with Karan expostulating on the virtues of friendship and how he has been on the losing side of many such precious bondings thanks to ‘misunderstandings’ that he seems to have brought upon himself, very often. Result: Once buddy Salman Khan and filmmaker Farah Khan no longer seem to be his bumchums. Of course, another Khan- Farah’s brother Sajid in this case, seems to have pacified Farah and SRK to bury the hatchet, last time SRK decided to shower his errr…angst on her tweet happy, SRK-maligning hubby Shirish Kunder. So far so good. But please spare us the ‘we are one big family’ charade and hence ‘love winneth over’ monologues. If only happy endings were as common in the real world as they are in the reel one. We aren’t falling for that one unless SRK-Farah together groove to another rendition of ‘Om Shanti Om’ or even that corny ‘Happy Ending’ song in their first hit together Main Hoon Na.
So just when I was going to close the Hall of Fame column on the dhishoom dhishoom brigade of Bollywood came news of Saif Ali Khan’s reported tiff with a South African businessman in a popular five star hotel. I don’t need to tell you that this is not the first time he has been in the midst of such unflattering news. While most of these stars have often been caught manhandling ‘misbehaving’ media hounds, even breaking their cameras and ruining their film in the process, when their ire spreads to the odd civilian or two, it makes the sticky situation a tad more worrisome. After all, aren’t these superstars supposed to be people’s stars- the youth icons of current times, the glamourous poster boys of a modern, upmarket & suave India often winning awards for their wonderful contribution to upholding the values & significance of Hindi cinema within the country and abroad? Aren’t these very stars supposed to be ambassadors of peace, goodwill and charm when it comes to representing our nation? So do such vile stories tarnish and taint their glitzy reputations? True or false, it’s not like we are going to stop watching their films just because they had a boorish night out, right? Nah, I think I will still go see Agent Vinod and Ek Tha Tiger and Don 3 or whichever SRK film is to release next. What I am eagerly looking forward to enjoying is a female fight though- WWE style- the hair pulling, teeth gashing, tongue lashing variety. Highly sadistic I know but I am getting a bit tired of 40- something heroes acting particularly juvenile, no matter how bad the raison de etre. Let the sleeping dogs lie and let the cat or should I say Kat out of the bag for a change!
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