The newsmakers of January 2017

We are just a month into 2017, and there’s already a lot that has happened in B-town — Attack on a filmmaker, box office battles, the arrival of international stars, sly digs, friendships going kaput, unfortunate tragedies etc.

Without a doubt, the beginning of the year in B-Town was nothing short of a roller coaster ride with its share of attention grabbers.

Here is a detailed look at the newsmakers of January 2017...

Jackie Chan

The whole of B-town went berserk when the global action star – Jackie Chan set foot in the city last month to promote his Indian-Sino venture Kung Fu Yoga, and his humbleness further floored everyone.

Not only did he meet the likes of Shilpa Shetty, Tiger Shroff, Kangana Ranaut, and Salman Khan at a party hosted by his co-star Sonu Sood but was also seen on the popular comedy show – The Kapil Sharma Show, where he once again won hearts.

What’s more Jackie Chan also expressed his desire to work in a good ol' Bollywood romantic film. We only wish our filmmakers were listening.

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Kung Fu Yoga

Vin Diesel

Another firangi star who stole the headlines previous month was none other than Vin Diesel. The Hollywood star was in India to promote his film xXx: Return of Xander Cage, which also stars our very own desi diva – Deepika Padukone.

Right from being welcomed by a bunch of women clad in red saris and men wearing bright yellow turbans playing the dhol to the grand screening of the film, which was attended by a galaxy of Bollywood stars – Vin was indisputably ruling our tabloids for over a week.

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xXx: The Return of Xander Cage

Kaabil & Raees

The two big releases which clashed at the box office recently dominated the headlines the entire month.

Before the release, there were constant speculations as to which film will do a better business and post the release of the films, it was – ‘who raked in more moolah?’

The competition went to such an extent that it is rumoured that the producers even inflated the figures. Moreover, the makers even took sly digs at each other.

Whatever the reasons, the media couldn’t stop talking about ‘Kaabil vs. Raees’ or ‘Hrithik Roshan vs. Shah Rukh Khan’ throughout the month.

Dangal

While Raees and Kaabil are competing with each other over box-office figures, Aamir Khan’s Dangal, which was released in December continued to hog the limelight by breaking one record after the other.

As per trade reports, by the end of last month, the film’s domestic gross total was Rs. 534 crore, whereas the worldwide box office collection was Rs. 737.7 crore (gross).

Now doesn’t the film deserve to be in the news?

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Dangal

Shah Rukh Khan

The Baadshah of Bollywood was on a promotional spree for his film Raees and invariably made it to the headlines every other day. However, it was the tragedy that occurred during one of his promotional activity that sent the media into a frenzy.

Shah Rukh Khan was travelling with team Raees from Mumbai to Delhi via August Kranti Express to promote his film when a man died in a stampede at Vadodara railway station platform, where a massive crowd had gathered to meet the superstar. The unfortunate incident kept SRK in news for days to come.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Director Sanjay Leela Bhansali was getting his fair share of media attention ever since he announced his forthcoming magnum opus – Padmavati. However, a recent series of unfortunate events have kept the usually reticent Bhansali and his project in the limelight.

National Award-winning director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who is known for his period dramas was recently attacked on the sets of Padmavati in Jaipur by a fringe group. A video that went viral showed a bunch of hooligans slapping SLB and tearing his kurta.

The protesters manhandled the director and alleged that the film has love scenes between Queen Padmini and ruler Alauddin Khilji, played by actors Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh. The Karni Sena claimed that Padmini was a proud queen known for taking her own life rather than submit to Alauddin Khilji, the emperor who attacked the Chittorgarh Fort.

Apparently, post the incident the director has been threatened again.

Karan Johar & Kajol

For years, the filmmaker and his fav heroine dominated the headlines for their beautiful bond of friendship, however, in January the friends made it to the news as – ex-friends.

Karan Johar recently launched his biography titled — An Unsuitable Boy, and in the book, Karan revealed that he and Kajol never had a problem, it was between him and her husband Ajay Devgn.

However, the director cleared that Kajol is a chapter that's over for him. The excerpt read, “I don’t have a relationship with Kajol anymore. We’ve had a fallout. Something happened that disturbed me deeply, which I will not talk about because it’s something that I like to protect and feel it would not be fair to her or to me. After two and half decades, Kajol and I don’t talk at all. We just acknowledge each other, say ‘hello’ and walk past.”

The sensational chapter was enough to keep the ex-BFFs in news.

Salman Khan

There is not a single month that goes by when Bollywood’s Sultan don’t dominate our list of newsmakers. This time around the Tubelight actor made it to the news for being acquitted in a case registered against him under the Arms Act in Jodhpur in 1998 along with the cases of poaching of chinkaras and black bucks, when he was shooting for Hindi film Hum Saath Saath Hain.

While the trollers had a field day on the internet, Salman Khan’s fans celebrated the occasion with gusto.

Kangana Ranaut

With her next film – Rangoon all set to release, Kangana Ranaut is obviously on a promotional spree and the talented actress is indisputably making it to the headlines after every teaser and promo of the film are released.

However, along with credit for her performance, Kangana is also making it to the news for her continuous digs at Hrithik Roshan.

Makes us wonder when will this drama end!

Priyanka Chopra

There is no doubt that the Quantico star is forever in the news not only in the India media but also in the international media, however, PeeCee made it to the headlines this month for a delightful news.

The Baywatch girl has signed her next Hindi film and it’s with one of her favourite directors — Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Apparently based on a book, the film will be a gritty tale of a prostitute and a hard-hitting account of her life in a brothel.

After this breaking news, Priyanka Chopra deserved to grab all the headlines.

Bobby Deol

After being in isolation for too long, Bobby Deol finally got his share of media attention after a heart-warming interview with a popular web portal recently.

In the candid chat, Bobby spoke about his lost stardom, how director Imitiaz Ali cheated him, how he slipped into depression, his fight with alcoholism and his earnest effort to revive his career.

His honesty and candid revelations not only kept him trending on the internet but also in the media space.