Before the Kangana Ranaut-Hrithik Roshan drama erupted and shocked everyone, let’s go back in time and take a look at the other dramas that rocked and shook the world back then.

Kids of today might just be fed up and tired of hearing what Kangana is saying about Hrithik. It’s nothing new considering how worst has happened and how some stars actually did worst things.

No matter how old these dramas and gossips are, it’s always so much fun to revisit them. We are going to get our hands on many stories as possible. All are posted below in quotes unedited and as original as they were written by their respective publications.

 

Famous Dramas and Gossips of Bollywood

 

Salman Khan

Salman Khan has been a trendsetter of sorts, losing his cool with Ranbir Kapoor at a Bandra restaurant and then gifting him a wrist watch. So many stories abound about the Bodyguard flipping out during the days when he was dating, pursuing and haranguing a gorgeous actress (samajh gaye na?). Now let that pass since he has cultivated this image of “Being Human”. He has sobered down; he won’t pour a cola over Somy Ali’s hair ever again. Fizz and forget.

 

Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai

This drama is the most epic one that we can remember. Mostly because we were young when this happened and to have Salman’s true character come out like that was something else. He went completely crazy about Aish and was so possessive about her that he was the reason she left him. Aish never spoke about it until she was forced to make a statement to the press on how he behaved with her and why she had to cut him out of her life. It was a very honest statement, something that must have meant a lot for her since she’s not known to come out to speak about her personal life. Still to this day, fans of Salman Khan think that she made all the abuse stories up and was just seeking attention at that time. Clearly, they have forgotten that before her, there was Somy Ali who once had a coca cola bottle dumped on her head!

Salman and Aishwarya began dating during the shoot of their first film, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, in 1999. Though they were seen as the golden pair of Bollywood, their relationship was mired by intense jealousy, physical violence and verbal duels. Once, while Aishwarya was busy shooting on the sets for SRK’s Chalte Chalte, an inebriated Salman barged in and tried forcing her to leave with him. When she refused, he began hurting himself till she gave in. Following this, SRK removed her from the film – a development that strained their relationship too.

The Salman-Ash relationship was troubled from the start. Aishwarya even arrived at a 2002 awards function in Mumbai with a fractured hand. Though something else was offered as the official reason, speculations arose that Salman – who had reportedly landed at her Lokhandwala apartment late in the night and banged at her door till she was forced to open it – was responsible.

 

Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan

This was the most ridiculous fight that was constantly reported by the media. The media was so invested in it and kept asking both Salman and Shah Rukh about each other. Salman was so annoyed that he once replied that Shah Rukh is not his ex-girlfriend so why would he feel sad that he’s not talking to him. To this day, no one knows for sure what happened between these two on that day. It’s only between the two of them and so far, it seems that they never told anyone else or we would have heard of it.

Though most of Salman’s relationships seemed to end on a sour note, it was his fight with SRK that provided the tabloids with all the fodder they needed. The occasion was Katrina Kaif’s birthday celebration in 2008, and Salman was said to have been picking on the Chak De! India star the whole evening. An irritated SRK then reportedly made a snide remark about Salman’s ex-girlfriend Aishwarya Rai, which got Salman all fired up. An ugly spat followed, and the two did not speak for years. The animosity ended only on Salman’s 50th birthday in 2015.

 

Salman Khan and Vivek Oberoi

Of course, the tales of Salman’s fights don’t end here: He is said to have threatened actor Vivek Oberoi when Aishwarya went to him on a rebound after her infamous break-up with the star.

Who can forget this epic Salman Khan and Vivek Oberoi 31 missed calls saga? By the way, Vivek did the right thing by calling out Salman on his possessive behaviour. If he didn’t hold that press conference then, just imagine what Salman could have done to Ranbir Kapoor. The press conference and what Vivek said was a gem. He let out so many secrets about Salman and how his own family thinks he’s sick.

 

The actor said he had called up Salman’s brothers, Sohail and Arbaaz, on Saturday night but was told that Salman was mentally disturbed and inebriated.

“They sympathised with me and said I should deal with him the way I wanted. “I spoke to Aishwarya, who was upset by the incident. She also said she had severed relations with Salman,” Oberoi said.

Oberoi said he had decided to come out in the open because the film industry had been tolerating Salman Khan for far too long. “He has bullied Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya, Ranvir Kapoor and Subhash Ghai, but no one made an issue of it because the general attitude is that Salman is sick. However, he has to be made responsible and accountable for his behaviour. His family has finally to take a stand. Salman needs psychiatric help.’

Vivek stood up to a guy, who was bullying him and in return, the industry people turned their backs on him. Vivek tried to apologised to Salman when he realised that he was blacklisted, but Salman was and is not in a mood to forgive him. On the famous ‘Aap Ki Adalat’ show, Salman was asked by the host about his impression of Vivek and he said he just doesn’t like him.

It’s been 15 years since then and Vivek recently opened up about what happened and why he has not been successful since then.

It was like a fatwa was issued against me from the powers that be. When my personal life got messed up, I couldn’t keep my eye on the ball. Even if I gave a hit, work wouldn’t follow. Shootout at Lokhandwala became a huge hit, but I sat at home for a year after that.

 

Dharmendra and journalist, Devyani Chaubal

Who knew Dharmendra once chased a female journalist to beat her up over something she had written about his affairs or rather exercises in the boudoir? Apparently, she’s not the only one as he also sent another female journalist to the hospital.

 

In the heydays of the Hema Malini-Dharmendra affair, it is said that Hema’s mother wasn’t too pleased about her daughter’s affections for a married man with four children. Though the actor – then married to Prakash Kaur – was welcome at their home, Hema’s mother got a rude shock when she formally announced her relationship with him. All hell broke loose when journalist Devyani Chaubal splashed the news in the media. An infuriated Dharmendra was said to have then followed Devyani, and thrashed her in public.

 

Dharmendra and Blitz columnist, Krishna

Dharmendra, of course, let his fists fly at the Blitz columnist Krishna. I remember visiting Krishna in hospital, bandages and black-eyed; he said he would not let Dharmendra get away with the assault. I was also at a Taj Mahal Hotel meeting where an “understanding” was negotiated with the bone-broken Krishna. Did it involve monetary compensation? Must have had to reimburse the hospital bills for sure.

 

Shah Rukh Khan and Shirish Kunder

It’s hard to believe that the ever-so-close friendship between Farah Khan and Shah Rukh Khan would go kaput. It became even worst when Farah choose to work with Akshay Kumar in her film. But that wasn’t all, Shah Rukh also slapped her husband Shirish Kunder at a party. The story was that Shirish was picking on Shah Rukh the whole evening at the ‘Agneepath’ success party held by Sanjay Dutt. Shirish had been making fun of SRK for a while and he even cracked a joke on ‘Ra.One’s failure at the box office.

What happened at that party was a drunk Shirish followed SRK to the gents’ room and ended up peeing on him or something like that. SRK lost his cool and slapped him. He left the party soon after with his sister in tow and the next day, Farah and her husband held a press conference to cry about the whole thing.

SRK has also had his share of unsavoury incidents through his career, and his fight with Salman was only the tip of the iceberg. In 2012, he was said to have assaulted Shirish Kundar, husband of Om Shanti Om director Farah Khan. As the story goes, he was stalked by Shirish through the course of a party thrown by Sanjay Dutt, but lost it around the time he was going to leave. He pushed Shirish onto a sofa and slapped him.

 

Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan

This has got to be the most bitchy fight of them all. No punches or kicks, just insulting words flying in and out. It all started when Aamir Khan called Shah Rukh a dog!

When a blog by Aamir Khan in 2008 reportedly didn’t go down well with the DDLJ star. Aamir, who was recuperating from a hamstring injury during the shooting of Ghajini, had written on his blog: “Shah Rukh is licking my feet and I am feeding him biscuits every now and then. What more can I ask for?” He later clarified that Shah Rukh was the name of his caretaker’s dog, but SRK wasn’t amused.

 

Twinkle Khanna and Akshay Kumar

Before Twinkle Khanna decided to turn a blind eye to her husband’s affairs, she was quite stern and feisty with him. It’s why he stopped working with Priyanka Chopra even after these two had 100% success together (his words, not ours). Guess, Twinkle is so tired now and can’t keep up, so she just turns a blind eye to whoever her husband might be pursuing. How many times can you actually warn a man before he gets the message? Now they pretend to be all lovey-dovey and all that crap. Read what happened then.

Akshay Kumar, Bollywood’s casanova from the 90’s, had an ugly fight with his wife, Twinkle Khanna, at the lobby of a Goa hotel in 2004. Apparently, things got so ugly that their marriage was said to have come under a cloud. Rumour has it that Twinkle and Akshay screamed at each other in full view of the hotel staff, with Twinkle slapping her husband while accusing him of having an affair with a co-star. A witness is said to have heard Priyanka’s name being uttered repeatedly.

 

Kareena Kapoor and Bipasha Basu

Who can forget how childish and spoilt Kareena Kapoor was when she first entered the film industry? Don’t get it wrong, she’s still the same today except she has learned to mask it well. She called Bipasha Basu ‘kali billi’ on the sets of ‘Ajnabee’. That movie was the first film of Bips and Kareena was mad that Manish Malhotra was paying more attention to Bips than to her.

It didn’t stop there. Years later on Koffee with Karan, Kareena called John Abraham expressionless while Bips retaliated by saying Bebolah had too many expressions. Kareena was pissed off that John choose Rani Mukherjee over her on the show in an earlier season. She thought he was being biased but John maintained that he’s a big fan of Rani.

Blue-blooded Kareena Kapoor had enough reasons to be uppity. An actor who was in the spotlight even as a kid, her equation with her female colleagues hasn’t been a smooth ride. Early in her career, while filming for Ajnabee in 2001, she apparently called co-star Bipasha ‘kali billi’. Apparently, the Kapoor kudi was livid that her designer, Manish Malhotra, had lent a helping hand to Bips. Kareena, of course, wouldn’t stop at that. On Coffee with Karan, she had mocked Bipasha’s then boyfriend John Abraham, calling him expressionless. Not to take things lying down, Bipasha retorted , in another episode, that Kareena had way too many expressions!

 

Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra

Apparently, the Quantico actor Priyanka and Bebo were also at loggerheads on many occasions. In an episode of Coffee with Karan, Kareena said she didn’t think any of her contemporaries – with the exception of Rani Mukherjee – were ‘actresses’. Priyanka put up a dignified defence – stating that Kareena, being her senior, should speak with maturity. However, Kareena was in no mood to back down. In another episode of the same chat show, she reportedly said Priyanka had an ‘unnatural’ accent. Priyanka, who was in no mood to take things lying down this time around, retorted that she got the accent from the same place Bebo’s boyfriend (Saif) got his.

 

Saif Ali Khan – Royal Fists

Frankly speaking, Saif Ali Khan appeared so girly at the beginning of his career that it’s hard to believe that he was this gangster! Check out the number of fights and brawls that he has gotten himself into.

Giving the other Khans a run for their money is Saif Ali Khan, whose career remains studded with squabbles and brawls. Back in 1994, Saif and his former wife, Amrita Singh, stormed into the office of Star and Style and assaulted journalist Kanan Divecha for publishing an article about her alleged affair with a co-star. After much drama, the Bombay HC asked to duo to tender an apology and settle the matter.

In 1995, Saif attacked gay right activist Ashok Row Kavi at his house in SantaCruz. Apparently, Kavi had said in his Bombay Dost review of Main Khiladi Tu Anari that the movie had a gay subtext.

In 2012, Saif was arrested and later released on bail for allegedly assaulting South African businessman Iqbal Sharma and another elderly man. While partying at Taj hotel, Iqbal had objected to Saif and his friends – Amrita Arora, Kareena and Karisma – creating a ruckus. Saif, of course, maintained that he had acted out of self defence.

 

Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan

Rajesh Khanna was a huge superstar when Amitabh Bachchan acted with him at the beginning of his career. He was cold and aloof to Amitabh that even his co-star Jaya Bhaduri lashed out at him once by saying that it will be Amitabh, who will overtake Rajesh Khanna. Sadly, Jaya couldn’t foresee then that Amitabh would also take Rekha over her!

As rivalries go, it is said that Rajesh Khanna, the first superstar of Hindi films, never really forgave Amitabh Bachchan for dethroning him. Insiders say that in the early 1970s, when Rajesh was the reigning superstar and Amitabh only an aspiring actor, the former would never acknowledge him. While shooting for Bawarchi (1972), Rajesh would greet everybody with a ‘hello’ but completely cold-shoulder the lanky newcomer. Jaya Bahaduri, who was the female lead in the film, couldn’t have any more of it – she boldly announced that the day was not far when her boyfriend would become a mega-star and the proud ones would have to slink back and lick their wounds. How prophetic! Zanjeer and Namak Haram released in 1973, and the rest – as they say – was history!

 

Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar

At Holiday Inn, a thousand moons ago, common friends had organised a peace summit between the estranged Salim and Javed. Both the writers are excellent with words but don’t mince them either. So after an initial politically correct dialogue, boom, tempers exploded. Salim suffered an injury on the back of his head, his sons still-to-become-celebrities were outraged. They wanted to drive over straight to Javed’s… but their father said, “No way. It’s none of your business.”

 

When Amitabh Bachchan couldn’t take the negativity written about him.

Rauf Ahmed, former editor of Cinema Journal and Filmfare and biographer of Shammi Kapoor, is one of those who never indulged in it himself, but could see how it was shaping Bollywood’s equation with the media. He remembers an interesting anecdote of Amitabh Bachchan’s tryst with gossip. “Amitabh used to hang out with the Stardust crowd when he was not big,” says Ahmed, “But after he became a star, he could not get used to being negatively written about. They had written a piece hinting at something between him and Zeenat Aman. His reaction made them write even more negative pieces about him. This was like a breaking point for Amitabh with the media.”

 

Film critic and former editor of Filmfare magazine, Khalid Mohammed on the many friendships that he lost because of his job.

Among the perks of the job are the friendships that develop with film stars. But Mohammed discovered that this could cause considerable heartache as well. At one time, he was so close to scriptwriter Salim that they would phone each other every day. “My review of his film Akela ended our friendship.” He also had a special equation with Gulzar, a poet and lyricist he regarded almost as a surrogate father. “He gave me a lot of paternal love,” says Mohammed, “We got involved in the making of Fiza, and he was writing the lyrics. He did not like some parts of the movie, but I stood by it. That caused an irrevocable rift.” His friendship with the Bachchan family—particularly Jaya Bachchan—also ended on a nasty note after Amitabh took offence at one of his film reviews and wrote a blog deriding him.

 

When stars use political forces to stop journalists from doing their job

Reporting on stars can also get risky if their subjects decide to take revenge for negative coverage. There have been unconfirmed rumours of a top star using politician Amar Singh to have an editor sacked for a negative review.

Ali Peter John, a veteran film journalist of 40 years, says that actor Govinda had once asked Shiv Sena Supremo Bal Thackeray to send Shiv Sainiks after him. “It is I who’d introduced Govinda to filmmakers and [that’s how] he got his first role,” says John, “We were friends. I had written a piece about him when he was at the peak of his career. His chamchas told him something, and he misunderstood the story. Next I heard that he was headed to meet Thackeray to have action taken against me.” But, as it turned out, Thackeray didn’t lift a finger against him. This was because Mohan Wagh, Raj Thackeray’s father-in-law, intervened on John’s behalf.

Once media censorship began during the Emergency, Stardust, a casualty of that dark phase, blamed Amitabh for it. “Since he was close to the Gandhis, the film industry blamed him for all the censorship,” says Rauf Ahmed, former editor of Cinema Journal and Filmfare. “A number of film magazines got together and announced a ban on him. He too made himself inaccessible to the media from 1978 to 1991.

 

 

How do the journalists of today work?

Film journalists today do not have the freedom to write as [their conscience dictates], as they and their organisations are controlled by the PR agencies handling the stars.