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2004: Flipping through scandals in Bollywood
22nd Dec 2004 22.10 IST
By N K Deoshi

For some Bollywood celebrities, year 2004 was not without the unusual scandals that verily befit the story of a masala film.

Flipping through the scandals of the year gone by, one can see that the real life can sometimes be more interesting than the one shown on celluloid.

An ‘enfant terrible’ director got himself behind police bars when one of his assistants died on a railway track. Another famous director was accused of sexual exploitation by an aspiring model-actress. And two young starlets were purportedly caught locking lips on video.

Crime, sex, love, lust and slander – all were parts of this scandalous year.

If the debacle of Boom could not bust the confidence of director Kaizad Gustad , then the fate of his unmade ‘Mumbai Central’ definitely humbled him down. In the month of May, Gustad’s Briton assistant Nadia Khan was hit by a train during the shooting of his film at a Mumbai railway station.

Things would not have turned hot for ‘cool’ Gustad had he/or his assistant not created any ambiguity about the cause of Nadia’s death. So, with the coming of June, the flamboyant director found himself behind the police bars only to spend a good number of days eating jail ki daal roti before he was finally given the bail.

The month of July brought to light the proverbial Bollywood casting couch when aspiring actress-model Preeti Jain accused director Madhur Bhandarkar of sexually exploiting her in return of the promises to give her a break in his films.

Preeti alleged that she came in contact with Bhandarkar three years ago and he promised to give her roles in his films but later sweet-talked her into a sexual relationship. She alleged that the director even promised to marry her but did not keep the promise. However, the Insaaf Ka Tiraaju was more tilted towards Bhandarkar in the court of law, and he was acquitted.

Things quieted down in Bollywood in August, but then came reports of newcomer Nigar Khan having posed topless for a Norwegian men’s magazine. One website even posted the picture that purportedly showed Nigar(?) flaunting her assets through a flimsy netty dress. Nigar, however, took a firm stand and denied having ever posed topless for any magazine. And the matter was buried.

The real coup of the year came by the fag end of 2004 when the Mumbai-based tabloid Mid-Day posted pictures of Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapur locking lips and licking each other’s tongues. Both stars have strongly alleged that the photos are morphed. But the Mid-Day claimed that they had a video of the two stars smooching in Mumbai restaurant Rain. It is a scandal that has brought criticism from many quarters of our film industry. The matter still has to be sorted out.

And just when the year is about to close, there springs out yet another scandal. A two-and-a-half minute nude video purportedly showing south Indian actress Trisha Krishnan taking a shower has appeared on the Internet. Trisha alleges that the video is morphed and has filed a complaint with Chennai police and the cops are looking for the leads that might lead to the real culprit.

Ain’t all these scandals enough to make a Bollywood blockbuster?