The year 2021 has been full of controversy for the Hindi film industry. There have been several incidents of police complaints, arrests, protests, trolling. The Bureau of Narcotics Control (NCB), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Income Tax Department also arrested the celebrities. Bollywood faced opposition on every front.
Complaints were lodged against the scenes and dialogues of the film, and comedians got into trouble for hitting jokes.
Arya, the 24-hour son of superstar Shah Rukh Khan, was jailed in a drug case. In October, an NCB team raided a cruise ship and seized drugs, and the case has been in the headlines since Aryan's name was linked. Despite being a star kid, Aryan Khan, who was far from the media spotlight, suddenly took over the International. He was released on bail after spending 28 days in Mumbai's Arthur Road jail, but political turmoil erupted during his imprisonment. During the investigation of Aryan's WhatsApp chat, the NCB team also called his close friend Ananya Pandey for investigation. Last year, Deepika Padukone, Sara Ali Khan, Shraddha Kapoor and Rakulpreet Singh were questioned about drug contamination in the film industry.
Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap and actors Tapasi Pannu and Sonu Sood were in the headlines due to the Incometax raid. Tapasi-Anurag, which has an anti-establishment view, was raided in March and Sonu's premise in September. After the raids on Sonu and the Lucknow-based infrastructure group, the IT department claimed that the actor had obtained unaccounted income from anonymous companies through bogus unsecured loans. Gold's services, which provide rail, air and road facilities for thousands of migrant workers during the lockdown, were earlier praised.
Jacqueline Fernandez and Aishwarya Rai were on the ED's radar. Aishwarya, 48, was questioned in connection with the Panama Papers leaked in 2016. Jacqueline Fernandez, meanwhile, is facing a money laundering investigation into her alleged involvement in the scam. After Jacqueline, Nora Fatehi has also had to explain to the ED team about her relationship with Sukesh. Businessman husband Raj Kundra was arrested in July in a pornography case and released on bail in September after a major hurricane hit the family of actor Shilpa Shetty. Trolling against Shilpa Shetty, known as a yoga icon and fitness idol all over the world, went on for a long time and she also got media scrutiny. Following the criticism from all quarters, Shilpa had to post a statement on social media requesting people to provide family privacy.
The year 2021 has been like an undertrial for Bollywood, which is facing difficult situations due to lockdown in the year 2020. Political parties were also scrutinizing every aspect of the industry, starting with the audience. Saif Ali Khan and Mo in the political series Tandav of Amazon Prime Video. Zeeshan Ayub was in the main role. The film, which was released in January, had received police complaints in several areas, alleging that it had offended religious beliefs. The streaming company had to apologize to calm the controversy and he removed the controversial sequence. In addition to the film or series, advertisements were also in controversy. In an ad for tires, Aamir Khan advised not to set off firecrackers on the road. While Alia Bhatt was provoking Hindu sentiments by writing a Kanyadan advertisement for a clothing brand.
Most of the controversy was on social media, but Bajrang Dal activists attacked filmmaker Prakash Jha and his team who were shooting for the Ashram series in Bhopal. It was alleged that the Hindu society was misrepresented in the series. Munawar Farooqi and Kunal Kamra's shows were canceled in Bangalore. A number of police complaints have been lodged against firebrand actress Kangana Ranaut and her Twitter account has also been suspended. While Kangana demanded strict action against Veer Das. Kangana continued to attack people considered anti-establishment or pseudo-secular.
Kangana continued her allegations of nepotism, denouncing farmers' protests. Kangana's Twitter account was permanently suspended in May for violating Twitter rules several times. When Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress won against the BJP in West Bengal, Kangana made a number of tweets against Mamata. Kangana's comment that the country got true independence in the year 2014 had sparked discussion for days. Kangana has faced criticism from all quarters for comparing independence in 1947 to begging.
