Bollywoods 10 Biggest Scandals

10 . simi garewal nude scene in siddharth – back in the 60s, even as a certain kind of prudery was overtaking bollywood with the British govt and their censoring policies gone (they didnt object much to sex but cut out material on revolting against the regime) came simi garewal, an unconventional beauty from nowhere and did a nude scene in the indian english film ‘siddharth’.  it became a huge scandal as the average heroine those days were the demure vyjyanti mala, asha parekh, sadhna, nanda and mala sinha. simi was shown totally nude from the back and gave a topless front shot, though there was no full frontal.

9. mehtaab nude in bath tub – in one of her films (i dont remember the name) 40s star mehtab is in the bathtub and then she suddenly gets up and a topless shot appears on screen. and though during that period British raj censor board was much more lenient and even a lalita pawar had done a bold bathingscene, this became a huge scandal in those days more for the reason that the producer – director of the film was mehtaab’s husband sohrab modi, the legendary ‘master of historicals’. compare that with the 1990s when shahrukh khan and deepa mehta did a lovemaking scene where deepa’s breasts were exposed under husband ketan mehta’s direction but there was no furor.

8. sanya stardust interview – a starlet called sanya, who appeared in just two movies (one was naseeruddin shah’s malaamaal) gave an interview to stardust magazine in 1988 where she talked in explicit detail about how she would want to make love to all the leading heroes of that time (taking the names of jackie, sunny, sanjay dutt, mithun chakravarty and not sparing even 46 years old amitabh bachchan) and in what poses and on what locations. there was a huge hue and cry about the interview and why stardust published it within the media circles also. later it transpired that the starlet in question was full time into sex-work and had given that interview just to increase her clientele.

7 . aditya pancholi maid molestation – even while shiney ahuja was in school, aditya pancholi, the enfant terrible of bollywood in the 80s was accused of molesting pooja bedi’s (his then girlfriend) maid by stardust magazine in a story. pooja obviously was livid and broke off the relationship but a criminal case was not lodged against aditya who was already married with a kid from zarina wahab, 12 years his senior.

6. salman accident – one morning as the country woke up to the news that salman khan in a case of drunk driving had run his SUV over some workers sleeping on a a pavement there was a huge outrage against the star. it was greater than another case where salman was accused of hunting chinkara, a protected animal as there were human casualties in the accident case. salman off course denied he was at the driving seat but since then has been fighting the two cases and every time a court convicts/ rejects his bail, he has to go to jail for  a few days. during one of his visits to the courts, apparently a television cameraman, in an attempt to get a face shot, poked his fingers in salman’s ribs and salman started hitting the paparazzi left right and center. this became an additional huge scandal.

5. jackie molests tabu – tabu, the 90s star but then the teenaged sister of 80’s famous actor farah naaz accused farah’s very close friend and co star jackie shroff of molesting her in a, you guessed it, stardust interview. later however she retracted her statement, ppl said as she also wanted a film career and farah advised her to retract. no one ever spoke about it after that.

4. rajesh khanna accused of harrassing starlet – sabeeha, the daugheter of 60s star ameeta was launched with rajesh khanna in a ‘bold’  film’ anokha rishta'(1987).  however in an interview she came out to accuse rajesh khanna, already on a career low, of harassing her. she said rajesh khanna dropped his jogging shorts in her hotel room and suggested she give him a blow job, asked the director ‘iska naryal phod doon” (shud i deflower her) and generally made passes at her and upon rejection, harassed her no end. there was a huge furor but it somehow remained limited to English press. wish india tv was around in the 80s.

3. mandakini nude scenes in ram teri ganga maili – if any decade has been more regressive than the 60s, it has been the 80s. the islamic revolution in iran was having its effects in various parts of the world and in india it manifested itself in the form of mandir-masjid controversy of ayodhya. as society generally, and cinema particularly became more and more regressive with sunny deol slapping and then smooching any heroines who was ‘westernized’, came ‘ram teri ganga maili where mandakini had done atleast three scenes where her ‘breasts’ were seen, apart from being skimpily clad generally through the film. in another decade this wud have passed unnoticed but in the retrogressive 80s it was a huge scandal that nipped mandakini’s career in the bud.

2. sanjay dutt buys ak47 – in 1993 sanjay dutt who was being signed by big directors left right and center despite no track record of success as perhaps the industry looked for a replacement for amitabh bachchan, in came news that snajay dutt had bought an ak 47 machine gun from the video distributor and producer haneef kadawala of hanif-sameer duo. it was said that sanjay bought the gun, a part of the consignmentthat was brought for mumbai blasts of 1993 march. the defence version was that he bought the gun as a rightwing party’s cadre were threatening him and his family with dire consequences as his father sunil dutt, congress MP was making ‘secular’ noises on many issues including mumbai riots and blasts. sanjay was abroad then and his father’s lifelong reputation and political career was at stake. amidst rumors that snajay may become ‘fugitive’ and never return, sanjay came and surrendered. he was incarcerated in jail for 3 months and later again for 15 months between 1995-1996. the case is still pending in supreme court. sanjay has been absolved of accusation of criminal conspiracy and involvement in mumbai blasts but the case for acquiring the weapon is still on. the good side of the picture was that khalnayak, a much panned film where sanjay played a terrorist became a dubious hit at the box office the same year,

1. shiney ahuja maid rape scandal – in 2009, shiney ahuja was accused of rape by his maid. shiney was arrested and remained in jail for long. later he got freed on bail but a fast track court convicted him of the crime, despite the fact that the maid had retracted her stateent saying she was forced by her boyfriend to acuuse shiney. but the conviction made perhaps the biggest scandal in bollywood’s history. shiney had to go to jail again and appealed to the high court. pending decision shiney got bail and is trying to resurrect his career even as two women, starlet sayali bhagat and director pooja bedi of the film ‘ghost’ accuse him of sexual harassment. though many say its all a publicity stunt and shiney is a soft target now.