My goodness, it has been a long time since I checked out the news sites!  Let’s see what’s been happening.

First, apparently Govinda is in court because he slapped a fan?  In 2008.  Once again, I am reminded that the Indian courts move at their own particular pace.  Anyway, he is now willing to offer an apology and 5 lakhs to the fan to get this thing settled (finally).  Even though he argues that he was within his rights, as the fan was “misbehaving” with women on the set.  Whenever something like this happens, there are rumbles of “film industry used as a scapegoat, no one respects us, everyone is just bleeding us for money and fame.”  And of course your first reaction is “wah wah, you poor baby!  It must be so hard to be famous and rich and beloved!”  But actually, yeah!  That is totally what is happening much of the time.

This whole thing reminds me of the Saif Taj Hotel battle.  What’s going on with that, anyway?  Ah!  A recent article says that the prosecutor is recommending mediation instead of prosecution, and that the accuser missed his last testimony date.  A reminder, this all started back in 2012, Saif was having dinner with friends (Kareena, Amrita Arora and her husband, and someone else I don’t remember) at the Taj.  The table next to them asked them to be quiet several times.  Finally, the party at that table confronted Saif’s party in the lobby, it turned physical, Saif hit an old man with a cane knocking him off his feet.  The other group, a South African business man, his wife, and his father, immediately filed a police report and had Saif arrested.  They talked to reporters from the hospital, said they didn’t even know who the other people where, they are innocent victims, the common man ignored by those horrible snooty rich film folks.  Saif and friends said that the other group was the aggresor, they kept picking a fight, telling them to be quiet in a public restaurant, insulting the women, and finally coming at them physically in the lobby until Saif had no choice but to respond.  Which sounds crazy, right?  Why would a businessman and his wife and father try to pick a fight with a movie star?  They didn’t even know who he was!  And then within like 24 hours it comes out that the businessman’s wife is a former starlet, who actually was in a film with Kareena, and they certainly knew who everyone at the table was.  Oh, and also the injuries to the businessman and his father were not nearly as bad as reported.  And that the police are seriously considering Saif’s counter-statement of events.  And now, look at that!  3 years later, the prosecutor doesn’t even want to deal with it any more and the South African businessman is skipping court dates.

Speaking of slow Indian court processes, Salman is in the news again!  But for actual film related reasons.  Production of Sultan is continuing apace and set photos are leaking out.  Including this one from his twitter:

So, apparently at some point in this movie about a wrestler, he gets into a fight.  Not really telling us anything new!  Except that he doesn’t have a mustache.  And in real life and other onset photos he does.  So also, at some point, his character will either grow or shave a mustache.

Aamir is still dealing with the Intolerance fall out.  I already talked about how he lost the “Incredible India” national spokesperson job.  He’s been replaced by Amitabh and Priyanka.  And the Bombay police pulled his protection detail.  A few days ago, he also lost his job as brand ambassador for Snapdeal, leaving him (according to some reports) without any endorsement deals at all.  Now, this is really kind of a problem for him.  Stars get money from 3 main sources: 1. Films 2. Public Appearances 3. Endorsements.  Aamir hates public appearances and won’t do them and he likes being able to choose his films based on quality rather than bankability, which means endorsements are his best source of income.  Not that he really needs the money, at least not by our standards, he’s got a piece of all sorts of successful properties, and I am sure PK and Dhoom 3 alone could support him and his entire family for generations to come.  But if he wants to remain viable in the market, to have that power and name recognition that lets him make passion projects like his current film (Dangal, a realistic sports drama with him and 3 unknown actresses playing his daughters), he needs those endorsements!  Which might explain his current tweets.

As I mentioned when he tweeted about the death of a Lagaan actor, Aamir doesn’t tweet casually.  It is only for big announcements.  Except today, he posted a three part tweet about an Indian soldier Lance Naik, the lone survivor of a patrol that was caught under an avalanche in Kashmir.  Now, I am sure that Aamir truly does care about this man and wishes him well.  But maybe when he hit “send” on those tweets he was thinking 90% about the man’s wife and family, and 10% about how this might help prove his loyalty to India and get those endorsement deals back.

And finally, new Don 3 rumors!  Since, as Bollywoodhungama delicately puts it, “Priyanka, for reasons not open to public discussion, is not seen as eligible for the Don franchise any more,” the rumored replacement star is Shraddha Kapoor. According to the last rumor, Farhan hasn’t even started working on the script yet, which means they are casting first and then building the character based on the actress.

I actually kind of like Shraddha, I thought she was surprisingly good in Ek Villain and ABCD2 .  And she even stood out in a thankless side role in Gori Tere Pyar Main (okay, so I have terrible taste in movies, I know this.  But she was good even in terrible films!  That’s a sign of real talent!).  But she better not be replacing Roma!  As I already said, I don’t think they can make a Don film without Roma.  I suggested, either they kill her off and make it a revenge saga, or recast and call it plastic surgery.  But they better not go the plastic surgery route with this cast!  There is no way tough mature battle-hardened Roma turns into soft little Shraddha!  On the other hand, if it is some sort of Shraddha is the balm for Don’s broken heart sort of deal, that I could get behind.  She has a kind of innocent but with hidden strength vibe that would work well.

(ABCD2!  It’s in 3D!  And Varun almost never wears a shirt!)