Ready for me to be grumpy? Sometimes I just am, I read these news stories and think “everyone is stupid and gullible!” and it bothers me.
Dips and Ranveer Housing
This isn’t a Dips and Ranveer grump, they seem perfectly reasonable. Bollywoodhungama reports that post-wedding Ranveer is planning to move into Deepika’s flat and then they will go house-shopping. Makes total sense to me. (story here)
What bothers me is the contrast with PC and Nick. Last story I heard had them not even living in the same cities. Granted, that was a while back, things could change. What I don’t like is the stories that hold up PC and Nick and all the other quick romances as the best most romantic possible way to do things. You can be romantic and also sensible! You can date for years, pick a time to get married in between work commitments, move into together, and then go house shopping and still be romantic!
Anyway, that’s what’s making me grumpy, Dips and Ranveer have a whole life planned out together and PC and Nick are throwing together a last minute wedding and everyone is treating them the same.
Zeenat Aman not part of #MeToo, Because All She Did was File a Police Report
This bothers me SO MUCH!!!! Zeenat Aman filed a police report about, essentially, a bad ex (or bad business partner? Not a total stranger anyway) several months back. He stalked her, harassed her, stole her money, threatened her physically, was generally horrible. Bollywoodhungama had an update on it today (his bail was denied) (story here), but specified that this wasn’t part of the #MeToo movement.
Because Zeenat filed a police report instead of making an anonymous twitter complaint? Because no one famous is coming forward to support her? Because she accused someone who isn’t famous? Is this our measure now, an ACTUAL POLICE REPORT is less brave than an anonymous accusation, or supporting an anonymous accusation? And what happens to you doesn’t matter if you are more famous than your attacker? #MeToo is limited to social media and what happens in the real world is uninteresting? Publicly shaming attackers counts for everything and doing the steps to actually put them in jail counts for nothing?
(Zeenat has aged so beautifully. Also, obviously, I’m not saying everyone has to file a police report if they don’t feel comfortable with it. But it’s also valid to choose to file a report and NOT publicize it on social media or ask your famous friends to do so!)
Kedarnath and More Stupid Trolling Censorship
Get ready to be SHOCKED, a random religious organization has filed a case and is making a stink shortly before the release of a big movie. SHOCKING! Some Hindu group is objecting to Kedarnath because they filmed a “lewd” song on temple grounds and, of course, it supports “love jihad” (story here)
I can’t believe the Indian courts haven’t found a way to settle these issues yet! It’s just so STUPID!!!! So transparently stupid and such an obvious cash/publicity grab. And anyway, objecting because of “love jihad” should get the case thrown out immediately because THAT’S NOT A REAL THING.
(This is so stupid. If she’s an adult woman, she has a right to live where she wants, marry where she wants, and certainly to pray where she wants.)
Kangana’s Family is Confusing!!!!
Kangana tends to sell a story, when convenient, that she comes from a poor family who doesn’t support her and is regressive so on and so forth. But the current story that just doesn’t fit right is that her Diwali plans are to go to her vacation home in Manali (or her family vacation home?) with her sister and brother-in-law and brother and his new girlfriend. (story here)
So, what’s her family again? Are they poor and regressive village people, or are they cosmopolitan types who spend Diwali in Manali and have girlfriends? And why does no one ever try to pin her down on this when she pulls the “I am poor and average and everyone is picking on me” card?
And so long as I am picking on Kangana a bit, can I also point out that it is possible she leaked her “quiet family Diwali” story in order to explain why she isn’t invited/going to any of the big industry Diwali parties?
(It’s a really nice house)
I’m just grumpy! I got too little sleep (because Books are Evil), and I got a guilt inducing email from church about a meeting it’s “really important” for me to go to, and all the Thugs showtimes are sucky or IMAX which makes me nauseous, and I want to beat up on celebrities and celebrity media for being stupid because it makes me happy again. Also, I still haven’t had lunch. Don’t be stupid around me when I am hungry!
dontcallitbollywood 
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Talk about clueless, I had this moment when I thought: Wait – did Dips and Ranveer get married?
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And, did you change your Blog heading format? What happened to the Hazel pictures in the rotation?
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Hazel should still be there, unless I hit the wrong button.
On Mon, Nov 5, 2018 at 3:23 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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No hazel. The lead picture is fixed and not changing with each sign-in.
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Fixed!
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LOL Haathi Meri Saathi
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and U.S.A. readers: VOTE!!!! tomorrow.
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The grumpy you makes for entertaining reading so I’d say it’s not a bad deal at all at times! Sorry hehe! I loved all that you said and I’m not even grumpy. 6 years of a relationship vs the 6 months one well, I guess whatever works for each. Kangana is from a well to do family with political connections, they probably didn’t completely encourage her filmstar dreams but yeah a lot of what she says is conveniently suited to the situation she is selling.
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Glad you liked it!
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I hope, in near future, media will be fed up with religious organizations protesting against movies, and they will stop reporting it. It’s just so stupid and needs to stop.
For Kangana – I don’t find her family confusing. Seems that only young people are invited . Kangana and her sister are close. Her brother, I don’t know, but I think if he is smart he will try to be on good terms with his rich and famous sister.
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I feel a little bad about reporting it myself, but then I’m reporting it as “this is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard and it makes me angry” instead of all serious about the relevant concerns and stuff.
On Mon, Nov 5, 2018 at 3:42 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I read a long piece about Kangana’s home village and while I don’t know how supportive or not her immediate family was of her dreams, her community most definitely was not and still is not supportive. They aren’t proud of her stardom, instead they still disapprove of a young woman leaving home and going to the big city even if she achieves success. And as Angie said, it’s the younger generation and she and her sister are very close.
Now the bit about not being invited to industry Diwali parties, of course she isn’t. It’s either her or Hrithik and Karan. She’s not winning that context.
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Ok, that thing about who is or isn’t part of #metoo really makes me grouchy. If a survivor wants to share her story publicly, fine, if she or he doesn’t, fine. People are so ready to try to make it about whether someone is the perfect victim/survivor or not, because it’s easier than owning up to the fact that almost every society is totally effed up about allowing powerful (mostly) men to abuse (mostly) women and kids with immunity. Argh.
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This one also feels like it is about whether the perpetrator is the perfect villain. Like, Sajid Khan was really easy, a pretty young woman and a young man with power. But Zeenat is talking about a messy ugly relationship between two past middle-age people. And Jeetendra (does no one but me remember that story?) was a nice old Grandpa.
I guess it’s easy to have online anger about other people who would be online (below a certain age, above a certain income group) but hard to find that same anger for people who aren’t like “us” whether they are the perpetrators or the victims.
The way BH reported this was so “everyone calm down, this isn’t a #MeToo story, this is just a woman who was attacked by a man”. Like, it doesn’t “count” unless it’s posted and publicized and hashtagged. Not to mention that Zeenat is just one of many women connected in some way with the film industry who have filed court cases over the years, but no one is remembering and telling their stories until it hits social media somehow. Regular media just isn’t cool enough?
On Mon, Nov 5, 2018 at 4:40 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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From a gossip perspective there’s no difference between Dipveer and Prick. Both couples get you huge site traffic and from a PR perspective no one hustles like Priyanka. It’s not about which couple deserves the attention (though as someone who very quickly moved in with and has been married to the same man for 11 years, I think a quick marriage is as valid as a marriage after years of dating). It’s not the short length of time that makes me side-eye Prick, it’s that the relationship seems so transparently opportunistic.
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Oh oh! I should totally do separate posts for the two wedding and put up a click counter so we can have objective evidence of who gets more traffic!
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Ha ha 🙂
I skip the gossip and go directly to the religious stuff… the dagger Bauua is showing on the poster got the movie a FRI filed by a politician who seems to like to file in the name of religious feelings of the Sikh community…
https://www.timesnownews.com/entertainment/news/bollywood-news/article/shah-rukh-khans-zero-in-trouble-as-mla-files-complaint-aganist-the-film-for-allegedly-hurting-sikh-sentiments/309921
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I think Dishoom ran into the same problem with a knife Jacqueline wore in one song. The nice thing is, with CGI, they can just remove the offending knife instead of reshooting the whole scene.
On Tue, Nov 6, 2018 at 7:41 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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India’s FIR system seems to give the public an awful lot of clout and power against powerful interests, businesses, establishments, and people. Overall seems like a good thing being misused. I wish we had that here, honestly.
The parents of Kangana’s origins story need not be in the same financial situation as those same parents today, 15 years later. Whether KR has since bought them houses or given them money, or whether they have benefited from her fame financially in their own lives and businesses, it’s actually your assumption that their lives would have stagnated financially despite their daughters success these last 15 years which confuses me.
It’s ironic that BH wants to disassociate ZA from #MeToo because ZA is actually classic BW OG #MeToo with her story of being beat up by Sanjay Khan (suzanne and zayed dad, hrithik XFIL) with BW onlookers present, during or after their extramarital affair. https://www.thequint.com/entertainment/celebrities/sanjay-khan-denies-assaulting-zeenat-aman-1980-the-best-mistakes-of-my-life-autobiography
I really don’t like SK based on his interview on Simi Garewal with his wife Zarine, where he implied that it’s normal for married men to stray and that wives must be patient and strong and they will be rewarded in due time, like his own wife has been. Obviously I’m paraphrasing, so here is the source.
What’s sad about ZA is that it seems so many of her relationships have been abusive. Her exhb, the younger bf she had, and even the current exbf against whom she filed charges, all were abusive, per her own admission. At some point you have to ask yourself why you are attracted to such men.
Re aging, ZA is like Sofia Loren – similar both in looks and in aging with grace.
Ironically, DR might seem like the more normal relationship in the west, but in India it’s unduly long, and PN are more appropriate to the culture. But It’s just weird that they have no chemistry in their photos whatsoever, whereas his pics with previous gfs make the loving romance more apparent.
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I was thinking about Zeenat and Sanjay with all these stories! And so many other stories from the past that, again, don’t seem to be included in the “real” #MeToo timeline. I know I am expecting too much of the Indian media, but wouldn’t it be nice if instead of just reprinting current social media posts they actually dug into their own archives and spread out how this has been happening for decades? And I know I am REALLY expecting to much of social media, but wouldn’t it be nice if instead of just resharing new posts, people used their social media power to promote and spread these older stories?
What I find puzzling with Kangana is primarily that her brother is close with her and has a girlfriend. The story she sells sometimes gave me the impression of a very regressive traditional family, the kind that would not allow her brother contact with her and would certainly not allow him to have a public girlfriend. I had thought of her as coming from a family that disapproved of her and cut her off, that her sister “escaped” with her (that seemed reasonable) and the two of them were isolated from the rest of her family. But a brother with a girlfriend doesn’t fit in that picture somehow so now I am confused again.
With “no chemistry”, you mean PC and Nick, right? I love Dips and Ranveer’s chemistry. Obviously it could all be faked for the camera and doesn’t necessarily mean anything, but if it is faked, they are very good at faking.
On Tue, Nov 6, 2018 at 11:52 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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PC and Nick look like fellow celebrities who’ve been asked to pose together in the same photo.
Nick with his previous gfs in photos shows more obvious cuteness, friendship, and puppy love.
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is there a 101 on zeenat aman and her life/ history? i havent been able to find one through the index and am wondering if its me or its not there…
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It’s not there. But that would be an interesting one!
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