A horrifying case of the rape and murder of an eight-year-old in the state of Jammu & Kashmir led to shock across India. It turned into a political issue, with rightwing Hindu nationalists preventing the lodging of a chargesheet in court and also the ruling party BJP’s own state ministers taking part in a protest in support of the accused. Countrywide disgust and anger also saw Bollywood celebrities voicing their agitation on social networking sites. Priyanka Chopra, for instance, tweeted, ‘How many more children like baby Asifa will be sacrificed at the intersect of religion and politics? How many more children will have to suffer unimaginable crimes before we wake up? I’m disgusted. It’s time for swift action. We owe it to Asifa and to humanity.’ Likewise, Akshay Kumar had written, ‘Yet again we’ve failed as a society. Can’t think straight as more chilling details on little Asifa’s case emerge...her innocent face refuses to leave me. Justice must be served, hard and fast!’ 
Some like Rajkumar Rao joined a protest march. Many stars took part in a unique protest by taking their photos along with a placard that said they were ashamed and demanded justice. Among those who did this were Kareena Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Swara Bhaskar, Richa Chadha, Kalki Koechlin and more. 
But then they themselves became a target of online trolls, who began to harangue them about not raising voices in earlier crimes of this nature. One even asked why Swara Bhaskar had her make-up on in the photo. The actress replied that she had been in the middle of work. There were also some who questioned why Ranveer Singh, Shahid Kapoor and Deepika Padukone were silent over all this, given the support they received while being targeted during the agitation against Padmaavat.  
Meanwhile, another actor who came in for flak was Amitabh Bachchan. Asked about his response to the crime, Amitabh said he would not discuss the issue because it was too terrible to even talk about. His stand was thought to be defeatist when it comes to addressing issues like sexual violence. On top of that he was associated with government campaigns which spoke of protecting girls. To shy away from commenting seemed like an evasion. Or, worse, being cautious so that he would not land in a controversy. For a man who makes copious numbers of tweets on sundry issues, it was an odd silence. 

Swayed by real life


The national film awards is the most prestigious one, given that the ones by private bodies are almost all money-making exercises in which the winners are rigged. This time when the national awards was announced recently, it held a surprise in the best actress being given to Sridevi posthumously for her role in the movie Mom. 
While no-one can argue that Sridevi is not a good actor, what has raised eyebrows is the self-evident fact that the award was given to her because of her demise. The jury chairperson Shekhar Kapur said that even though he had a connection with her by way of being the director of Mr India, a movie that Sridevi is still remembered for, it was the entire jury who voted for her. He himself thought that it would be unfair to the other actresses on the list if Sridevi got it only because of the emotions her death evoked. The jury were however, swayed by the tragedy of her untimely passing. This obviously does make it unfair because Mom was a movie that sank without a trace and no-one really remembers her acting in it.

Book gossip

Two unusual rumours around Katrina Kaif hit the gossip mill recently. One was the possibility that she might be asked to co-host the reality television show Bigg Boss along with Salman Khan. This led to one more round of the endless speculation whether the two were dating again. They certainly seem to be spending a lot of time together, but with Salman you never know, it could just be one of those good friendships with ex-lovers. The other rumour about Katrina was that she was planning to write an autobiography. This was the result of a casual comment during an interview when she was asked about her long decade-and-a-half innings in Bollywood and replied that she might pen it all down in a book. Then, there was news that it was already in the works and even a title, Barbie Dreams, had been decided on. But it turns out that this is not true and while she has herself not issued any clarification, there have been denials by sources close to her, who say that she is too private a person to ever write such a book.


Dismal show


Varun Dhawan has been on a superb roll for many years now. His last film Judwaa 2 did the kind of business that you only expect from the likes of Akshay Kumar or the Khans. But stars also have a yearning to make their mark as an actor. And in this bid, he might just have brought upon himself a flop. To be sure, his latest release October, a subtle sombre human drama, was never going to be in the category of a full-on commercial entertainer. 
But then plot-driven realistic movies like Piku, which had sterling performances from Deepika Padukone and Amitabh Bachchan, have also turned out to be blockbusters. It was this space that October aspired to. Alas, the movie, while not a total flop, has belied expectations of what a Varun movie should earn. It registered around Rs30-35 crore in the first week and not much of an uptick is expected. While no-one is going to lose money with these numbers, there won’t be any big profits either. 
Meanwhile, October has also come in for some controversy with a Marathi filmmaker raising accusations that the story had been plagiarised from her movie. But October’s dismal show will not affect Varun’s standing in the market or among his fans. That was evident when news leaked about what he might be getting paid for a dance-themes movie which also stars Katrina Kaif. Varun’s fees were said to be Rs32 crore while Katrina’s was just Rs7 crore. This is the sort of gulf only superstars command. The only thing that might affect his fortunes is a string of flops after October but that looks improbable. 


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