Irrfan Khan smoulders
A tyre businessman’s son from Rajasthan, 48-year-old Sahabzade Irrfan Ali Khan has had a fantastic 2015. Never feted for his looks, he teamed up with beautiful Bollywood heroines such as Deepika Padukone and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. A mesmerising, compelling presence as a ghost in the Punjabi film Qissa, he was equally at home suavely flirting with a modern working woman in Piku or essaying with ease the role of a CBI officer in Talwar. He lives up to what Danny Boyle of Slumdog Millionaire says about him — Irrfan can get to the “moral centre of any character”. His ongoing affair with Hollywood just got serious with his role in the Tom Hanks-starrer Inferno, adapted from a Dan Brown novel. Khan — once described as the poor man’s Naseeruddin Shah — has actually done what Naseer couldn’t: make Bollywood sit up and take notice.
Perumal Murugan lays down his pen
Tamil author and professor Perumal Murugan became a nationwide figure in 2015 when his book Madhorubagan along with its English version, One Part Woman, was attacked by Hindu activi-sts in his hometown Tiruchengode. The book revolved around a much-in-love childless couple who resort to different methods to have a child. What bugged the protestors was the reference to a chariot festival at the Ardhanareeshwara temple in which his heroine picked a man of her choice for a night to get pregnant — they felt it demeaned the women in their village. Murugan announced his “death” on his Facebook page and moved to Chennai fearing for his life. He is a regular at book festivals.
Rajinikanth’s dud
The impossible happened in 2015. Lingaa — starring the South badshah and superstar Rajinikanth — incurred losses. Distributors of the film, where he is paired with Sonakshi Sinha, threatened to go on a hunger strike, demanding a refund for the losses they had suffered. A distributor said they’d been told that Lingaa would rake in 10 times more money than his immensely successful Endhiran (Robot). But, alas, the film — hastily put together in six months — was a dud. But, of course, Rajini is not Rajini for nothing — he’s already getting his act back together. He has announced a sequel to Robot, which will feature him and British model-actor Amy Jackson. And sexy Amy may be the muse Rajini is in search of.
Milking the cow dry
Ogden Nash had it all wrong. The cow is of the bovine ilk/ one end is moo, the other milk, he wrote. But as was driven home over and over again in 2015, the cow in India is not as much bovine as it is divine. Indeed, what most thought was a domesticated animal has turned into a political beast. In March, the Maharashtra government said that anybody selling and eating beef in the state could be jailed for five years. The Jharkhand government also resolved to impose its beef ban strictly. In September, a 50-year-old man was lynched in a village not far from Delhi by a mob that thought he stored and ate beef. A Hindu organisation appealed to Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to ban the sale of beef and cow slaughter during Durga Puja. Last week, a Shiv Sena MP suggested that the cow be declared the Mother of the Nation. Won’t Bapu mind, someone asked cheekily.
Ranbir goes for a toss
If a politician’s life is short, an actor’s can be fleeting. Take Ranbir Kapoor. He arrived with a bang — and then disappeared with a whimper last year. Two of his three big releases of 2015 — Roy and Bombay Velvet — sank without a trace. Even the year-end release of Imtiaz Ali’s Tamasha, with ex-flame Deepika Padukone, sort of fizzled out. Poor fellow. He’s keeping his fingers crossed for 2016. And more than him, the distributors are.
Indrani, tiger mom
First she was a small-town girl. Then a hard-as-nails media executive. And now she is in jail, accused by the police of having killed her daughter. No, ex-NewsX boss Indrani Mukerjea hasn’t had a good year. But being a news person, she has ensured that her story has a headline-hogging plot — it revolves around forbidden love, of hidden kids, convoluted family politics and oodles of money. Those who didn’t know what to watch on the telly after the Arushi case will have something to look forward to in the coming year as the case unfurls in court.
Lalu rises again
The rallying cry that followed Lalu Prasad once — “Jab tak samose mein rahega alu, tab tak Bihar mein rahega Lalu” (As long as there are potatoes in a samosa, there will be Lalu in Bihar) — is back. The former Bihar chief minister, who had been written off before the Bihar polls of 2015, proved the pundits wrong: his party ended up winning the highest number of seats — 80 — in the Assembly elections. His aggressive pro-backward appeal worked and he consolidated the traditional Muslim-Yadav support base, successfully scripting his political return. Hail, the kingmaker!
David vs Goliath
Even some months ago, if you’d said, Hardik who, no one would have smirked. But 22-year-old Hardik Patel — though now in jail on sedition charges — shook Gujarat, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and Narendra Modi considerably in 2015. He mobilised lakhs of people, all demanding reservation for the economically and socially forward Patidar community in educational institutions and in government jobs. Patel’s campaign is not over. Let’s wait and watch.
Jayalalithaa goes under
Tamil Nadu chief minister’s motherly image took a knocking with her handling or mishandling of the recent floods that ravaged Chennai. As the city administration scrambled to stem the damage (too little and too late) unleashed by the flood waters, J. Jayalalithaa tweeted: Not to worry, I am here for you. But she was not visible except in advertisements like the one in which she was seen weaving through raging waters carrying a baby high in her hands, a morphed still from the blockbuster hit Bahubaali. Then she faced flak when her party members forcibly pasted Amma’s image on relief material.
Unlike her Andhra Pradesh counterpart, N. Chandrababu Naidu, who stayed in a bus while touring through flood affected areas, Jaya was largely seen asking for more funds for flood relief. Tsk tsk, Dr J.
