Year ender 2021: Hookups, breakups, heartbreaks and many more

Bhubaneswar:  The year 2021 turned out quite eventful on the entertainment industry’s calendar, despite the Covid-19 scare. Some new relationships were built, whereas some old ones called it quits. Victories were celebrated, controversies were discussed and losses were mourned; and the audience witnessed it all.

Now that it’s almost time to bid adieu to the year 2021, here are the year’s top events from the entertainment industry that reverberated audience emotions:

 

 

1.Wedding bells in Bollywood

 

• Varun Dhawan and Natasha Dalal

Actor Varun Dhawan and his bae, fashion designer Natasha Dalal became the first couple in the B-town to walk into the wedding alter in 2021. They got married in Maharashtra’s coastal town Alibaug on January 24. The couple took their wedding vows amidst a small gathering of 50 guests that comprised of families and very close friends.

 

 

• Dia Mirza and Vaibhav Rekhi

Actress Dia Mirza tied the knot with businessman Vaibhav Rekhi on February 15 in Mumbai. The wedding was reportedly kept a simple affair and the couple announced being married to each other on February 16.

 

 

• Yami Gautam and Aditya Dhar

Actress Yami Gautam married filmmaker Aditya Dhar in a private ceremony on June 4. The actress later shared photographs from her wedding ceremonies on her Instagram profile.

 

 

• Rajkummar Rao and Patralekhaa

After dating each other for 11 years, actor-couple Rajkummar Rao and Patralekhaa tied the knot in Chandigarh on November 15. The couple later shared their wedding photographs with a sweet note about their journey together from being best friends to soulmates and then life partners.

 

• Aditya Seal and Anushka Ranjan

Actor Aditya Seal married his long-time girlfriend, actress Anushka Ranjan on November 22 in presence of family and friends.

 

• Vicky Kaushal and Katrina Kaif

The ‘VicKat’ wedding absolutely stole the spotlight this year. Both Vicky Kaushal and Katrina Kaif abstained from addressing rumours of the wedding plans till the day they reached the wedding destination. The couple got married on December 9, at the Six Senses Fort Barwara in presence of their families and close friends. It was only after taking their wedding vows, the couple posted their photographs from the pre-wedding ceremonies and the wedding, on their social media profiles.

 

 

 

2. Celeb couples who became proud parents

 

• Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli

Anushka and Virat welcomed their first baby girl on January 11. The couple named her Vamika Kohli. Although, they frequently share photographs of their little family, the couple has never posted pictures showing their little one’s face.

 

 

• Kareena Kapoor Khan and Saif Ali Khan

On February 21, Kareena and Saif were blessed with their second baby boy. They named him Jeh Ali Khan. While the couple’s first born Taimur remained the social media sensation, they kept their new born Jeh away from media lenses for quite some time.

 

• Dia Mirza and Vaibhav Rekhi

Dia and Vaibhav welcomed baby Avyaan Azaad Rekhi on May 14. However, the actress shared the news on her social media profile on July 14, with a photograph of her little one’s palm holding hers.

 

• Shreya Ghoshal and Shiladitya Mukhopadhyaya

Shreya and Shiladitya welcomed their baby boy on May 22. Shreya later revealed about naming him Devyaan and also shared his photographs on her social media profile.

 

• Neeti Mohan and Nihar Pandya

Singer Neeti Mohan welcomed her first born baby boy with her husband Nihar Pandya in June. Later on, she took to her social media profiles to share her ‘most surreal feeling’ of welcoming baby Aryaveer and also posted his photographs.

 

• Neha Dhupia and Angad Bedi

Neha and Angad became proud parents for the second time and welcomed a baby boy on October 3. The actress frequently posts on social media, her photographs with her elder daughter and new born son.

 

 

•  Preity Zinta and Gene Goodenough

On November 18, Preity took to her social media profile and shared about welcoming her twin babies Jai and Gia, with her husband Gene. Revealing the babies were born by surrogacy, the actress thanked the surrogate, doctors and nurses involved in the journey.

 

 

 

3. Celebrities decoupled

 

• Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao

 

Aamir and Kiran ended their 15-year-long marriage in July. The couple informed the media about this through a joint statement which highlighted that they would raise their son Azad together and also collaborate on films and other projects.

 

• Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Naga Chaitanya

South cine industry’s power couple Samantha and Naga Chaitanya announced their separation on October 2 after being in the marriage for over four years.

 

 

• Shikhar Dhawan and Ayesha Mukerji

Indian cricketer Shikhar Dhawan and his wife Ayesha also parted ways in October. While Ayesha made a couple of social media posts talking about her divorce, Shikhar opted to not address the matter, at least directly.

 

• Nusrat Jahan and Nikhil jain

Actress turned politician Nusrat Jahan and her husband Nikhil Jain, who tied the knot in Turkey’s Bodrum in 2019, announced their separation which was followed by a series of allegations and counter- allegations by both parties. Further, Nusrat issued a statement in June which read that the marriage was never valid in India and hence there was no question of a divorce.

 

 

 

• Sushmita Sen and Rohman Shawl

Former Miss Universe and actress Sushmita Sen and her boyfriend Rohman Shawl parted ways too. The actress revealed about the breakup through her Instagram post on December 23 which read, “We began as friends, we remain friends!! The relationship was long over, the love remains!!”

 

 

4. Manike Mage Hithe fame Yohani’s Bollywood debut

 

Sri Lankan singer, song-writer and You Tuber Yohani Diloka de Silva became an overnight sensation in many countries including India after her song ‘Manike Mage Hithe’ took over the internet. There would hardly be a person who would not have crooned to the song that became more of a global obsession. That opened for the 28-year-old singer, gates to Bollywood.

 

Yohani debuted in Bollywood with the female version of the title song of Sunny Kaushal and Radhika Madan starrer ‘Shiddat’. Later, she was also offered to sing the Hindi version of ‘Manike Mage Hithe’ for upcoming Bollywood movie ‘Thank God’, starring Ajay Devgn, Rakul Preet Singh and Sidharth Malhotra.

 

5. Vir Das’ ‘Two Indias’ monologue controversy

 

In November, actor turned comedian Vir Das landed in legal trouble after the video of his monologue ‘I come from Two India’ that he delivered at the United States’ John F Kenedy Centre of Performing Arts surfaced on YouTube.

The comedian had to deal with intense social media wrath as a majority of netizens complained that his monologue portrayed India in a bad light on a global platform. Vir immediately addressed the issue with an open letter in which he urged the audience to “focus on the light, remember our greatness and spread the love.”

Later, a complaint was filed against Vir Das with Delhi’s Tilak Marg Police Station in connection with the viral video. However, many popular personalities including Shashi Tharoor and Kapil Sibal, went vocal on social media platform and defended the comedian and his wit.

 

6. Munawar Farauqui’s arrest and later controversies

 

The year 2021 that was about to be a remarkable year for comedian Munawar Iqbal Faruqui, suddenly turned a nightmare for him when he was arrested from a café in Indore city, before he even started his stand-up, on charges of  hurting Hindu sentiments.

The 28-year-old was not arrested for some joke he didn’t deliver on stage but, for a joke from his April 2020 YouTube video.  Aklavya Laxman Singh Gaur, the son of the city’s mayor and a member of Hind Rakshak, had filed a complaint against Faruqui alleging the latter’s jokes were offensive towards Hindu deities.

Faruqui was detained from the venue and put behind bars with charges under several sections of the Indian Penel Code (IPC) including 295 A of ‘deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs.’

The comedian was sent to Indore Central Jail amidst the rising Covid-19 cases. He spent 37 days behind the bars before being granted bail by the Supreme Court on February 5.

Faruqui tried to resume his shows after stepping out from jail but only to get cancelled over and over again. Organizers of his shows stated they were warned not to host him to avoid brawls in the area. Following this, Faruqui made a social media address urging people to not let hatred win.

Recently, on Minister KT Rama Rao’s open invite, Munawar Faruqui is preparing to perform in Hyderabad on January 9, 2022. The comedian shared poster of his upcoming show ‘Dhandho’ on his social media profiles.

 

7. 
   

   Sahadev Dirdo’s Bachpan ka pyar recreated by Badshah, Aastha Gill

Chattisgarh’s 10-year old Sahadev Dirdo became an internet sensation in July after a video of him, singing ‘Bachpan Ka Pyar’ in a classroom, went viral. In August, rapper and music composer Badshah released a rendition of Dirdo’s song. The music video featured singer Astha Gill and musician Rico along with Badshah and Sahadev Dirdo. The 10-year-old was also felicitated by Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel.

 

8. Short film ‘Real or Not’ by Odisha’s Kashish Mohapatra bags award at Indo-French International Film Festival 2021

Odisha filmmaker Kashish Mohapatra’s short film ‘Real or Not’ won the Best Mobile Short Film award at the Indo-French International Film Festival 2021.  The short film also received nomination for the Golden Yazhi award. ‘Real or Not’ is a sci-fi and fantasy genre short film that earlier bagged award at the Tagore International Film Festival 2021.  It got Kashish a nomination for the Best Director award by Golden Arts, London.

 

9. India’s Harnaaz Sandhu crowned Miss Universe 2021

It was a proud moment for India when the daughter of the soil Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu was crowned Miss Universe 2021 at the 70^th Miss Universe pageant held in Eilat, Israel.  A 21-year-old Harnaaz from Punjab won the crown 21 years after India’s Lara Dutta won the title in 2000.

 

10. 3 Odia films win big at 67^th national Film Awards

In March, three Odia films bagged the best film awards at the 67^th National Film Awards. Sabyasachi Mohapatra directorial ‘Sala Budhar Badla’ and Nila Madhab Panda’s ‘Kalira Atita’ won Best Feature Films. Ashutosh Pattnaik’s ‘Shrikhetra-Ru-Sahijata’ was awarded the Best Arts and Culture Film Award in non-feature films category.