The Bollywood Fight Club

Following the SRK-Shirish Kunder ‘Slapgate’, we have compiled a list of the Top 10 fights from tinsel town's history book...

Sanjay Khan-Zeenat Aman:
Zeenat Aman was already married to Sanjay Khan, via an impulsive romance on the sets of ‘Abdullah’. On returning to Bombay, he refused to accept this. So one night, Zeenat Aman in rebellion ended up visiting a party that Sanjay Khan and his wife Zarine had thrown as a ‘couple’ at the Taj. Enraged at this, Sanjay Khan bashed up Zeenat Aman so badly that she permanently damaged her eye; this in view of the who’s who of Bollywood. The incident is so sordid that it even finds mention in Shobhaa De’s celebrated memoir Selective Memory. Years later, Sanjay’s son Zayed was also involved in a drunken brawl in a suburban night club where he was accused of smashing someone’s nose and leaving the venue in a rage. So much for inheritance.

Rishi Kapoor-Neetu Singh:
In the small hours of November 1, 1997, Bandra police station received a phone call, allegedly from Neetu Singh, urging them to intervene into what seemed like a domestic brawl having gone way out of hand. Rumours starting spreading that Rishi Kapoor had bashed up Neetu Singh. However, when the police visited the bungalow, Rishi Kapoor stated that Neetu Singh was fast asleep. Neetu Singh too never filed any complaint the following day, despite the police pursuing the case for a couple of days. The incident even made it to the Times of India front page, and later a society columnist chided the media and Bollywood for not having the guts to stand up to Rishi Kapoor’s historically abusive behavior. Whatever the truth to this, it remains one of Bollywood’s dodgier episodes.

Aditya Pancholi-Kangna Ranaut:
In early 2007, Kangna Ranaut was beaten up by her then boyfriend Aditya Pancholi. When asked about the incident, Pancholi’s wife, Zarina Wahab’s reply revealed a unique moral hemisphere: “What my husband does outside the house is his business so long as he is well-behaved inside it.” After this incident, Kangna has moved on to becoming a star in her own right.

Ranvir Shorey-Pooja Bhatt:
In December 2002, Ranvir Shorey, VJ and actor, was beaten up by Rahul Bhatt, the brother of Pooja Bhatt. Ranvir and Pooja were then seeing each other. Shorey suffered some stitches and a dislocated knee, something he claimed he didn’t deserve for merely walking out on Pooja Bhatt. The Bhatts, in turn, had a different version: that Shorey was drunk and that he was beating up Pooja Bhatt for refusing him a drink and that Rahul had to intervene and protect his sister. Shorey vehemently denied these allegations. The parents of both the aggrieved parties urged the couple to “put the incident behind them”. And they did. Shorey is now married to Konkana Sen Sharma and Pooja Bhatt is married to another Channel [V] VJ, the guy who played Udham Singh in the late '90s.

Gaurang Doshi-Flora Saini:
Gaurang Doshi, the producer of Amitabh Bachchan-Sanjay Dutt starrer ‘Deewar: Let’s Bring Our Heroes Home’, had an arrest warrant for him in February 2007 when his girlfriend, starlet Flora Saini, released photographs of her brutally battered face at the hands of Doshi’s misogyny. Doshi then was also fighting a court case with his wife, who had also accused him of bashing her up. The film industry, given Doshi’s clout, remained tight-lipped about the incident, and in the side shots of sideys at the Ash-Abhi wedding, one could spot his face. Flora Saini in the meanwhile now goes by the moniker Asha Saini and works in the South film industry.

Amar Singh-Karim Morani:
Okay, agreed, both are super-peripheral to Bollywood stardom and are vicarious glam at its worst, but here’s the dope: the Moranis had organized a Zee award function in Dubai and made the mistake of placing Amitabh Bachchan in Row 11. Karim apparently argued with Amar Singh and the Big B when this was pointed out. Subhash Chandra, head honcho of Zee, got so riled up at this that he walked up to Karim Morani and slapped him.

Salman Khan-Ranbir Kapoor:
In Ranbir’s smaller days, Salman Khan slapped Ranbir Kapoor and tore his shirt at Olive. The next day, Salim Khan with son Salman in tow came up to Rishi Kapoor’s bungalow with gifts, shirts and apologies. And by the way this has nothing to do with Katrina Kaif. She wasn’t in Ranbir’s life then. Now that Ranbir is a rockstar, this may not happen again. But then again, never say never again when you’re in the Bollywood fight club. And Salman is an enshrined member of this coterie.

The Salman-SRK spat at Olive:
When Salman Khan threw a party for then girlfriend Katrina at Olive (what’s with brawls at Olive and Aurus?) in 2008, SRK too attended with his gang tagging alongside him. At some point, Salman and he got really verbally abusive with one another. Rumour has it that Salman and SRK exchanged some not-so-pleasant volleys about a certain Miss A. Regardless, this was the start of a never-ending rivalry, which has only gotten worse with Ra.One bombing at the box-office and Salman Khan emerging as the betaaj badshah of Bollywood. Both ‘Bodyguard’ and ‘Ready’ were blockbusters without Sallu trying too hard.

SRK-Mozez Singh:
Mozez Singh comes from a rich family in New Delhi, the cash from which funds his dabbling in film production, furniture design, whatever catches his fancy. But what he is most known for is how needy he is to be seen with the who’s who. This desperation cost him dearly in May 2011, when at Mahdeep Kapoor’s birthday, he got a little too obnoxious with the women. At first, Sohail Khan, Sallu’s youngest brother who is no less known for his penchant for the odd scuffle, tried to put Mozez Singh in his place. However, towards the end of the party, when SRK and Hrithik were having a sweet goodbye chat by the elevator, Mozez Singh again stepped in and tried his sidey antics. To this, SRK grabbed him by the collar and slapped him hard. Finally, Hrithik Roshan separated the two since he doesn’t like fights.  But this fight could well have started the belligerent streak in SRK…

SRK-Shirish Kunder slapgate: 

This now is the baap of all brawls; it even made it to the front page of The Times of India and all its supplements! Everyone knows that Shirish Kunder gets obnoxious after a couple of drinks and chases anything with a skirt at a filmi do. But there are two versions to Slapgate at Aurus, the watering hole that Bollywooders and Bolly-nogooders love so much: SRK claims that Shirish kept following him all over the place and hissing nasty tweets into his ear until King Khan fully lost it. Farah Khan, Kunder’s far more successful wife, insists that Shirish was merely sipping a drink in some corner when suddenly SRK pulled him by his hair (that hair, firstly, is heavy metal hell; he needs to cut it short), pinned him to the sofa and slapped him. Bodyguards were around so Shirish couldn’t lift a finger, while SRK badmouthed Shirish and Salman Khan, claiming that he is going to get them both thrown out of the industry. About Shirish, this could be easy to believe. But with Salman, SRK might be getting a tad delusional. No, very delusional. Is he really ‘Ready’ to take on Sallu bhai?