Rishi Kapoor and his son Ranbir don't see eye to eye on any issue. Both father and son have told me that the relationship is, at best, troubled and unfulfilled, and that father and son communicate through Neetu Kapoor.
While they agree to disagree on most issues, there is one thing that Rishi and Ranbir agree on. It is their aversion to the press. While Ranbir discreetly chooses to stay away from the paparazzi and secretly holds them responsible for his relationship problems (how? Don't ask). Rishi openly and contemptuously lashes out at the media at every given opportunity. This seems a little silly considering how much he likes to talk.
Rishi, of course, conveniently retracts when the situation gets sticky for him. Repeatedly, he puts his foot in his mouth and then blames the media for it.
In his latest outburst against the media, Rishi was joined by his elder brother Randhir, who complained that his grandson Taimur Ali Khan (daughter Kareena's son) was not getting a normal upbringing because of the intrusive paparazzi.
But, isn't the exposure of the child to the media the parents' choice? If Taimur and the earlier star-kid favourite AbRam are getting more attention than Aamir Khan's little son Azaad, does it mean Saif Ali Khan and Shah Rukh Khan are bigger stars than Aamir? Or that Taimur and AbRam are more popular children in the media than Azaad or Aaradhya?
No. Aamir has chosen to keep his son away from the limelight. And the Bachchans too have decided they will limit Aaradhya's public appearance.
"Normal" is a state of mind which most celebrities are progressively isolated from. Before seeking normality, Taimur's family needs to define it and decide what is normal for them. Being in the limelight is not normal for children from working-class homes. Being celebrity parents if you have a problem with your child getting undue public exposure, then the choice is yours.
Just say no. Unfortunately, it is not a "no" that Bollywood's biggest want. They want yes-men masquerading as mediapersons to write exactly what they want. Sadly, in the hunger for news, the entertainment media is swallowing every bone in the mistaken hope of finding some meat. This week there were two absurd reports which no one swallowed. One suggested that Shah Rukh Khan had turned down two roles offered by Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
First, our actors should know it is extremely bad manners to talk about turning down roles. Nowhere else in the world do actors and their overzealous PR machinery speak on roles that are turned down. Secondly, which are these two films that Bhansali is making to offer them to Mr Khan? He hasn't even begun planning his next. Thirdly, at this juncture in his career, when the projects that he's choosing are letting him down, why would Mr Khan turn down Bhansali?
Even more ludicrous are reports that Priyanka Chopra is likely to do a sequel to "Aetraaz". So says producer Subhash Ghai. Is Priyanka Chopra mad to return to the role of a female predator who crawls and slobbers all over her employee Akshay Kumar. In this era of Harvey Weinstein, the last role Priyanka Chopra would play is that of a sexual predator.
Stars want to be politically correct in their postures both off and on screen. But for that to happen, they first need to look at their own lives and rectify the anomalies and contradictions. So please don't give interviews after downing a few pegs in the evening and then deny your quotes when you see them staring at you the next morning.
(Subhash K Jha can be contacted at jhasubh@gmail.com)
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress on Friday said it has received fresh notices from the income-tax department, asking it to pay Rs 1,823.08 crore, and alleged that the BJP is in "serious violation" of income-tax laws for which authorities should raise a demand of more than Rs 4,600 crore from the saffron party.
The Congress also accused the ruling BJP of indulging in "tax terrorism" to financially cripple the opposition party ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here along with Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, party treasurer Ajay Maken alleged that the BJP is in serious violation of income-tax laws and said the I-T department should raise a demand of Rs 4,617.58 crore from the saffron party for such violations.
Maken said political parties have to fill up a proforma of Form 24A, in which two basic and important pieces of information have to be furnished -- the names and addresses of their donors.
"We have analysed all the submissions of the BJP to the Election Commission (EC). The party has faltered every year," Maken claimed.
Ramesh alleged that through the "electoral bonds scam", the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has collected Rs 8,200 crore and used the route of "pre-paid, post-paid, post-raid bribes and shell companies".
On the other hand, the BJP is engaged in "tax terrorism", he alleged.
"Efforts are being made to financially cripple the Congress, but we are not going to be cowed down," Ramesh said.
He asserted that the Congress's campaign for the upcoming parliamentary polls will continue and the party will take its guarantees to the people of the country.
"We will not be scared of these notices. We will be more aggressive and fight these polls," the former Union minister said.
Maken alleged that the Congress and other like-minded opposition parties are being selectively targeted by the I-T department, which he described as the BJP's "frontal organisation".
He said the Supreme Court will soon hear the Congress's plea on the I-T department's demands from it.
"An illegal attempt to freeze the bank accounts of the principal opposition party in February has gone on for more than a month on the eve of the general election," Maken said.
Before the dust could settle on that unprecedented "vindictive" action, in a patently "illegal and undemocratic" move, the "frontal organisation of the BJP" has launched its next "premeditated" and "diabolical" campaign against the Congress, he added.
The income-tax returns filed by the Congress for eight years have been reopened on "baseless and manufactured" grounds to levy illegal I-T demand orders totalling thousands of crores of rupees, Maken said.
The timing of the I-T department's action -- in February and March, days before and even days after the Lok Sabha polls were announced on March 16 -- speaks for itself about the mala-fide nature of these actions, the Congress leader said.
Maken alleged that the "BJP-ruled I-T department" has so far forcibly taken out Rs 135 crore from the Congress's bank accounts due to an alleged Rs 14 lakh non-compliance demand against the party.
"This amount was recovered by freezing more than Rs 270 crore of the Congress's bank balance across several accounts," he said.
During this period of several weeks, the bank accounts of the Congress were effectively "frozen" in an illegal attempt to paralyse the party's functioning during the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, Maken alleged.
"This action was designed to choke the Congress financially and prevent, stop, delay and disable any election-related expenditure by the party on advertisements, travel, salaries, agencies etc.
"It is indeed appalling that the financial years assessed go back to 1993-94, when the late Sitaram Kesri was the party's treasurer. Out of the eight years, the I-T demand orders for four years have been issued by the BJP's frontal organisation even without assessment orders. This is unprecedented in the history of taxation in India," he said.
"These orders are based on manufactured and planted diaries and so-called raids by the BJP's frontal organisation on third parties. Several of these raided third parties enjoy stay orders from courts based on vitiated search procedures by the I-T department," Maken claimed, adding that the same interim relief is not being granted to the Congress.
In the history of India, why is the Congress, a tax-exempt political party like others, being "forced" to pay income tax during the 2024 Lok Sabha election, he asked.
"Why have the BJP or its alliance partners not been dealt with similarly? Why has the I-T department not taken cognisance of the Yediyurappa diaries, Jain diaries, Sahara diaries, Birla diaries, Bangaru Lakshman convictions and penalised the BJP?" he asked.
"Why is the EC -- the guarantor of free-and-fair elections -- a mute spectator? Is this not an obvious, brazen, blatant and shameful attempt by the BJP to illegally financially cripple the opposition? Where is the level-playing field in Indian elections? Can 2024 be called a free-and-fair election anymore?" Maken asked.