Celebrity death rumours, star babies, gallows humour and more made the rounds in 2014. here are the top 14, that made their way to the media.
Those weren’t baby bumps
First, whispers that Vidya Balan, married to UTV head Siddharth Roy Kapur, was expecting an addition to the family. Then loud talk when Vidya opted out of a film and did not travel to Florida for a film gig. Then silence, when she said: “I’m not ready to share Siddharth with anyone yet.”
Rani Mukerji
Rani Mukerji too found herself at the receiving end of pregnancy rumours. A slightly puffy look and opting for billowing garments at some events didn’t help her cause. Guys, why not just take a (chill) pill and wait for nature to take shape?
Manmohan Singh’s resignation
When then PM Manmohan Singh called a press conference in the first week of January, with a certain storm called Modi gaining strength, rumours swirled that he would be announcing his resignation. This was Singh’s third press conference — in 10 years. But Manish Tewari, I&B minister at the time, quickly rebutted. Other Congress leaders claimed that, at most, Singh was likely to say that he wasn’t interested in a third term. As it turned out, there was no third time. What did someone say about third time unlucky?
Ebola’s dark side
As the deadly Ebola began to spread in Africa, text messages in India claimed a student in Mangalore had died from the virus. Karnataka minister U.T. Khader was forced to warn these texters off. Apparently, the nasties were set off by the death of student due to a lung infection at the National Institute of Technology (Karnataka). Then another round of messages claimed an Ethiopian student at the same college was infected. The poor guy hadn’t gone home in two years. Just goes to show, for all our being holier-than-thou, if it’s black it is easy meat. Only, we don’t like being told about it.
When Twitterati ‘killed’ Lata
The empress of a gadzillion melodies must have seen many a twist in her vaunted life. Having to tell the world that she was alive wouldn’t have been one of them. But that too came to pass, thanks to ‘Twitterati’ who began to foul cyberspace with condolence messages for the Nightingale of India. The Melody Queen had to report: “Namaskar. Meri tabiyat ke baare mein afwaayein phail rahi hai. Par aap sab ka pyar aur duaaien hain ke meri tabiyat bilkul thik hai (There are rumours about my health. Thanks to your blessings, I am perfectly fine).”
Asha Parekh
Lata Mangeshkar’s gentle reproach meant nothing. A seasoned journo put out a tweet mourning the death of actor Asha Parekh. Now, what could be more tempting for the Quick Thumb Murugans? Here was ‘news’ from an ‘authentic source’, and they poured out their two-penny worth on Twitter. Until Actor Adah Sharma put an end to the rumours by tweeting that she had just spoken to Ms Parekh, who was just fine. Pity she did not say what Asha thought of the twits.
Yo Yo! Enjoying the ‘viral infection’
Photos of the rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh lying injured on a hospital bed spread like wildfire in June, culminating in rumours that he had died. Even as fans began to commiserate with each other, the truth emerged: The images were from Honey’s shoot for a song, Bring Me Back. The rapper was completely fine, and, we’d like to believe over the moon with the ‘viral infection’ on the Net.
Kalam in slo-mo
Here was one “death tweet” that couldn’t be laid at the Twitterati’s door. For about a week in October, murmurs in Delhi grew about the “ill health” of former President and India’s missile man A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. The talk of poor health deteriorated into “hospital admission” and then took a turn — as things happen on the unsocial media — for the worse. Incidentally, the man himself was in Dhaka at the time, at a public event. His office finally released a statement clarifying that the 83-year-old was fine. Just wonder why the boffins waited for so long to put out the truth.
Dilip’s tragedy
Few things could be more galling for the Tragedy King. In November, just days shy of his 92nd birthday, Whatsapp messages and tweets claimed the actor had died, promptly followed by RIP messages for the Mughal-e-Azam thespian began to fly thick and fast. It took the might of the Big B to silence them. “Some baseless rumours being spread about Yusuf Saheb — Dilip Kumar, being ill... Saira ji just informed me he is perfectly fine!” Amitabh Bachchan tweeted. Now who would like to mess with ‘Vijay’?
So, did Mamta Mohandas quit movies?
Actor-singer Mamta Mohandas had her fans in a tizzy following reports that she was calling it quits. Soon, a different set of reports claimed that she had signed up for a ‘cop film’. So, who got it wrong? Doesn’t really matter, does it? Because Mamta got oodles of publicity, and every bit in the public glare helps as any film star will tell you.
SRK-Modi
NETIZENS were made to believe that Shah Rukh Khan had tweeted he would leave India if Modi came to power. So when Modi won, angry Twitterati began buzzing SRK. Now, who would believe the suave Khan would say such a thing? Turns out, SRK had never tweeted this, he had actually commended the Indian voter for giving a “strong mandate”. Moral 1: SRK says a lot even in 140 letters. Moral 2: SRK would never be so gauche.
The Ash-Jaya rift
Rumours of a rift within the Bachchan parivar had been doing the rounds for a while. At a bash thrown by the Ambanis, shutterbugs went into a frenzy when Ash and Jaya didn’t pose with each other. And then, Ash and Jaya “sidestepped” each other at Ahana Deol’s wedding as well — although they were snapped together later on. Filmy circles were buzzing with gup-shup about Ash wanting to move out of the family home. Things seem have settled now as no further news has come from that front.
Ash-Kat dinner indigestion
“Salman’s exes bond over dinner in Abu Dhabi” read the headline. Apparently, Aishwarya Rai and Katrina Kaif, who were said to have shared cold vibes — probably because of their Salman connection — warmed up over dinner at the celeb-hangout Zuma in Abu Dhabi. It seemed quite the story — Bollywood divas bonding over dinner. Except, there was no bonding. There wasn’t even a dinner. Ash’s PR team jumped in to deny the story, calling it a “silly
fabrication”. Mmm, so what about the ‘cold vibes’, huh?
‘Love jihad’ that wasn’t
Meerut was on edge after a 20-year-old teacher claimed she was forcibly converted and gang-raped by members of another community. She added that 20 other girls were being held at a religious education centre in Muzzaffarnagar. Officials raided the location but found no trace of the girls. Communal tensions soared overnight, and she became a cause celebré of the saffron types. Then, the teacher confessed she had fabricated the story, and that she had been threatened by her family after entering into a relationship with a man from another community. Saffron turned red in the face, love triumphed — or so we are told — and the teacher can claim to have taught, and learnt, a lesson she had not intended.
