Five Best Moments //
Vicky and Katrina Tying the Knot
We were in dire need a lift in 2021, a moment of pure escapism, and for many, it was seeing two of India’s Sweethearts tying the knot. The wedding was expectedly lavish and the pictures we got were fairy tale-esque.
Ayuushmann Khurrana’s Continued Ascension
The heir apparent to the Aamir Khan throne, Khurrana accomplished unprecedented feats in 2021 that not even Hollywood, the so-called bastion of American liberal values, ever had the chutzpah to do.
Kangana Ranaut’s Flailing Film Career
As expected, Thailavi, the highly anticipated Jayalalithaa biopic, was a colossal flop. Whoever thought hiring Kangana Ranaut, a BJP lackey, to play Tamil Nadu’s most beloved politician, Jayalithaa (one of the BJP’s fiercest opponents), was a good idea is very clearly a moron. Who exactly was this POS movie for? Modi supporters won’t spend money to watch a film that venerates a Congress politician and Tamilians won’t watch a Kangana Ranuat film so…what exactly was the thinking here? I’m a simpleton when it comes to all aspects of business but that sounds like a terrible business decision to me. I’m not going to lie; it was incredibly satisfying seeing another Kangana Ranaut movie not making any money. Her deranged bitchiness needed to be taken down a peg or two.
Rihanna Becoming an Honorary Indian For 15 Minutes
Western pop icon and makeup doyenne, Rihanna, created mass hysteria by simply tweeting a Guardian article on the farmers’ protests in Punjab and asking “why aren’t we talking about this?” Her five word benign question caused shockwaves throughout a hypersensitive India. She was immediately accused of being both a Pakistani spy (by BJP supporters) and an American superhero out to save India from the grips of a sectarian fascist (by BJP critics). It was the most entertaining thing to watch play out in 2021 – Diljit Dosanjh even recorded a poignant tribute to the Barbadian singer – as it further proved that any tiny expression of disapproval can cause major ruptures throughout a subcontinent of over a billion people. It proves that India is on the verge of a total nervous breakdown.
Vir Das’ Two Indias Speech
No other moment in 2021 encapsulated the volatile sociopolitical landscape in India as much as this speech.
Five Worst Moments //
Netflix India Is A Joke
For years, the Indian division of the streaming giant has been performing hara-kiri on its sorry tuchus but 2021 brought about its eventual inevitable undoing. According to local Indian publications, Netflix India has gone belly up. Their stocks have plummeted. It comes as no surprise to those of us who’ve seen them make one asinine creative decision after another. From their self-destructive show, Behensplaining, a Netflix YouTube show that strongly discourages viewers from watching the Bollywood films available on Netflix (the fuck?), to their godawful adaptation of the brilliant French show, Dix Pour Cent (Call My Agent), to ending one of their most beloved shows, Little Things, on a bum note by stripping its creator, Dhruv Sehgal, of writing duties – it’s clear Netflix India is in dire need of a major facelift.
The Pandemic
COVID-21 has wreaked further, irreversible havoc on an already battered film industry that is still reeling from 2020. While Bollywood’s tone-deaf A-listers continue to ask for pay raises, the film industry’s underpaid, under-appreciated secondary actors and technical personnel are the ones feeling the brunt of the continued historic pandemic. Fuck those who created the Delta variant.
The Aryan Khan Shitstorm
Bollywood 2021’s nadir was witnessing some harmless twenty-something kid becoming India’s Public Enemy Number 1. Amid stratospherically high gas prices, a deadly global COVID outbreak that was arguably borne out of Indian Hindu festivals and right-wing political rallies, a scapegoat had to of course be appointed so that the negativity could be deflected away from Modi-ji. Poor Aryan Khan; the kid must have felt the brunt of the entire country on him. His father will be paying for his therapy sessions for years to come to stave off the severe emotional damage he must have incurred throughout this disgusting ordeal.
Celebrity Deaths
This year, like the year before it, saw no shortage of tragic celebrity deaths. From Surekha Sukri, who experienced a resurgence of popularity in recent years due to her award-winning performance in Badhaai Ho, to the very young Sidharth Shukla, whose death sent shockwaves through the Bollywood global fandom, these deaths were a stark reminder that 2021 may not have been the apocalyptic year its predecessor but it was also by no means a good year either.
Vir Das’ Two Indias Speech
As irrefutably accurate as Vir Das’ speech was, on the flip side, it also pandered way too much to an NRI Indian audience by stoking patriotic sentiments and being as emotionally manipulative as a Hallmark holiday movie. At the end of his speech, he asked the audience to cheer for a better, kinder India. It was a corny, cowardly move. That someone cannot constructively criticize his own country in front of an audience, without also feeling the need to prove that he loves it by employing cheap schmaltzy tactics, is cause for concern.
