Taxmen knock on Priyanka's door, find Shahid: The year began on an embarrassing note for rumoured lovebirds Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra. Rumoured, did we say? On the morning of January 24, Income Tax officers knocked on Priyanka's door to conduct a raid. They found the door opened by Shahid. By all accounts, it was something of a shock to both parties, neither of who were expecting the other. So much so, the taxmen thought they were at the wrong house before Shahid made a quick exit. Neither Priyanka nor Shahid spoke about the incident.
Corrupt IAS officer is featured on a hoarding in Bhopal: In November, Bhopal found itself looking at the picture of Tinu Joshi, an IAS officer suspended on corruption charges, on a hoarding promoting woman achievers in Madhya Pradesh. Ms Joshi and her husband were suspended last year after a raid produced Rs 3 crores in cash from their home. They also have assets allegedly amounting to as much as Rs 30 crores. Ms Joshi's picture was removed from the hoarding, which was part of a government campaign for the girl child, leaving the local administration red faced.
Ranbir answer's nature's call in public and is caught by a cop: Ranbir Kapoor, blue eyed boy at the box office and breaker of female hearts, made headlines of a different sort when he very recently admitted to having been caught with his pants down in public. By his own admission, he was on the way back to Mumbai from a shoot in Karjat and was desperately in need of a bathroom. With no public toilet in sight, the actor pulled up to the side of the road – and was promptly busted by a policeman as he was going about his business. He handed over a fine to the conscientious cop who also gave him a telling off.
Famous ladies and famous wardrobe malfunctions: Uh oh! There is such a thing as too much Katrina, as this picture of her on the sets of Ek Tha Tiger shows. Elsewhere, the wind played truant with Kate Middleton's sunny yellow dress, and stralets Rakhi Sawant and Neetu Chandra flashed glimpses of their unmentionables in shorter than short dresses.
Kiran Bedi takes to stage with a “ghoonghat”: This is Kiran Bedi, stalwart member of Team Anna, hiding her face behind a “ghoonghat” in mockery of politicians hiding behind masks. Anna Hazare's 13 day fast in August had many key moments, but none so bizarre as this one. On August 26, the 11th day of the fast, Ms Bedi launched an attack against an MP who arrived at Ramlila Grounds. As she shouted to the crowd, “They (the MPs) wear masks,” she summarily borrowed a scarf from an activist on stage and wrapped it over a head like a veil. Later, Parliament threatened a privilege motion but Ms Bedi remained defiant and unapologetic.
Poonam Pandey promises to strip, and then doesn't: Among the many sidelights of India's glorious World Cup win this year is that of Poonam Pandey – a model who was instantly plucked from obscurity and launched to stratospheric heights by her promise to strip down to her birthday suit if India were to win. Poonam made her controversial offer on Twitter just before the semi-final at Mohali, drawing jeers and cheers in equal measure. But, after the Men In Blue trampled Sri Lanka into dust, Poonam went unaccountably missing in action. She later surfaced to say she would be willing to strip privately for the team if the BCCI gave their blessing. That never happened, but, given that now it's a rare Indian who hasn't heard of Poonam Pandey, it's safe to say that she had a good World Cup after all.
S M Krishna reads out wrong speech to UN: This was embarrassment on a global scale. Indian External Affairs Minister S M Krishna read out a full three minutes of a speech at the United Nations Security Council meeting in February before realizing it was actually someone else's speech. It all started when Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amado decided to speak extempore and a copy of his speech was handed to all foreign ministers present. When Mr Krishna rose to speak, he picked up the wrong paper by mistake and didn't not realize his error until corrected by India's envoy to the UN, Hardeep Singh Puri.
What was with Arjun Rampal and SRK's hair in RA.One? Shah Rukh Khan's superhero magnum opus, RA.One, opened to full houses on Diwali – but the ringing of the cash registers was accompanied by derisive hoots from the moviegoers. The jeers were for Arjun Rampal's deadpan performance as the eponymous villain, and for Shah Rukh Khan's bizarre hairdo and food habits as game designer Shekhar Subramanium. In the world according to RA.One, to be an authentic South Indian, one must have a tightly curled mop of hair and eat spaghetti with curd. The film had many high moments, not least of which were the slick effects, but these were not among them.
Veena Malik and the nude photoshoot: Veena Malik, no stranger to controversy, found herself in hot water after being featured nude on the cover of FHM India magazine's December issue. On it, Veena seems to be wearing nothing but has her arms and legs so positioned as to preserve her modesty. She also has the letters ISI inked onto her upper arm. As jaws dropped in India and Pakistan reacted in fury, Veena sued FHM for tampering with the photo, denying that it was authentic. The magazine maintains that it was, even in the face of a $2 million dollar lawsuit.
Sarkozy-Obama are undiplomatic at G20: Reporters at November's G20 summit in Cannes didn't mean to overhear a private, and as it turned out, a very indiscreet conversation between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and US President Barack Obama, but they could hardly help themselves when it was transmitted over a public system by mistake. What they heard was damning – for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who Sarkozy called a liar. In reply, Obama complained about having to deal with him daily. Their remarks were translated into French and transmitted to the journalists present – who made a group decision not to report on what they heard. However, there was no keeping the conversation (and the diplomatic implications that will inevitably follow) under wraps as other news agencies picked up the story.
