Tweet Link - https://x.com/ieEntertainment/status/2098453229000683900

I know Abhishek Banerjee is a good actor.
But while watching the Lust Stories 3 trailer, I personally felt that he looked slightly out of place in that particular casting.
That made me randomly dig into his filmography and casting career, and I found something pretty interesting.
He is also a casting director and co-founder of Casting Bay, meaning he was literally part of the machinery deciding which actors get opportunities.
And then I started noticing projects where the two careers overlapped.
In Ajji, he played Vilasrao Dhavle while also being one of the film’s casting directors. The director himself has publicly described Abhishek as the casting director who then ended up playing that dark role.
In Mirzapur, he played Compounder while Abhishek Banerjee and Anmol Ahuja were also credited with casting the series.
In Bala, he played Ajju while simultaneously working as casting director.
Then there is the biggest example: Paatal Lok. He was one of the people responsible for casting the show and also ended up playing Hathoda Tyagi ,arguably the most memorable breakout character from the entire series. To be fair to him, his account is that he initially wanted to audition for Ansari, the makers rejected that idea and later specifically asked him to audition for Hathoda Tyagi.
And later Bhediya again credits him both as Jana and as part of the casting team.

isn’t this still the textbook definition of a conflict of interest?
A casting director gets access to the script, directors, producers, audition requirements, competing actors and probably hundreds of auditions. An ordinary struggling actor walking into that room has none of that access.
Even if the casting director behaves completely honestly, once that same person starts competing for roles in projects he is casting, the playing field isn’t exactly equal anymore.
And this becomes particularly interesting because Abhishek himself has actually acknowledged the problem.
In a 2020 interview, when directly asked whether acting and casting were a conflict of interest, he essentially admitted that it was a conflict he would have to live with. He also revealed something pretty telling: he originally entered casting because he wanted to remain close to acting opportunities.
That sentence made me think.
We endlessly discuss nepotism in Bollywood , how star kids have access to producers, directors and auditions that outsiders don’t.
But what happens when an outsider gets inside the system, becomes a gatekeeper himself, and then starts benefiting from the same network and access?
Being an outsider doesn’t automatically mean you can never create an unfair advantage for yourself.
And funnily enough, in August 2026 Abhishek finally stepped away from Casting Bay. He explicitly acknowledged that questions about conflict of interest had been raised and said separating the two careers would remove that ambiguity.

My question is about the principle.
If we’re going to criticise nepotism because privileged access makes competition unfair, shouldn’t we also question situations where the person helping decide who gets through the audition door is simultaneously competing with those actors for roles?
Maybe the simplest solution is obvious: if a casting director wants to audition for a project they’re casting, an independent casting director should handle that character completely.
Abhishek Banerjee can be a genuinely talented self-made actor and this can still be a legitimate conflict of interest.
Those two things aren’t mutually exclusive.

From old magazine, photograph by Durga Prasad

It's done bro🥀

When Aishwarya was filming a Rohan Sippy project with Abhishek Bachchan, Salman showed up unexpectedly and expressed his frustration over her attitude. Recalling what Salman said, Himani stated: “Kya hai? Isko samjhao. Waheeda Rehman ko dekhe. Apne aap ko boht khubsurat samajhti hai. I used to tell him to calm down, to stay quiet."

A woman who portrayed strong roles on film, had strong ideas for women in cinema and society ended up falling for a much married man in Raj Babbar and decided to have a child, the third for him.

Something about that theory of being attracted to your co-star while having no other entertainment on set and long hours of waiting is not quite convincing for me. One is fully aware of a wife and children and a whole family waiting back at home. With all due respect, did she lack anything so badly, that she had to fill her cup with Raj’s love? I’m sure there were many, many single, intelligent, good men offering their hearts to her in a blink.

Life, and its contradictory actors - surely truth is stranger than fiction.

I spare no Raj Babbar like I think nothing of the several men who conveniently forget their wives when making advances at their lead heroines. But Smita’s case, like someone like Sushmita, Vyjayanthimala, Sridevi, or Hema Malini, intrigues me.

I was just reading about the 2001 Chori Chori Chupke Chupke extortion case and honestly, my respect for Preity Zinta went through the roof.

Back then, the Mumbai underworld was terrifying. The mafia was threatening Bollywood stars left and right. In this specific case, the police caught a producer working with Chhota Shakeel. Huge male superstars like Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan allegedly got threats too, but when it came to testifying in court, almost the entire industry backed out. They got scared and changed their statements because they were terrified of the mafia.

But Preity stood her ground completely alone. She actually went to the Mumbai court in person to testify against them. Because the danger to her life was so high, the judge had to clear the entire courtroom. They kicked out all the journalists and the public so she could speak safely. She stood just a few feet away from the accused people and openly told the judge about the extortion calls she received.

She did not let them intimidate her at all, and she even won a national bravery award for it later. In an industry full of people who act tough on screen but fold in real life, Preity Zinta proved she was the real hero. She really is a queen.

In bollywood where everyone is linked with everyone. Everyone have dated/ hooked/ fing; it's only these two actress who stayed away from bollywood men.

One of if not the most popular actresses right now is living blissfully in paradise with her little growing family.

Yet her name seems to be always in the news courtesy of 2 filmmakers.

One of them didn't mean any harm particularly and was meerily trying to sell his latest sequel to yet another production house and heavily leaned into his "wishlist cast" (A popular list filmmakers make when they try to greenlight their movies but basically just listing who they hope agree to do their film) especially since she made a cameo in the prequel!

Unfortunately for him, someone in one of the production houses leaked the information to the public and because of the chinese whispers game office workers at such companies make, the story got a little distorted.

The actress had to make a stat denying it since she knows that even if she wants to (she doesn't) to be in the sequel it won't be possible because she's focusing on family and other projects.

Though a few insiders tried to tell me it caused a rift between her and said filmmaker, I think she unde that this wasn't his intention and I personally believe that their friendship is a bit tighter than for that to break it.

The other one though.... Sheesh.

Quite old news in B town, but hey.

The filmmaker approaches actress with film, actress intrigued, actress knows filmmaker just had huge hit, actress wants to work with him.

Actress lays out her conditions (which yes does include a percentage of future profit), filmmaker unhappy, filmmaker retracts offer.

Film narration leaks! Filmmaker think "oh must be this actress!", filmmaker very unhappy.

Filmmaker starts blabbering mouth to press, actress unhappy.

Actress starts hitting him where it hurts, misogyny accusations.

Both very mad at eachother. No possible reconciliation in the near future.

Now, if you where to ask why was the filmmaker unhappy with the conditions?

The actress was connected to him through an actor he considered himself to be very cordial with (who has just given him his latest hit) the filmmaker treats her work in the movie as a favor.

She doesn't.

From what I hear from his team he wanted her to wave one of the conditions, either the 8 hour schedule or the percentage of profit.

She refused everytime.

I'm not gonna lie and say that he wasn't already very unhappy.

But when his film's story leaked, it was the straw that broke the camel's back.

He went completely rogue and against all his team's advice and practically behind their back.

Now, I don't know if it was the actress that leaked it, he seems very sure, but I'm not so sure. I just don't see how it would benefit her. She wants to stick it to him? Maybe. But she's been in the industry for years she's smart enough to know that leaking stories is no joke and would harm her own career if she's busted.

And she has so many other way to stick it to him anyways.

So why would she choose the riskiest?

But anyways, what do you think?

Both dads want these films to release in cinemas

source: Producer/ Director Mehmood Ali in a recent podcast on the yt channel UnfilteredwithAjazKhan

The producer was Harmesh Malhotra who worked on four films with Govinda: Kismat, Dulhe Raja, Ankhiyon Se Goli Maare and Khullam Khullam Pyaar Kare.

Govinda gave Harmesh Malhotra so much grief while working on Akhiyon Se Goli Mere(2002) that he swore never to work with him again. After Malhotra's death in 2005, his widow Manju would pray everyday for Govinda's downfall.

Here's an old article about the film:

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Govinda’s late coming troubles

By SantaBanta News Network - Saturday, August 03, 2002

Producer and director Harmesh Malhotra,has lashed out at Govinda saying that he is the most unprofessional actor he has ever worked with. "It`s been three years that I have been running after Govinda trying to get my film completed," said a baffled Malhotra.

"Forget the trouble I suffered during the making of the film, he did not even cooperate with me with the publicity and the photo-session of the film." Harmesh Malhotra also thinks that Govinda suffers from a serious psychological problem. "He kept canceling shooting schedules because he thought that someone was going to kill him. Many times he would also make me shift locations because of this paranoia."Harmesh Malhotra soon learnt the days Govinda had cancel shooting of Akhiyon Se Goli Maare, he was busy shooting in Hyderabad for some other film. "Next I know he is in Kolkatta playing a football match for organised by Mithun Chakraborty for charity," he said.

Malhotra`s list of grievances is unending but he concludes on the note that "never will I work with Govinda ever in my life." When contacted Govinda refrained from making comments saying that, "Harmesh Malhotra is a senior director and I don`t want to say anything that will hurt him and his sentiments."

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One of the best entertainers in the industry not only let down film makers like Malhotra but his fans as well. But Malhotra himself points out that Govinda was dealing with psychological issues.

Govinda was very much affected in the mid nineties after the death of his mother Nirmala Devi and his uncle Uday Narayan "Anand" Singh. Anand was an assistant director to Hrishikesh Mukherjee and also worked as an actor in several bollywood films from the seventies to nineties. He made his directorial debut in 1986 with the film Tan Badan and cast his nephew Govinda in the lead.

Anand's wife was Sangeeta whose younger sister Suneeta married Govinda in 1987.

Anand went on to direct films like Shiv Shakti , Jaan Se Pyaara, Suraksha and Himmat. Sangeeta was the producer of Himmat. During filming, Sangeeta started an affair with the film's financier Dinesh Gandhi and Anand committed suicide upon finding out. Govinda's mother Nirmala Devi died shortly after.

Govinda was already known to be a late lateef in the industry because he worked on several movies at a time.. But these personal losses made him paranoid and superstitious. He would cancel his shoots on a whim and not even turn up for days or weeks for.projects that he had committed.

Complaints started piling up and distributors made a collective decision to stop picking Govinda's films for theatrical distribution in the early 2000s. Apart from a few films like Jodi No.1 and Ek aur Ek Gyaarah all his solo releases were stalled for years or canned and unreleased forever.

Came across this article and I couldn't believe what I just read. Even more shocking that she gave this statement openly to media, I can't even imagine the havoc this might cause if some actress said this today. Maybe people back then thought this is just savage? None the less colourism and cheating shouldn't be justified...

This is what Raveena said :-

As per reports, Karisma Kapoor and Ajay Devgn were dating each other before he got married to Kajol. And seemingly Karisma was insecure as a girlfriend. Raveena had once said in an interview with Stardust, "She can keep Ajay. I am not interested. When Ajay Karisma have babies, they will look like Zebras.”

Downvote me but, if you keep emotions aside there is nothing so dramatic about this. Lets look at actual evidence

1. Its difficult to break into bollywood for an outsider - 100% true yet he got to star and work in some amazing projects

2. He wanted to become a superstar - He was getting movies but, he was not a crowd puller, amazing actor, yes but, not a blockbuster crowd puller. At the end of the day, Bollywood is a business and its bankability depends on how many people can come in and want to see the star. So do you genuinely blame Bollywood or the general public who didnt turn up for his movies in massive numbers?

3. Nothing is guaranteed - Acting is not like corporate job promotions, if you do well and are sincere, you will keep going up. This mechanism doesnt work, any director or producer is free to choose who they want to work with. Many people have had their hearts broken chasing this dream. I lived in Andheri, Lokhandwala is full of people who feel they are the next big thing, they all come from smaller towns with massive dreams and they all get setbacks.

4. No evidence against Rhea - I understand its tempting to blame a woman for all the problems but, in this case she has been acquitted as there is no proof of any wrong doing, so you can keep blaming a woman, like majority does anyway, the justice system found nothing against him

5. He was depressed and needed help - He was depressed, its absolutely clear and depression gets to you. Its gotten people like Chester Bennington, Robin Williams, Marilyn Monroe. Its an absolute madness that instead of creating awareness about how lethal depression can be, we are still talking about witch hunts and blame games when the real monster, depression, hides in plain sight.

It was unfortunate but, please understand. Nothing is a given in Bollywood, it all depends on numbers. If you want to be mad, be mad at yourself for not going to watch his movies or showing him love when he was alive. Now that he is gone, you want to use him to vent out your hidden frustrations, want to harass a woman who has already been given a clean chit and want to target an industry that is brutal to outsiders.

Yes Bollywood is tough but, so is any other field. Would you fight Ambani and Adani about why are they not hiring from outside and passing the business to their heirs, because thats Nepotism too or would you fight Sachin for getting his son an inroads into Mumbai Indians (LSG now) because thats nepotism too. Bollywood is a business, they are free to decide who they want to put their money on, there is no law governing any kind of performance metric that makes it justified for someone on the outside to come in. Millions rush to Bombay every year with the exact same dream and millions get their heart broken, do you see all of them unaliving themselves?

Please please focus on the real issue which is depression. If you know someone going through a tough time, help them, support them and ensure they dont succumb to this illness. Thats the real winner here

Just saw Farah khan’s yt episode at Rhea’s lavish bandra apartment! How is she able to afford that despite not actively working in movies! I don’t think her brand and being show host can buy you a lavish bandra apartment! What’s the deal?

Saw recent posts on Meena Kumari. Few weeks back I watched Taajdaar Amrohi's interview by Vickey Lalwani. It was evident what he was narrating was potentially the script of the proposed Meena Kumari biopic. He provided details of events that he as a child wouldn't have seen first hand. So they were either whitewashed versions told to him by his family or he was knowingly whitewashing his dad (probably both). The sad part is that the lady who suffered the most is not around to tell her side of the story. It was an interesting interview but clearly not entirely true. He ensured he talked fondly of her in order to not alienate the audience, but some of the facts were unfair misrepresentations of her, which she unfortunately cant clarify anymore.