Indian politicians have been infamous for promoting their children up the ladder but trust Bollywood to popularise the term &#39;nepotism&#39;. 
 
However, this was not the only word that made headlines as the film industry had its moment of reckoning with the Harvey Weinstein scandal exploding in Hollywood and terms such as pay disparity and feminism becoming a part of the debate in Bollywood. 
 
When actor Kangana Ranaut called director Karan Johar &quot;the flagbearer of nepotism&quot;, little did she know that it will replace its colloquial Hindi counterpart, &#39;bhai-bhateejawaad&#39;.

Similar to last year&#39;s buzzword &quot;intolerance&quot; that became a hashtag, &quot;nepotism&quot; was the word of 2017 for the industry. 
 
Karan gave it back to Kangana&#39;s volley and the chain reaction began, with - outsiders or star kids - being asked for comments related to the newest entrant in the lingo of the film industry. 
 
From Shah Rukh Khan, Varun Dhawan, Deepika Padukone to Alia Bhatt, almost every celebrity had one nepotism-related question waiting to be answered at media interactions. 
 
While male stars have ruled for decades, female actors have also started asserting themselves when it comes to equal pay and experimenting with roles, making the word &#39;feminism&#39; popular, but as Priyanka Chopra put it, the phrase is still misunderstood. 
 
&quot;There is movement but it is very nominal. We need to work so much more. In our country and across the globe, girls are treated as secondary citizen. They face violence and abuse everywhere. And feminism is a way to control that situation, but it has become a negative term,&quot; Priyanka told PTI. 
 
The cinema too reflected this change with women-centric films such as Lipstick Under My Burkha, Tumhari Sulu, Secret Superstar&nbsp;and Mom&nbsp;doing well at the box office this year. 
 
In Hollywood, Weinstein, once the nurturer of independent cinema, became synonymous with sexual harassment after the New York Times broke the biggest story of this year in October by alleging multiple sexual allegations against the now-disgraced media mogul. 
 
The expose was followed by a detailed piece by journalist Ronan Farrow for The New Yorker. 
 
Emboldened by the articles, more than 50 women, including powerful A-listers from Hollywood such as Ashley Judd, Rose McGowan, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Lupita Nyong&#39;o, Salma Hayek, Uma Thurman, Heather Graham, Eva Green, Lea Seydoux, came forward to share their horrific stories of sexual harassment at the hands of the producer. 
 
One of the most powerful men in Hollywood once, Weinstein&#39;s career is over and he has been thrown out of the company that he co-founded. 
 
The scandal had a domino effect in Hollywood with many powerful men such as Brett Ratner, James Toback, Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Pive, Mark Schwahn facing similar career-ending accusations. 
 
A tumultuous, but an equally introspective year is nearing its end. The first award ceremony of 2018 will take the issue of sexual harassment head on as both women and men of Hollywood have pledged to appear in black to address the ugly, dark side of the business. 
 
Here&#39;s hoping Bollywood gathers the strength to call out and exposes its Weinsteins in the coming years.&nbsp;

From Shah Rukh Khan, Varun Dhawan, Deepika Padukone to Alia Bhatt, almost every celebrity had one nepotism-related question waiting to be answered at media interactions.

Indian politicians have been infamous for promoting their children up the ladder but trust Bollywood to popularise the term 'nepotism'. However, this was not the only word that made headlines as the film industry had its moment of reckoning with the Harvey Weinstein scandal exploding in Hollywood and terms such as pay disparity and feminism becoming a part of the debate in Bollywood. When actor Kangana Ranaut called director Karan Johar "the flagbearer of nepotism", little did she know that it will replace its colloquial Hindi counterpart, 'bhai-bhateejawaad'. Similar to last year's buzzword "intolerance" that became a hashtag, "nepotism" was the word of 2017 for the industry. Karan gave it back to Kangana's volley and the chain reaction began, with - outsiders or star kids - being asked for comments related to the newest entrant in the lingo of the film industry. From Shah Rukh Khan, Varun Dhawan, Deepika Padukone to Alia Bhatt, almost every celebrity had one nepotism-related question waiting to be answered at media interactions. While male stars have ruled for decades, female actors have also started asserting themselves when it comes to equal pay and experimenting with roles, making the word 'feminism' popular, but as Priyanka Chopra put it, the phrase is still misunderstood. "There is movement but it is very nominal. We need to work so much more. In our country and across the globe, girls are treated as secondary citizen. They face violence and abuse everywhere. And feminism is a way to control that situation, but it has become a negative term," Priyanka told PTI. The cinema too reflected this change with women-centric films such as Lipstick Under My Burkha, Tumhari Sulu, Secret Superstar and Mom doing well at the box office this year. In Hollywood, Weinstein, once the nurturer of independent cinema, became synonymous with sexual harassment after the New York Times broke the biggest story of this year in October by alleging multiple sexual allegations against the now-disgraced media mogul. The expose was followed by a detailed piece by journalist Ronan Farrow for The New Yorker. Emboldened by the articles, more than 50 women, including powerful A-listers from Hollywood such as Ashley Judd, Rose McGowan, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Lupita Nyong'o, Salma Hayek, Uma Thurman, Heather Graham, Eva Green, Lea Seydoux, came forward to share their horrific stories of sexual harassment at the hands of the producer. One of the most powerful men in Hollywood once, Weinstein's career is over and he has been thrown out of the company that he co-founded. The scandal had a domino effect in Hollywood with many powerful men such as Brett Ratner, James Toback, Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Pive, Mark Schwahn facing similar career-ending accusations. A tumultuous, but an equally introspective year is nearing its end. The first award ceremony of 2018 will take the issue of sexual harassment head on as both women and men of Hollywood have pledged to appear in black to address the ugly, dark side of the business. Here's hoping Bollywood gathers the strength to call out and exposes its Weinsteins in the coming years.

'Nepotism' and 'sexual harassment': Words that dominated showbiz in 2017

Looks like filmmaker Karan Johar isn&#39;t done discussing the nepotism topic yet. At a promotional event of his upcoming film Ittefaq, the director once again brought up the topic and even took jibes at himself,&nbsp;Akshaye Khanna and Sonakshi Sinha.&nbsp;

Johar said that the film industry was willing to make space for all kinds of people. &quot;On the platform, today, there are two non-nepotistic people - Shah Rukh Khan and Sidharth Malhotra and rest of us - Sonakshi Sinha, daughter of veteran actor Shatrughan Sinha, Akshaye Khanna, son of late actor Vinod Khanna, Abhay Chopra and Kapil Chopra, sons of late filmmaker Ravi Chopra, are the brand ambassador of nepotism. As we stand together, it speaks a volume about how worth they are equally, efficiently and correctly,&quot; a news agency quoted him as saying.&nbsp;

The event also saw Shah Rukh Khan in attendance, who has co-produced the film. When the superstar was asked about his opinion on nepotism, the actor played it safe and said, &quot;I don&#39;t understand this discussion (on nepotism). When I hear the word &#39;nepotism&#39;, I feel the other person is talking about Napoleon. Even though I know enough English, still I don&#39;t understand it and the discussion. Whether I agree or disagree -- I don&#39;t even understand it so how can I have an opinion?&quot;

Johar was accused by actress Kangana Ranaut of being a flagbearer of nepotism in the film industry during one of the episodes of Koffee With Karan. Not only did the statement raised many eyebrows. At the IIFA a few months back, the filmmaker along with Varun Dhawan and Saif Ali Khan had made jokes around Ranaut&#39;s comment and even chanted &#39;Nepotism Rocks&#39; while hosting a segment at the award ceremony. The act, of course, received a lot of criticism from fans and media alike and later the two actors had issued an apology and the filmmaker expressed regret.&nbsp;

Johar and Khan&#39;s co-production Ittefaq&nbsp;is all set to release in theatres on Friday. The film features Sidharth Malhotra, Sonakshi Sinha and Akshaye Khanna in lead roles.&nbsp;

 
&nbsp;

Johar was accused by actress Kangana Ranaut of being a flagbearer of nepotism in the film industry during one of the episodes of Koffee With Karan.

Looks like filmmaker Karan Johar isn't done discussing the nepotism topic yet. At a promotional event of his upcoming film Ittefaq, the director once again brought up the topic and even took jibes at himself, Akshaye Khanna and Sonakshi Sinha. Johar said that the film industry was willing to make space for all kinds of people. "On the platform, today, there are two non-nepotistic people - Shah Rukh Khan and Sidharth Malhotra and rest of us - Sonakshi Sinha, daughter of veteran actor Shatrughan Sinha, Akshaye Khanna, son of late actor Vinod Khanna, Abhay Chopra and Kapil Chopra, sons of late filmmaker Ravi Chopra, are the brand ambassador of nepotism. As we stand together, it speaks a volume about how worth they are equally, efficiently and correctly," a news agency quoted him as saying. The event also saw Shah Rukh Khan in attendance, who has co-produced the film. When the superstar was asked about his opinion on nepotism, the actor played it safe and said, "I don't understand this discussion (on nepotism). When I hear the word 'nepotism', I feel the other person is talking about Napoleon. Even though I know enough English, still I don't understand it and the discussion. Whether I agree or disagree -- I don't even understand it so how can I have an opinion?" Johar was accused by actress Kangana Ranaut of being a flagbearer of nepotism in the film industry during one of the episodes of Koffee With Karan. Not only did the statement raised many eyebrows. At the IIFA a few months back, the filmmaker along with Varun Dhawan and Saif Ali Khan had made jokes around Ranaut's comment and even chanted 'Nepotism Rocks' while hosting a segment at the award ceremony. The act, of course, received a lot of criticism from fans and media alike and later the two actors had issued an apology and the filmmaker expressed regret. Johar and Khan's co-production Ittefaq is all set to release in theatres on Friday. The film features Sidharth Malhotra, Sonakshi Sinha and Akshaye Khanna in lead roles.

Karan Johar calls himself brand 'ambassador of nepotism'

Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut has been making headlines ever since her appearance on Rajat Sharma&#39;s Aap ki Adalat show.

On the show, she did what she does best -- speak out. &nbsp;

She named Aditya Pancholi as the man who had beaten her when she had first came to Bollywood. She&#39;s talked about the physical abuse earlier, but has never named the man &quot;as old as her father&quot; who did it.&nbsp;

She talked about how the allegations made by Hrithik Roshan and his father had hurt her. This was after she had called Hrithik an &quot;ex&quot;, and the two ended up filing complaints against each other.&nbsp;

And of course she talked about nepotism, saying Bollywood award shows are rigged.&nbsp;

As for Karan Johar, she said he had given her the biggest flop -- Ungli -- of her career.&nbsp;

Watch Kangana on the Aap ki Adalat show:&nbsp;

<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/N3wHgadR3Y8" width="560"></iframe>

Large sections of the Twitterati have come out in her support since then.&nbsp;

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I am with # kangna ranaut
&mdash; Anas Mehmood (@AnasMehmood2607) <a href="https://twitter.com/AnasMehmood2607/status/904763541026045952">September 4, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<a href="https://t.co/QpE1nf15is">https://t.co/QpE1nf15is</a> 
From this to today&#39;s fierce honest woman.. she has come a long way. Kudos to Kangna
&mdash; Pooja (@Pooj_Coorg) <a href="https://twitter.com/Pooj_Coorg/status/904763066297991168">September 4, 2017</a></blockquote>
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While others have disagreed.

The singer Sona Mohapatra, in a Facebook post, wrote &quot;your current run across the airwaves regurgitating personal details of your love life over &amp; over again, washing dirty linen in public &amp; more so as part of a professional PR campaign before your film release is in bad taste&quot;.&nbsp;

&quot;Your success doesn&#39;t need this tabloid trail,&quot; she added.&nbsp;

Read Sona Mohapatra&#39;s letter to Kangana:&nbsp;

<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="256" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fsonatheartiste%2Fposts%2F10154577774831486&amp;width=500" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" width="500"></iframe>

Kangana&#39;s film Simran is set to hit theatres on September 15.

Pancholi, in the meantime, has threatened to take legal action against Kangana. &nbsp;

Kangana has been making headlines ever since she appeared on Rajat Sharma's Aap ki Adalat show

Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut has been making headlines ever since her appearance on Rajat Sharma's Aap ki Adalat show. On the show, she did what she does best -- speak out. She named Aditya Pancholi as the man who had beaten her when she had first came to Bollywood. She's talked about the physical abuse earlier, but has never named the man "as old as her father" who did it. She talked about how the allegations made by Hrithik Roshan and his father had hurt her. This was after she had called Hrithik an "ex", and the two ended up filing complaints against each other. And of course she talked about nepotism, saying Bollywood award shows are rigged. As for Karan Johar, she said he had given her the biggest flop -- Ungli -- of her career. Watch Kangana on the Aap ki Adalat show: Large sections of the Twitterati have come out in her support since then. I am with # kangna ranaut — Anas Mehmood (@AnasMehmood2607) September 4, 2017 × https://t.co/QpE1nf15is From this to today's fierce honest woman.. she has come a long way. Kudos to Kangna — Pooja (@Pooj_Coorg) September 4, 2017 × While others have disagreed. The singer Sona Mohapatra, in a Facebook post, wrote "your current run across the airwaves regurgitating personal details of your love life over & over again, washing dirty linen in public & more so as part of a professional PR campaign before your film release is in bad taste". "Your success doesn't need this tabloid trail," she added. Read Sona Mohapatra's letter to Kangana: Kangana's film Simran is set to hit theatres on September 15. Pancholi, in the meantime, has threatened to take legal action against Kangana.

Kangana speaks out, and makes headlines again

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