#2025Recap: Bollywood’s 37 BIGGEST and SHOCKING Controversies of 2025 – Paresh Rawal’s exit from Hera Pheri 3, Ranveer Singh’s Kantara row, Deepika Padukone’s exit from Spirit, Kalki 2898 AD, Salman Khan BLASTS A R Murugadoss

Like every year, 2025, too, was riddled with some big controversies involving our film stars and film fraternity members. Bollywood Hungama, in this special report, brings to you the major controversies that made the maximum news this year.

1. Paresh Rawal’s exit and entry in Hera Pheri 3
Bollywood Hungama broke the biggest story of the year, that Paresh Rawal quit Hera Pheri 3. A few days later, Akshay Kumar sued the veteran actor for it. Fans heaved a sigh of relief when the actor returned to the much-loved franchise.

2. Akshaye Khanna’s exit from Drishyam 3
In the last week of 2025, Bollywood Hungama broke another viral news – Kumar Mangat blasted Akshaye Khanna for exiting Drishyam 3 at the last minute, after signing the agreement and taking an advance amount. He also expressed reservations over Akshaye’s demand for a wig.

3. Ranveer Singh’s Kantara homage backfires
Ranveer Singh unintentionally ended up making fun of Kantara when he mimicked the daivas on stage at IFFI 2025. A few days later, the actor apologized for hurting sentiments.

4. Deepika Padukone’s exit from Spirit, Kalki 2898 AD sequel
Deepika Padukone walked out of Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Spirit after her demand for an eight-hour work shift was not met. Soon, the producers of Kalki 2898 AD (2024) announced that Deepika won’t be a part of the sequel as ‘they were unable to find a partnership’ with the actress. A few months later, the actress hinted at this controversy and wondered why only the male actors have the privilege of working for fixed hours and not the actresses.

5. Jaya Bachchan’s comments on paparazzi
At an event in December, Jaya Bachchan expressed her displeasure with the paparazzi as she said, “Bahar drain-pipe type gande-gande pants pehen kar, haath mein mobile le kar… they think just because they have a phone, they can take your picture and say whatever they want, along with the kind of comments they pass.” The paps reacted strongly to this statement.

6. No release for Sardaar Ji 3 and Aabeer Gulaal in India
Diljit Dosanjh’s Sardaar Ji 3 didn’t get a release in India due to the casting of Pakistani actress Hania Aamir. The film was released in cinemas in the last week of June 2025, that is, 1 ½ months after Operation Sindoor and 2 months after the ghastly Pahalgam attack. Diljit was severely criticized for casting an actor from the ‘enemy country’. Meanwhile, Aabeer Gulaal was all set to release on May 9 and its release was pushed due to strained relations between the two countries. The romcom, starring Vaani Kapoor and Fawad Khan, was finally released only overseas, on September 12.

7. Sameer Wankhede vs The Ba***ds Of Bollywood
Sameer Wankhede moved the Delhi High Court after he claimed that a character in Aryan Khan’s web show The Ba***ds Of Bollywood was based on him. The controversial officer alleged that the portrayal deliberately damaged his reputation.

8. Ram Gopal Varma’s “fraud” comment on Game Changer’s box office
The first big controversy of 2025 was over the discrepancies in the box office numbers claimed by the producers of Game Changer and those reported by trade sources. Ram Gopal Varma called the collections a ‘fraud’.

9. Saif Ali Khan stabbed
The second major controversy of the year sent shockwaves when it came to light that an intruder attacked Saif Ali Khan with a knife. Despite multiple stab wounds, the actor recovered soon.

10. Virat’s ‘like’ causes mayhem
In May, Virat Kohli got into trouble when he liked a post made by an Instagram fan page dedicated to Avneet Kaur. The cricketer clarified on his Story, “I’d like to clarify that while clearing my feed, it appears the algorithm may have mistakenly registered an interaction”. Fans were unconvinced by his version and it led to more trolling.

11. Karisma Kapoor and family in court
Karisma Kapoor’s ex-husband, Sunjay Kapur, suddenly died due to a heart attack while playing polo in the UK. A few months later, a bitter legal battle commenced in the Delhi High Court over his assets worth Rs. 30,000 crores, as Karisma Kapoor’s children, Samaira and Kiaan, challenged a will that excludes them.

12. Govinda-Sunita Ahuja’s ‘strained’ equation
Initially, there were rumours that Govinda was separating from his wife, Sunita Ahuja. Later, Sunita dropped the bomb over Govinda’s alleged affair.

13. Salman reacts to Murugadoss’ comments
In an interview, A R Murugadoss spoke about working with Salman Khan in Sikandar. He claimed that the superstar would arrive on the set at 9 pm and that it was difficult to work with him. On ‘Bigg Boss 19’, Salman took a dig at the director and wondered why his film Madharaasi didn’t work despite its lead actor Sivakarthikeyan reporting on the sets at 6 am.

14. Hrithik’s comments on Dhurandhar
Hrithik Roshan stirred a row after he praised Dhurandhar on his Instagram story but stated that he may ‘disagree with the politics of it’. Later, he posted another story on the film, this time, avoiding any controversial statement.

15. Abhinav Kashyap’s regular rants
Abhinav Kashyap gave as many as 4 interviews to a YouTube channel where he made distasteful comments about Salman Khan, working on Dabangg, and many other actors of the film industry.

16. Saat Samandar-Tu Meri Main Tera Main Tera Tu Meri row
Rajiv Rai went to court after he alleged that the song ‘Saat Samandar Paar’ in Tu Meri Main Tera Main Tera Tu Meri was used without authorization. The veteran filmmaker, however, failed to get victory in this case.

17. Palash Mucchal’s marriage called off
Music composer Palash Muchhal was all set to marry cricketer Smriti Mandhana. However, their marriage was called off at the last minute, with Smriti even deleting her pictures with Palash. While the cheating rumours were widely circulated, Palash dismissed the allegations.

18. Sunny Deol abuses paps
Sunny Deol, in a rare instance, abused the paparazzi, accusing them of disregarding basic boundaries while covering the health scare of Dharmendra.

19. Ranveer Allahbadia row
An FIR was lodged against the jury, producers and the person who uploaded the controversial episode of Samay Raina’s show ‘India’s Got Latent’ on YouTube. Ranveer Allahbadia got the maximum hate for his controversial question related to parenting. Ranveer had to apologize due to the criticism.

20. Dhadak 2-Phule-Santosh-Panjab ’95 vs CBFC
The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) continued to be in the news for wrong reasons. Dhadak 2 and Phule, both based on the caste system, got several cuts before they were allowed to be released in cinemas. Santosh, which was UK’s official entry to the Oscars, was all set to be released in cinemas and later directly on OTT, but it was stopped at the last minute, again due to censorship reasons. Lastly, Panjab ’95 was to be released internationally on February 7, but the plan was cancelled. Later in the year, director Honey Trehan accused the CBFC of asking for as many as 127 cuts and then stalling the release of the Diljit Dosanjh-starrer.

21. Anurag Kashyap’s rants
In March, Anurag Kashyap blasted the team of Netflix India, claiming that the latter would have rejected a show like Adolescence. Many months later, he slammed Hanuman – The Eternal and also one of the film’s producers, Vijay Subramaniam, for backing an AI-generated film while heading an artists’ agency.

22. Coolie makers’ IMAX release claims misfires
Trade and industry were left stunned when the makers of Coolie claimed on their posters that their film, starring Rajinikanth, would be released in IMAX. However, the film was never approved for an IMAX version in the first place. The IMAX Corporation, however, chose not to publicly react to this astonishing development.

23. Udit Narayan’s kissing row
Udit Narayan stirred controversy after an undated video of him kissing a female fan on the lips while taking a selfie started doing the rounds on social media in the last week of January 2025. The singer was unfazed by it and even joked about him at events.

24. Vikram Bhatt arrested
Vikram Bhatt and his wife Shwetambari Bhatt were arrested on December 7 in a Rs 30 crore cheating case. The case was filed by Dr Ajay Murdia, who had signed a deal with Vikram for 4 films, who alleged that he was cheated by the filmmaker.

25. Agra struggles for shows
The acclaimed film Agra hardly got any shows in cinemas. Director Kanu Behl reacted strongly to the second-class treatment meted out by multiplexes. His actions led to many filmmakers coming forward to talk about their grievances. Ultimately, they formed a collective.

26. Bhool Chuk Maaf vs PVR
A day before release, the makers of Bhool Chuk Maaf announced that their romcom would release directly on Amazon Prime Video due to uncertainty about the theatrical business due to Operation Sindoor. The next day, PVR Inox decided to take legal action against the production house for damages of Rs. 60 crores for non-playability of the film. The matter was settled out of court and the film was ultimately released in cinemas on May 23.

27. Jolly LLB 3, Single Salma’s VPF woes
The VPF issue made a comeback this year. Jolly LLB 3’s bookings were suspended at the last minute by PVR Inox after Star Studio18 refused to pay VPF. They had to finally pay the VPF under protest. A month later, the studio’s next film, Single Salma, also went through a similar ordeal.

28. Nidhhi Agerwal mobbed
Nidhhi Agerwal was left shaken after she was mobbed and manhandled by crowds during a song launch at a mall in Hyderabad. Actor Sivaji, meanwhile, blamed the actress for her choice of clothing. Nidhhi reacted to it on her story while following severe backlash, the actor apologized.

29. Madhuri Dixit upsets Toronto fans
Fans were left aghast after Madhuri Dixit arrived late at an event in Toronto, Canada with several attendees expressing disappointment over what they described as a ‘misleading’ event. The backlash was so heavy that the organizers had to clarify, stating that Madhuri was on time, and the issue arose due to a miscommunication by a local promoter.

30. Amaal Mallik disowns family
In March, Amaal Mallik announced his separation from his family. In a lengthy note, he also blamed his parents, Jyothi and Daboo Malik, for his strained relationship with his brother, Armaan Malik. Later, he deleted the post and reunited with his family.

31. No entry for Javed Akhtar at Kolkata event
Javed Akhtar was to speak on the contribution of Urdu literature to Hindi cinema at the event organized by the Urdu Academy, Kolkata. However, his name was dropped after two organizations opposed his attendance because he had publicly spoken about being an atheist and promoted atheism.

32. Raanjhanaa’s AI ending sparks debate
Aanand L Rai and lead actor Dhanush reacted sharply after Raanjhanaa was re-released, but with a changed ending thanks to AI. The original ending featured Kundan (Dhanush) passing away. In the new version, his character returned from the dead.

33. Ram Kapoor ousted from promotions
Ram Kapoor was removed from all promotional duties for his web show, Mistry, following allegations that he made sexually inappropriate and offensive remarks to members of the show’s marketing and publicity teams during press interviews. Later, the actor apologized and also made his stand clear.

34. Thug Life’s Karnataka release jeopardized
Certain groups threatened that they wouldn’t allow Thug Life to be released in Karnataka after Kamal Haasan’s “Kannada was born out of Tamil” remarks. The matter went to the Supreme Court, which allowed the Mani Ratnam-directorial to be released in cinemas in Karnataka.

35. L2 Empuraan censored after release
L2 Empuraan got into a controversy due to its religious themes and plot points that were inspired by the 2002 Gujarat riots. The matter became so serious that the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) insisted on several cuts to the film, that too, after the film was already released, a first-of-its-kind instance.

36. Jaat church scene axed
A sequence in Jaat, showing Randeep Hooda standing in a church in a pose that resembles Christ’s crucifixion, and shows violence in the holy setting, was removed from Jaat after an FIR was filed and it was said that the scene hurt the sentiments.

37. Mrs controversy
Though Mrs was loved majorly, a section of netizens were outraged by the film’s ‘anti-men’ narrative. The backlash from this section was severe, which kept Mrs in the news for many days.

The post #2025Recap: Bollywood’s 37 BIGGEST and SHOCKING Controversies of 2025 – Paresh Rawal’s exit from Hera Pheri 3, Ranveer Singh’s Kantara row, Deepika Padukone’s exit from Spirit, Kalki 2898 AD, Salman Khan BLASTS A R Murugadoss appeared first on Bollywood Hungama.

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