For the last two days, almost every media publication has reported the alleged legal feud between Hrithik Roshan and Kangana Ranaut. And every report has gotten progressively weirder by the day. Here are some claims made by the media so far:
* A "young superstar" allegedly dated Kangana after Queen's success which made Hrithik jealous.
* Hrithik and Kangana allegedly exchanged racy texts and pictures.
* Kangana allegedly called up Hrithik's father Rakesh Roshan, telling him to "handle his son".
* Hrithik alleged in the defamation notice he slapped on Kangana, that she is suffering from Asperger's syndrome which makes her imagine things.
* Kangana sent Hrithik 1,439 emails and stalked him online.
* Hrithik can be jailed for 10 years if he loses this legal battle.
* Hrithik Roshan will allegedly approach the cyber crime cell to find the impostor who spoke to Kangana on his behalf.
Here is a comprehensive history of the events.
Let's rewind to the first time Hrithik and Kangana came together on a public platform. It was in 2009 for Farah Khan's show Tere Mere Beach Mein.
Cut to 2010, Hrithik and Kangana were cast in Anurag Basu's Kites. But Kangana wasn't seen promoting the film as she revealed to Rajeev Masand that she was upset with Basu for giving her "a raw deal" in the film.
Also at this point, news publications were linking Roshan to Barbara Mori. On the other hand, Kangana was in a relationship with UK-based doctor Nicholas Lafferty.
In 2011, Stardust magazine dropped THIS cover.
But through a 2012 Stardust story we found out that it wasn't about Hrithik.
Around the same time as ^that news broke, Kangana and Hrithik were shooting for the superhero movie Krrish 3.
In 2013, during a promotional interview with Zoom, Kangana said amazing things about Hrithik.
"He is probably the nicest person you'll ever meet. He's Mr. Goody Two-shoes. He is not one of those men who would use slangs or implied words to seem macho or "cool". If you have a good-looking person around it makes the day more beautiful. He is very shy as a person. He is very grounded and attentive. That makes him very approachable. He comes across as someone who has problems and who can understand yours."
And this...
And they obviously promoted the film together.
Almost a month after Krrish 3's release, Hrithik and Sussanne announced the end of their 13-year-long marriage.
Nobody knows when their alleged relationship started. But in 2014, in an interview with Hindustan Times, Kangana was quoted saying this:
But that day never came because just two months after this interview, dna made this claim.
A Mumbai Mirror report stated that in January 2014, Hrithik flew to Paris and proposed to Kangana, and she said yes. According to an unnamed source, this was the speech he had planned:
But for reasons unknown, the relationship ended in December 2014, reports Mumbai Mirror. Roughly a month before this alleged break-up, Hrithik tweeted this
Then on April 13, 2015 Hrithik tweeted this:
In October 2015, Hrithik and Kangana came face to face at the Jio MAMI opening ceremony, but they flat out ignored each other.
Fast forward to January 2016. SHOTS. WERE. FIRED.
Meanwhile, on January 18, 2015, Hrithik released this shot of him from Dabboo Ratnani's calendar, of him literally laughing off tabloids.
In an interview with Pinkvilla, Kangana, seemingly DONE with the breakup, said this when asked to respond to the rumours:
Hrithik shaded Kangana with this tweet, seemingly acknowledging the rumours for the first time in TWO YEARS.
But Kangana wasn't having any of it as she lashed out during an NDTV event:
"No, I'm not hurt. I respect the other person's opinion also. It's very likely that a person can have a different perspective on the same situation or rather the past. But then, stick to your stand. Don't slyly pursue people and spy on them, chase them. So we sign and seal the deal and then move on."
In February 2016, SpotboyE reported that Hrithik slapped a defamation notice on Kangana, claiming that she is trying to tarnish his image in public by referring to him as her ex.
And India Today reported that Kangana responded with a 21-page missive to Hrithik.
Meanwhile, Hrithik tweeted this:
And he seemingly shaded media outlets for writing about his alleged legal battle with Kangana too:
UPDATE: Hrithik has been tweeting about emerging victorious in life and one cannot help but relate it to the ongoing controversy.
He also released an official statement to the press, finally speaking out on the issue:
"Anything private that becomes public gives rise to speculation and unnecessary controversies simply because the general public are not privy to the whole truth. Out of respect for everyone involved, I followed the legal path to resolve the matter in question so as to keep it private.
It was a breach of ethics to reveal the contents of a private legal notice. Dignified silence is dignified up to a point, but there comes a time when the silence needs to be broken to protect one's name, family and image.
The crux of the matter is that the mail id hroshan@email.com does NOT belong to me. I had filed a complaint in this regard with Mumbai Cyber Crime cell on 12 December, 2014 when I learnt of this impersonator communicating with said person. I have absolutely NO CONNECTION with this ID. The entire issue stems from a case of identity theft which has carried over to me. My complaint was reactivated on March 5, 2016 and the crime unit has made headway in tracking this person down. Once that is done, the matter can be laid to rest.
And finally, I believe that mental health is a grave and crucial issue which merits serious discussion. I would never address it flippantly nor use it as a personal attack. Any allegation to the contrary is a misrepresentation of facts. I was requested to keep silent and I did so for 2 years. This will be my final statement regarding this matter."
And Kangana's lawyer, Rizwan Siddique released a counter statement on her behalf:
"Mr. Hrithik's statements made to the media are nothing but efforts to gain public sympathy. He cannot wash his hands off the matter now after having criminally threatened my client and having intimidated her, without any provocation. He also cannot deny the fact that my client never named him anywhere and it was he himself who claimed to be "Silly Ex" in his notice. Besides his own acts of stating in the media that he would rather 'date a Pope' gave enough fodder to the media to start speculating. How can he blame my client for all his own acts of commissions and omissions?
Further, he should have refrained from making absolutely false statements in his notice. He specifically claimed that he does not know my client socially at all. If that were the truth, then how was he attending my client's private birthday party with his entire family and my client was attending his party besides his sister's and his father's birthday party as well? There is enough proof on public platform, which sufficiently proves that Mr. Hrithik Roshan's is lying.
Pursuant to my counter-notice there are now new claims that my client was not co-operating with the police to help with investigation of Mr. Hrithik's complaint. These claims are as false as his other claims. The fact is that my client was never dealing with any imposter and given the background of the matter, it is very lame on Mr. Hrithik's part to even suggest that. Besides my client was never ever asked for any co-operation in the said matter by any person for obvious reasons. The fact that Mr. Hrithik waited for seven month to lodge a complaint says it all. Now pursuant to receipt of my notice the complaint is once again being looked into by Mr. Hrithik Roshan, only as a face saving strategy.
It is also worthy to note that Mr. Hrithik Roshan specifically claims to have received 50 unsolicited emails per day from my client for about 601 days (as calculated from 24th May 2014 upto 16th February 2016). Accordingly he should have received more than 30,000 (thirty thousand) emails from my client as against his own alleged claim of receiving only 1,439 emails from my client during the said period. This shows that there is non application of mind even while making allegations. At least make efforts to do the calculations. Besides if Mr. Hrithik Roshan was really receiving unsolicited emails from my client then why did he not prudently block my client and went on receiving my client's emails for such a long time. The answer is obvious.
His own actions speak a lot and I need not say more on behalf of my client Ms. Kangana Ranaut. Most importantly I would like to point out that at least Mr. Hrithik Roshan should have bothered to ensure that he has a good reason to send a Legal Notice to my client. However as expected the notice is absolutely baseless, unsubstantiated, unwarranted and uncalled for. There is not even a case of defamation made out against my client and he is issuing a Notice for defamation without application of mind.
He needs to immediately realise that my client Ms. Kangana Ranaut does not need Mr. Hrithik Roshan's name to garner publicity or attention, as she is a renowned public figure herself."