As the curtain come down on 2022, Roshmila Bhattacharya flashbacks to some of the year's news-makers and events.
K: KHAN-ZANA, TODAY & TOMORROW
After a five-year drought, Shah Rukh Khan hopes to make a spectacular comeback in 2023 with a hat-trick: The Bond-styled action thriller Pathaan, a double role in Jawan and Dunki with Rajkumar Hirani, whose Munna Bhai MBBS he had turned down all those years ago.
However, while King Khan managed to charm British footballer Wayne Rooney into opening his arms for his signature pose, his Pathaan chartbuster has the moral police frowning over its besharam rang and threatening a boycott of the film.
Aamir Khan returned to the screen after four years with Laal Singh Chaddha, but the film fell flat on its face.
The Indianised Forrest Gump fell short of audience expectations, resulting in the actor taking another break from acting.
Saif Ali Khan's Raavan got the thumbs down and has led to the release of his Adipurush being pushed forward by six months to June 2023.
It has been just cameos for Salman Khan in 2022, but he is hoping to roar back with Tiger 3 and an omnipresent appearance in his home production, Kissi Ki Bhai, Kissi Ki Jaan.
The good news is that a new Khan, Irrfan Khan's son Babil, took his father's Qala forward with a Netflix series that earned him rave reviews.
L: LOVE IS IN THE AIR
Not just their fans, even Karan Johar and Salman Khan want Kiara Advani and Sidharth Malhotra to get knotty quickly.
After three years of hide-and-seek, Athiya Shetty and K L Rahul are looking to make a match of it, but Malaika Arora and Arjun Kapoor are still teasing the world with the 'When will they?' query.
Randeep Hooda has finally come out in the open with longtime girlfriend, Lin Laishram.
Tara Sutara and Adaar Jain are still swearing by 'thine and mine', Rakul Singh's lockdown love with Jackky Bhagnani continues uninterrupted, Pulkit Samrat and Kriti Kharbanda are living in the moment and Tejasswi Prakash and Karan Kundra are set to become housemates for real.
After a Commando style engagement, everyone waits to see how Vidyut Jammwal weds Nandita Mahtani.
It's beautiful to see once-married Hrithik Roshan and Sussanne Khan embrace each other's beaus, Saba Azad and Arslan Goni.
M: MUM'S THE WORD
While Alia Bhatt is singing Christmas rhymes with baby Raha, Bipasha Basu and Karan Singh Grover celebrated daughter Devi's one-month birthday by cutting a cake together.
Sonam Kapoor and Anand Ahuja's four-month-old son Vayu has already anointed Harsh Varrdhan as the best mama.
It's family days for Priyanka Chopra, Nick Jonas and the latest addition to their family, Malti Marie Chopra Jonas.
Kajal Aggarwal and Gautam Kitchlu welcomed their son Neil into the world in April.
It was a boy, also in April, for Bharti Singh and Haarsh Limbachiyaa.
N: NORA's HIT & HISS
Just before the final match between Argentina and France, Nora Fatehi joined Balqees, Rahma Riad and Manal in Qatar to perform on their song, Light The Sky, during the closing ceremony of the FIFA World Cup.
Bollywood's favourite item girl crooned in Hindi, making India proud and asserting 'your dreams are never too big'.
Nora also grabbed headlines when she was grilled by the Delhi police for the participation fee and BMW she received from alleged conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar for an event.
Nora claims she has nothing to do with his financial misadventures and has filed a defamation suit against Jacqueline Fernandez and some media houses for dragging her into the money-laundering case and intentionally sabotaging her career.
O for OSCAR CONTROVERSY
Nine years after The Lunchbox was edged out by a little-known Gujarati film, The Good Road, the jury once again courted controversy by choosing Pan Nalin's Gujarati film, Chhello Cinema (Last Film Show), over crowd favourite RRR as India's official entry for the Oscars in the Best Film in a Foreign Language category.
Following the snub, Dylan Marchetti, the president of RRR's US distributor Variance Films, urged the Academy to consider S S Rajamouli's period extravaganza in the mainstream categories, including Best Motion Picture, Best Director and Best Actor.
RRR has since bagged two Golden Globe nominations, five nominations at the Critics Choice Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, four nominations at the Hollywood Critics Association Film Awards, along with nods from the New York Film Critics Society, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, Florida Film Critics Circle, Chicago Film Critics Association and the Boston Society of Film Critics.
Its song Naatu Naatu made it to the Oscar shortlist in the Best Song category with the nominations for the non-technical awards still to be announced.
Meanwhile, Chhello Cinema also made it to the Oscar shortlist of 15, along with All That Breathes in the Best Documentary Feature Film and The Elephant Whispers amongst the Documentary Short Films.
Part 4: P: PUSHPA BLOOMS PAN-INDIA
Why I proposed at an army camp
'Mani Ratnam Sir doesn't always have a very clear vision'
'You're not becoming a critic to tear cinema down'
'No Time Till The Oscar Storm Passes'
SEE: Nora Fatehi Grooves at World Cup!