It is the season of end-of-the-year compilations, and among them is “who was in the news the most”. The year 2019 has been interesting for Bollywood in terms of both numbers and content. And to look at what worked and what didn’t, Wizikey, Asia’s first PR and communication platform, collated all this into a report using its AI and ML-based technology.
This was also a year of gossip, including relationships big weddings, and global stars. There were some people, however, who emerged as the top newsmakers.
Occupying the top spot this year is Salman Khan, who was in the news depite having no release this year except for Dabangg 3 which comes out on Friday. In the second spot is Akshay Kumar, followed by Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Alia Bhatt and Shah Rukh Khan respectively.
Sharing the report with the media, the CEO of Wizikey, Ansul Sushil, said, “It is always interesting to see which stars shone the brightest. These Top Newsmakers of Bollywood were in the news for more than just their movies. The AI and ML capabilities of Wizikey has given us some really interesting insights into how people view their favourite stars.”
Salman Khan moved past the shadow of his hit and run case, the report said, with a clean chit and emerged with the third film in his mammoth film franchise. Add to it his hosting gig with Bigg Boss, and some rumours around his upcoming projects and the star was in the limelight.
The second place holder of this ranking, Akshay Kumar, has also had an interesting year in the media. His movie Mission Mangal, was quite hyped, as are his upcoming projects, Laaxmi Bomb and Good Newzz. However, the end of the year was interesting for Akshay Kumar when his application for Indian citizenship was widely covered in the media.
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Priyanka Chopra’s year in the spotlight was more around her association with the Jonas family than it was about her work. There was a lot of negative press around her role as a UN Goodwill Ambassador. However, her film The Sky Is Pink helped her positive ratings.
The list would be incomplete without a mention of brand SRK. Despite having no film release in 2019, the star was still in the news. SRK’s appearance on David Letterman’s My Next Guest Needs No Introduction occupied a lot of coverage, and not to mention his birthday which is usually the talk of the town.
Finally, there is Alia Bhatt who had a stellar year on screen and off. Beginning with the rumour mills churning overtime with her plans of getting engaged to boyfriend Ranbir Kapoor in 2020 to closing the year with acting honours for her film Gully Boy.