Foot-In-The-Mouth: The Celebrity Chapter

It’s not easy being a celebrity. I’m sure we’re all aware of that. But in the age of social media, words are beginning to speak louder than actions. While us mere mortals can slip-up on the difference between Osama and Obama, it gets more unforgiving as you climb up the ladder to fame. So here’s taking a look at the top verbal faux pas from our beloved celebs.

When they say the wrong name…

While you were concentrating on Alia Bhatt’s blunder reply “Prithviraj Chauhan” to the question “Who is the President of India?” on that infamous episode of Koffee with Karan, Varun Dhawan was busy guessing Manmohan Singh as the answer. Though in the rapid-fire round earlier, he had claimed to have an interest in world affairs over porn. We totally believe you, Varun!

When it takes a third try to get it right… You can delete your tweets all you want; someone out there will always have a screenshot of your failed attempts. Or, in Anushka Sharma’s case, when two fails made one right. Sending out a message expressing condolence for the death of former president APJ Abdul

Kalam, she went from ABJ Kalam Azad to APJ Kalam Azad and finally got it right on the third try. That’s a lot of damage in a span of six minutes.

When autocorrect attacks… Try making sense of this particular tweet: “Such good news to hear about masala and the noble peace price.” This was Jackky Bhagnani congratulating Malala Yousafzai on receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014. Naomi Campbell’s phone too decided to autocorrect her tweet that read “Congratulations malaria on your #nobelpeaceprize”. That mosquito bite must have hurt!

When they get caught up in honest mistakes… We’re back to Koffee with Karan, but this time it’s Sonam Kapoor attributing Mahatma Gandhi’s quote “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind” to Robert De Niro. In another segment, when asked about Saif ’s favourite song, Kareena Kapoor instantly replied “Stairway to the moon”, referring to Led Zep’s classic Stairway to Heaven. Happens to the best of us, no?

How do we turn such and other failures into success, you ask? Turn to our cover story on page 6 for personal experiences from India’s top writers on learning from their setbacks.