Whether It's A Sadhu Or Star, We'll Expose

[chandramauli 0]

Aman Verma files complaint against Illiyasi, Sharma

Actor Aman Verma, known for his role in serials like `Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi' and `Devi', has filed a criminal case of blackmail and extortion against television anchor Suhaib Illiyasi and India TV Editor-in-Chief Rajat Sharma.

The complaint has been filed with Mumbai police, advocate Dipesh Mehta, representing Verma said.

According to the complaint, Verma was constantly being telephoned by a girl named Ruchi for past several months. On December 17, the girl came to Verma's Lokhandwala residence and initiated a conversation with him. After some time, the girl suggested that they should move to the bedroom.

Once in bedroom, the complaint alleged, the girl made suggestive advances and requested Verma to get her some role. Verma, however, rejected her advances and suggested to her that she should try harder for roles through honest means.

While he was escorting the girl out of the house, Verma saw Illiyasi at his door along with a cameraman, who claimed that they had caught him on tape in a "sting" operation. Since that day, Illiyasi and Sharma had been allegedly telephoning him for favours, following which the actor on Wednesday filed a complaint.

When contacted for comments, Illiyasi termed the allegations as "totally wild and baseless".

He said "after the Shakti Kapoor expose, people who have committed wrongs in the past, are apprehensive that they too would be exposed in the coming days and are therefore taking pre-emptive steps.

When reached for his comments, Rajat Sharma said he was unaware of the case filed by Verma.

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More Victims click here

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is INDIA TV right in doing this OPERATION STING on celebs ????

Edited March 17, 2005 by chandramauli

[chandramauli 0]

The Rediff Interview / Rajat Sharma

'We've many big names lined up for exposes'

March 17, 2005

Shakti Kapoor changed from a reel-life villain to a real-life villain overnight when he was filmed soliciting sex from a journalist posing as an aspiring starlet.

The sting operation was aired on India TV on Sunday, March 13, and Kapoor has already faced much flak from the film industry.

India TV Editor-in-chief Rajat Sharma tells Subhash K Jha why he decided to expose Shakti.

It's being said you chose Shakti Kapoor to expose the existence of the casting couch in Bollywood because he is an easy target.

The casting couch existed for decades. We didn't. Ours is a fledgling channel.

The film industry has refused to acknowledge it (the casting couch). They say, 'Girls come and offer themselves to producers.' Even now, the industry is not willing to face the truth about the casting couch. We have shown them the mirror. Now it is up to the industry to look at the image or break the mirror.

But the casting couch is a cliché. No one forces the newcomers. They do it willingly.

Maybe. And we are going to look into that. For us, Shakti Kapoor isn't the issue. We are aware of the relevance of the casting couch. We plan to expose them shortly. We've recorded many such encounters, and we will be using them by and by.

The idea wasn't to make Shakti Kapoor a scapegoat. We just wanted to sound an alarm about the casting couch.

We are sorry if the expose has hurt his family. But it was Mr Kapoor's behaviour post the sting operation that was deeply offensive.

You know, he physically fought with our correspondents. Then he said sorry. He kept swearing at the girl. He threatened the producer and reporter. We decided to show what he was doing. And when he decided to hold a press conference, we were the only ones to telecast his lies.

We at India TV completely dissociate ourselves from his delusional statements.

Our idea isn't to damn Bollywood. Lekin ek machli poori talaab ko ganda kar deti hai (but one fish dirties the entire pool).

The 'casting couch' is just a term. What concerns me is the exploitation of newcomers in the industry. Big stars like Aishwarya Rai, Preity Zinta and Rani Mukerji know how to handle themselves and have come up the hard way.

I am concerned about the thousands of girls from small towns who want to become Aishwarya Rai and don't know how to go about it.

Even the smallest of towns have beauty parlours promising to make girls Miss World and Miss Universe. They all feel if Priyanka Chopra from Bareilly can make it, why can't we?

These hapless girls are an easy target.

But stories like yours has shut the door to newcomers.

I don't agree. How can the film industry move forward without newcomers? I like what Hema Malini said about newcomers. She cautioned newcomers to never go unescorted to meet producers, never run away from home and to take the family into confidence. This was the note of caution we wanted to strike for female aspirants.Two weeks ago you had done another sting operation showing a bunch of politicians fornicating in a hotel room with prostitutes.

Is this to win TRPs for your fledgling channel?

Not at all! This kind of sleazy expose isn't our USP. What can we do if people notice them and not Swami Ramdev or Maneka Gandhi doing socially relevant programmes? We'd be very happy to have a viewership.

At the same time, when people say we are doing it for TRPs, I'm certainly not apologetic. If I don't work for the ratings of my channel, who will?

Everyone does exposes for TRPs. Everything on television is for that. India TV is not for my private viewing.

When we launched our channel, our slogan was Badle Bharat Ki Tasveer. We want to play a role in changing the face of India.

Whether it's a sadhu or star, we'll expose whoever is caught with their pants down.

The government says it wants to clamp down on explicit footage on news channels.

The government has been talking about this for long. But if viewers can watch Kanta laga and other sleazy videos, our exposes are relatively inoffensive.

But potbellied netas with prostitutes?

We were careful with the footage. What we showed wasn't even a fraction of what we shot. We have hours of footage. Sex in hotel rooms is a primary concern for us.

We've got to know that honeymooning couples in hill stations are shot secretly in hotels and then used for pornographic videos. Our reporters are working on the story.

What's your next level of expose on the film industry?

I can't reveal that on record. But we've recorded several exposes on the film industry.

We'll look at the casting couch from various angles including girls who throw themselves on producers.

In the fashion industry, we have those regular striptease sessions where male models are exploited by male fashion designers.

There is rampant sexual interaction in the entertainment business.

That's true. And we'll be exposing it.

India TV now has people's expectations to live up to. I know our exposes will caution our potential victims. But we have public support.

For the Shakti Kapoor story, we received 70,000 SMS messages in the first two days! Every minute there's an e-mail coming in.

The expose has made me more responsible towards the public. Our rival channels are already up to their old tricks, paying cable operators to blank out India TV. But we are fully geared up to face the challenge.

My biggest strength is my fearless team.

Do you feel sorry for Shakti Kapoor?

I would have been if he had been repentant.

I sympathise with his family. We didn't want to hurt his children.

But you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs. It's so sad.

SOURCE : Rediff

[chandramauli 0]

'Did Aman Varma unzip his pants?'

Syed Firdaus Ashraf | March 18, 2005 18:32 IST

A bunch of prominent Bollywood personalities gathered in Mumbai on Friday to champion the cause of Aman Verma, the latest target of India TV's exposes. Their support culminated in a dramatic press conference.

Venue: Mehboob Studio in the northwest Mumbai suburb of Bandra.

Cast: Salman Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Govinda and Arbaaz Khan.

Directors: David Dhawan, Pahlaj Nilhani, Suneel Darshan and Raj Kanwar.

The Accused: Aman Verma.

Reason: In defense of the television star after India TV caught him on camera with a girl named Ruchi, who allegedly laid a casting couch trap for him.

Judge: The Public.

Action!

Salman Khan:

Last night, I could not sleep. My mother came and told me, 'Soja Salman nahin to Ruchi aayegi (Sleep Salman, otherwise Ruchi will come)!'

Who the hell is this Ruchi? What does she do? Where has she come from? What does she look like? Has anybody seen her face? Do her parents know what kind of job she is doing?

I will give you an example of a butcher. If a butcher wants to buy meat, he will not go to any other butcher, but he will buy from his own mutton shop. In the same way, if an actress needs a break in her acting career, then she should not approach an actor or an actress, but producers or directors!

So I strongly feel that Aman is innocent and this is a trap for him.

What wrong has Aman done? Did he unzip his pants in front of that girl? Did he open his shirt buttons?

He didn't do anything of that sort. So how can you call him guilty?

Aman is a 32-year-old bachelor and, if lured by a girl, obviously he will get trapped. This is a well-planned conspiracy to malign him.

If you talk about Shakti Kapoor, I think it is his personal problem and that of his family.

How can they (India TV) take a risk by putting a girl, without any security, in Shakti Kapoor and Aman Verma's rooms? How risky can this be? If they had locked the door then imagine what would have been the consequences! How can they take such risks with the life of a girl?

Why are they doing all this? For TRPs? (Television Rating Points, used to measure the popularity of a television show/channel) It is disgusting.

In my 15-year film career, I have never heard of anything such as a casting couch.

My Verdict: Not guilty.

Actor turned Member of Parliament, Govinda:

India TV is doing these things only to catch eyeballs. Nobody is seeing their television channel, so they are up to such things. They have not done anything that will benefit our youth or our country. They are involved in cheap gimmicks.

I feel if anyone purposely assassinates the character of a person, he is worse than a murderer.

Look at Shakti Kapoor. He took names of some heroines, and India TV telecast this. I think this was in very bad taste. How could they air the names of our heroines? Would they have done so if those heroines were their daughters or sisters?

Who knows? Aman Verma would have married that Ruchi. His lust could have turned into love, and for all you know he would have tied the knot with her.

I feel India TV has misused their power and they have no right to do so. There is a law in our country that everybody has a right to privacy. India TV has violated the law by making Aman's life public.

Verdict: Not guilty.

Sanjay Dutt:

(Dressed in an orange t-shirt, Sanju arrives only to pose for the cameras and throw in his one-liner.)

I am here to show solidarity with Aman Verma.

Producer Pahlaj Nilhani:

What has been done is in very bad taste! Filmwallahs are always helpful if any calamity strikes our country. We are always together in raising funds and doing social service.

India TV had first telecast a sting operation against some politicians of Bihar, who were caught in sexual acts. They could not succeed in getting more viewers for their channels, and therefore they laid traps for film personalities, as they knew this would succeed.

Everybody knows one common fact: If you need a role in films, you need to go to producers or directors and not actors. So why was this girl going to actors and not producers?

Verdict: Not guilty.

Arbaaz Khan:

Have you ever heard, in the last 70 years, that a casting couch exists in our industry?

Have you heard of such a case registered against anybody?

No. Never. Then how come India TV is claiming all these things?

There are far more serious crimes in our country happening than this one. Why don't we try to solve all those problems?

Director Suneel Darshan:

I am here to express my solidarity with Aman Verma. India TV just wanted to make a good story and therefore they exposed Aman in such a way. I don't agree with them.

Director Ravi Chopra:

Aman is a great guy. I feel this is invasion of privacy. I don't think anyone should be judgemental about Aman after seeing these tapes.

Director Raj Kanwar:

I want to know in which period of time has exploitation not taken place. I feel the approach of India TV is not right. People should boycott such television channels. If you want to change society, then highlight some other issues and don't do such cheap gimmicks.

The Accused, Aman Verma:

They have distorted my words.

The girl asked me, do I look like Karisma Kapoor?

I said, 'Yes.'

They twisted that 'Yes' and used it to their convenience.

I am in this industry for more than eight years. I have worked hard to achieve all these things. I have never used anyone in my life, and will never do so.

What wrong did I do? Did I touch Ruchi? Did I slap her?

India TV claims that I was touching Suhaib Ilyasi's (the director of the show) feet. This is wrong. I never did that. Did you see my face while I am doing so? No, I am not there. The tape is doctored.

Ruchi was calling me to her hotel but I refused. I called her to my home. If I had some wrong intentions, then I would have called her at night. I called her at 3:30 in the afternoon, and at 3:45, I had to leave for another shoot.

I appeal to the public that they should discourage the motives of such people so that my name should not be tarnished in such a manner.

Appeal: I am not guilty.

Journalists: Questions, questions and more questions.

Celebrities: No time for answers. They have more important things to attend to; they have their lives.

Public: It is up to you to decide whether Aman Verma is guilty or not.

[Ashokjp 15]

Well to a fact its right..

Aman isnt wrong..

Well if the journalist go this way, there would be a time when people would be afraid to say a word against these ppl.

They would threaten "MAIN TUMHE EXPOSE KAR DOONGA!!"

[Chirag 5]

did any1 watch Page3(Movie). Amazing Movie, Hardcore facts!

U cant really trust any1 out there!!

There r no Permanent frndships n no Permanent Enemies here!

[imvikky 0]

Hey did anyone watch the big Fight of NDTV this week..... Pretty interesting...

[chandramauli 0]

ya i saw the movie page3 and even the BIG FIGHT on NDTV ....

do u guys know tht NDTV produces a show on star plus called "chuppa rustam" ... i feel even thts wrong ....wat to u think ??