ITV

Tag: Smriti Iraani

  • RPI storm Star office; upset with Ekta , Smriti and ‘Kyunkii..’

    RPI storm Star office; upset with Ekta , Smriti and ‘Kyunkii..’

    MUMBAI: What’s it with Kyunki… and the protest brigade? After women’s groups, political activists have now taken up cudgels against Hindi entertainment television’s top soap.

    In a perplexing turn of events, the Republican Party of India (RPI) Ramdas Athawale faction today held demonstrations outside Star India’s office in Mumbai’s suburb of Andheri. The reason: to vent their anger against Kyunki’s… lead protagonist Smriti Iraani aka Tulsi Virani and producer Ekta Kapoor of Balaji Telefilms.

    The RPI activists were protesting what they termed an “insult to the Indian Constitution” (and by extension to Dalit icon and the man who penned this holy grail the late Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar) in an episode of Kyunkii which aired on 22 December. During this episode, Tulsi decried the fact that the Indian Constitution is ambiguous on the issue of marital rape.

    Commenting on the development, Star India’s executive vice president content Deepak Segal says, “The protest is essentially because they believe that the episode condemned the Constitution. Whereas the dialogue specifically referred to the fact that the constituted law does not address the issue of marital rape. There has been nothing said against the Constitution.”

    The RPI however has taken the dialogue in the serial amiss and seems very agitated. An upset RPI president (Andheri) Damodar Bodke told indiantelevision.com, “We want a written apology from Smriti Iraani and Ekta Kapoor. They have offended the Indian Constitution and in turn Baba Saheb Ambedkar. If a written statement is not issued, we will cause damage to Balaji Telefilms as well as ransack Smriti Iraani’s house.”

    A group of RPI activists today raised slogans against the two outside the Star India office. And refused to allow any Star executives to leave the premises.

    Balaji’s creative director Ekta Kapoor, although appears unfazed by the high noon drama. Says she: “There cannot be any legal implications that they can impose. As far as the Indian Constitution is concerned, it also allows for freedom of speech. One is entitled to voice their opinion. Specially, on an issue like marital rape which is a heinous crime and is very ambiguous in the Indian law.”

    When asked about whether the episode condemned Baba Saheb Ambedkar, Kapoor says, “Absolutely not! Why will we ever insult a leader who has done so much for the nation? “

    On the written apology front, Kapoor said that she was not in the wrong but she would be consulting her lawyer on the whole situation.

  • Smriti Iraani enters politics

    Smriti Iraani enters politics

    MUMBAI: Smriti Z Iraani Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’s self-righteous bahu Tulsi, has a new role to play now. Smriti has joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as a party worker.

    Confirming the news to indiantelevision.com, Smriti says, “Yes I have joined politics. But I cannot comment on whether I’ll be standing for the elections or not. For that, you will have to check with the BJP office.”

    BJP member of Parliament Kirit Somaya endorses the news and says, “It’s still early days for us to take a call on whether Smriti will be a contestant for the elections or not. The Assembly elections are scheduled in October 2004. However, hard-working and sincere people like her are always welcome in our party.”

    Smriti, who was the anchor of Kuch Diiil Se , a woman-centric interactive talk show on Sab TV till recently, says that social concerns were always of prime importance to her. “For long, I have had this urge to do something for the welfare of our society, rather than being a mute spectator. While doing Kuch Diiil Se, I realised that our society is plagued by much more problems than I had imagined. I decided to be a part of the system and attempt to change certain practices.”

    This was when BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan asked Smriti if she would like to do some real work for BJP. Smriti says, “Later on, BJP state president Gopinath Munde also spoke to me. And instead of asking myself ‘Why?’, I asked, ‘Why not?” Smriti says, what drew her towards BJP was its policy. “The BJP believes primarily in suraksha (security), surajya(good governance) and vikaas (development).”

    So, the coming months are certainly going to be busy for Smriti, what with her having to juggle her television shoots, politics and family, especially with two kids. However, Smriti puts a rather confident front and says, “But I am sure that everything will fall in place. The producers of the shows I am doing and the party heads of the BJP have been kind enough to mutually agree that my work schedules in either case will not be hampered.”

    It is a common belief that political parties rope in film and TV stars for extra news coverage, however, Smriti is not game for any such gimmick. “I am not going to be a figure-head,” she announces firmly, “else I would have never taken this step.” Smriti promises that her aim would solely be to do everything possible to make our environment a better place to live in.