Bipasha Basu has been in news for all the wrong reasons, of late. After the actress opted out of an event at the last minute, ditching organizers, a leading tabloid reported the same news and spoke about Bipasha’s ‘unprofessional’ behavior. London-based designers Lubna and Uzma Rafiq had roped in the actress as the showstopper for the grand finale at Gibson Hall, for the show which featured three cultures — British, Indian and Pakistani. Pakistani actor Javed Shaikh of the TV show Zindagi Gulzar Hai fame was to walk the ramp too. Also, Shaikh and Bipasha were to interact with the media together after the curtains came down.
Just four hours before the show kickstarted at 6 pm, Bips refused to come out of her hotel room or speak to anybody. Allegedly, when her manager, Sana Kapoor tried to convince her to come out, the Bong beauty abused her, throwing her out of the room. That’s not all, apparently, she also insulted the founder and organizer of the show, Gurbani Kaur, slamming the door in her face. Reports have only kept on coming about the actress’ alleged ‘unprofessionalism’ and Bipasha had only left two tweets, without directly addressing the issue. But matters only went worse when the organizers decided to cancel her tickets, and hold a press conference, slamming the heroine. Now, Bipasha has hit out at the critics and the organizers in a strong open letter:
“While a lot has been said about my association with the recent London Fashion Show, I feel that I need to speak my mind at this juncture.I do believe that it is important to be true to yourself and your principles. I have always fought my own battles, and though I don’t choose to fall to their level, I need to set the record straight. While a few hiccups are bound to happen in our line of work, I have never been privy to such baseless and cheap name slandering. Initially, I was amused that the defaulters are playing the victim card and making up ridiculous stories to save their back and putting me in the wrong but now I’m shocked that certain segments of the media too have supported them and people are wrongly using social media as a weapon of mass attack. Also to be noted that these are first time producers in London. To set the record straight – The deal was made with a set of agreed conditions. However, when I landed there for the project as planned, I realized that the organizers hadn’t honored their end of the bargain. In spite of confirming with my manager that they had. I had agreed to travel on a hospitality deal but never was I treated so badly. My self-respect holds the highest value and I refuse to be a victim of bullying or arm twisting. They expected me to hold true to my end of the bargain, whereas they had completely defaulted at their end. Using the fact that my name had already been publicized. Contrary to rumors, as soon as I landed in London, we made our own hotel bookings and I also immediately rebooked our own travel.Being a part of the Bollywood fraternity, I’ve never experienced such a callous and high-handed treatment before. So instead of creating a scene there, I chose to keep the high ground and backed off from the event. I understand that some people were inadvertently hurt by my actions, but I believe we all have the right to stand by our self-respect and choose to walk away from humiliating situations. There are no free lunches in this world and everyone needs to be compensated for the work they do and when the terms and conditions aren’t met, it is only natural and professional to opt out of the deal. Additionally, what has been reported about my manager is uncalled for. She received some disheartening news of her family and was upset, as opposed to the ridiculous reasons being reported. I hope this puts an end to all speculation. While I do understand that celebrities are public figures and are constantly under scrutiny , At the same time they are soft targets for anyone to accuse and then be written about. I hope everyone makes a wiser judgement as opposed to believing just about anything that is gets written.”
On a related note, according to reports, Bipasha Basu soon after this fiasco, approached Salman Khan for his dance tour. Even after all these things going around her life, Salman Khan has entered her for his upcoming dance tour to Australia. The Dance tour will be held in Auckland- April 21, 2017, Sydney – April 22, 2017, and Melbourne – April 23, 2017.
