Bollywood pulls an ’867-5309′ and ruins one man’s life
Filed under: India
Topics covered : Bollywood, Shit Luck
Dabangg is a feature film starring Bollywood A-lister Salman Khan. Released on September 10, it’s already smashed box office records in India. Though it’s received solid reviews from critics and audiences alike, not everyone’s happy about the film’s huge success. One man, in fact, is roaring mad. It seems his phone number appears in the movie poster — and yahoos have been calling him nonstop.
From Hindustan Times:
I am going to sue the makers of Dabangg,” says 45-year-old Om Prakash Jakhar, who has had a harrowing time ever since the publicity for the Salman Khan-starrer began.
In the background of the hit film’s posters are four phone numbers, belonging to Jakhar’s family and the school that he runs in Rajasthan’s Fatehpur Shekhawati. 20 days ago, when life size posters of the film were put up across the country, Jakhar began receiving calls from people asking to speak with Chulbul Pandey and Munni — Salman Khan and Malaika Arora’s characters from Dabangg…
“The film has made my life hell! I get around 500 calls a day. I am unable to concentrate on my work. People call and when I tell them it’s a wrong number, they abuse me. I even get calls from Japan, Saudi Arabia, China and Switzerland,” says Jakhar. “I want them to remove the posters or change the numbers. But all attempts to contact the film-makers have failed. I have now decided to take the film-makers to court, as a last resort.”
Jakhar, who has no intention of watching Dabangg, reasons that since he’s had the numbers for a long time, it is not feasible for him to change all of them.
The film’s producer, Arbaaz Khan (who also co-stars with his brother, Salman), has apologized for the inconvenience. He told the Hindustani Times, “I am amazed people spotted the number… we didn’t even notice it.” According to the film’s art director, the clipping that included Jakhar’s numbers was pulled randomly from the newspaper.
This isn’t the first such incident. Fans have harassed owners of cell numbers that appeared in promotional material for Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein, Milenge Milenge and Ghajini. Those last two, by the way, are unauthorized remakes of Serendipity and Memento.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
