Angry Amisha hits back: I'm very hurt and upset

Media has not been very kind to Amisha Patel, whose dream run didn't last very long in the Bollywood. People have been writing vicious stories about her personal life as well the professional failures. And now the hazel-eyed beauty has hit back with all the answers one her blog. Here's what she has to say about the recent controversies: Where have I been? What have I been doing? That has been the refrain of late. From media, friends, associates. But I chose to do my own things; work hard, enjoy life and generally keep away from the world. But of late I’ve been upset. More hurt than upset actually. It is because I’ve been the victim of some misreporting. And what has taken me by surprise is that it is the reputed paper, Bombay Times – of the Times Group, one I have been close to and been part of in almost every new venture of theirs – that has been the offending party. But it’s not all the media, or the whole paper, but a certain article that BT carried a few days ago which has deeply wounded me. It was by journalist of many years, Meena Iyer. She misconstrued some facts so totally that it was almost like I’m being written off for being from a long lost era. Firstly, it was factually wrong. It slotted me in the 90s era, along with Aishwarya, Kajol, Shilpa, Preity and Rani. I was not even on the scene then. I actually made my debut in the 2000s, along with Kareena and others. So the misrepresentation of facts was the first thing that bothered me. More so, because it wasn’t some faltu paper or sleazy TV channel type story done by a rookie. It was just a ‘put down’ article to quite a few seniors in the industry. People who’ve earned their laurels and who require no certification from any one individual for their fame and popularity. The article runs down artistes that I really respect; who I’ve grown up watching – like Shilpa Shetty, Rani and Preity. Even actors like Madhuri and Kajol – who’re powerhouse performers. And an Ash. Why? Frankly, I think getting offensive or putting a tablet on these people saying that ‘they’re finished’, that it’s ‘pack-up time’ for them, is very unfair. These are people who’ve given our industry memorable films and great performances and are still doing A-grade films with some of the biggest stars. To make comments like ‘Abhishek prefers a Sonam’, when he’s got three films with his own wife; or to say that ‘Shah Rukh prefers a Deepika’ when the current biggest and ONLY film he’s doing (and ALSO happens to be co-producing) is My Name Is Khan with Kajol is unfair. How can you completely write them off? Secondly, it sounded like she wanted to claim that I belonged to a generation of actresses that one admired, but wasn’t really part of. I haven’t even been around for a decade yet. My first release was in January 2000 — Kaho Naa … Pyaar Hai. Everyone knows that. Simply because there was this whole controversy that I’d ‘replaced’ Kareena. Simultaneously, Kareena had signed Refugee. Everyone knows the rest. Even the ‘current’ breed of actors she wrote about is factually incorrect. Asin was mentioned. But little did the writer know that Asin had made her debut in the South in 2001. Even Katrina made her debut in 2002 with Boom. It’s great that someone like her is doing so well and giving everyone a run. But they did debut around the same time I did. That is why it looks like an almost mischievous attempt to elevate one lot and put a lot of super-achievers down. Some of them have far bigger projects, with the biggest of actors, than the newer stars mentioned. ZOOM tried to stand up for the Group by suggesting that maybe the article was prompted merely by my ‘bad run’ at the Box Office. Everyone has a lean run, and maybe some of us mentioned here do. No movie is big or small. It’s just a success or a disaster. And no star can be written off. It’s the law of filmdom. Just like no journalist is greater than the Group he or she represents. And the humility of the representative is what reflects the personality of the Group. I almost felt as if she was on some personal vendetta and was out to just slice people. I don’t think it had anything to do individually with me or anything like that. I was so agitated that I followed the decent norm and spoke to the writer, Meena Iyer. And I was appalled to find that she was extremely rude. I requested Meena to ‘please do her homework’, and she got aggressive and shouted, “Don’t tell me how to do my homework!” Later she made digs at my choice of movies like Run Bhola Run and Chatur Singh Two-Star. These are films with Sanjay Dutt and senior stars like Govinda. It was a hurtful thing to say. People also said these things about Kaho Naa … Pyaar Hai when it came with Refugee. And Gadar. But we all know the outcome. Meena was extremely unapologetic, rude and defensive. Even if she said, “I‘m sorry, I overlooked it in my enthusiasm to write my piece, or even a plain and simple — I’m sorry,” it would’ve been enough. The damage had already been done and so many actors’ names were run-down in print. However, that attitude was more disturbing than the actual article. I’ve loved the Times Group and been part of all their start-ups. I know almost all senior management and none of them are in any way immodest, proud or rude. I hope this was just a one-off bad day for the journalist in question. She’s been around way too many years to let this become a blot of rudeness on a career that represents the Group she’s worked for – more than ever. I’ll get over my hurt. But it may take that much longer for her conscience to clear. God bless! Courtesy: Itimes

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