Now I Know Why Actors Like Rakul Singh Preet, Arjun Kapoor, Ileana D'cruz, Siddharth Malhotra Refuse To Give Journalists Their Numbers

SPECIAL EXCLUSIVE STORY BY JYOTHI VENKATESH

Amid the ongoing tussle between the Mumbai and Bihar police over the investigation into Sushant Singh Rajput death case, a die-hard fan of the actor has moved the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), seeking its intervention to ensure a ‘fair probe’. According to the portal Odisha Bytes, petitioner Ashish Rai, a law student at Mumbai University, has filed a plea under ‘The Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993’ citing sections 14, 17 and 37, demanding a fair investigation into the death of the Bollywood actor. Ironically, while the Sushant Singh murder case was being probed on, several skeletons are being unearthed in the process.

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), probing the drug case linked to Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, is likely to summon Sara Ali Khan and Rakul Preet Singh, and dress designer Simone Khambatta for questioning after their names surfaced in Rhea Chakraborty’s interrogations.“There has been an issue over whether the names of Sara, Simone and Rakul surfaced during the investigations. Yes, For the uninitiated, big names like Rakul Suingh Preet and Sara Ali Khan are under the scanner of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).The answer to that is ‘Yes’. However, if you ask me whether the NCB has prepared a list of 25 Bollywood personalities, the answer is ‘No’,’’ NCB deputy director K P S Malhotra has gone on record.

Though nothing tangible has been unearthed by way of proof as both Sara Ali Khan and Rakul Singh Preet are yet to be summoned by the Narotic Control Bureau, though Rhea has supposedly confessed to the NCB that Sara and Rakul used to sit with her and Sushant and indulged in drugs from time to time. As a seasoned senior film journalist, I often used to wonder why mega stars used to make it a point to host parties and ensure that the journalists were strictly kept off from them. Also at many film parties, hardly does any star linger a minute more than say twenty minutes, unlike in the distant past, especially in the 70’s and 80’s and also 90’s to some extent when the stars used to mingle with the print journalists and discuss at length about their films over asli scotch and at times may be over cigarettes or cigars. The reason is dawning on me only now that it is dangerous to have a journalist, especially the electronic kind, as a witness when they are consuming drugs of a different kind, though I do not mean to brandish all the actors under one category because there are quite a few of them who do not take drugs at all.

Yet another reason why , again unlike in the good old 70’s and 80’s and even 90’s when the stars of yore used to readily share their landline numbers with us journalists without any hesitation, in today’s times, the private contact number of a star is often kept a top secret by the pr persons of the stars. There was a time, I remember when great legendary stars of the time , like say Amitabh Bachchan, Mithun Chakraborty, Rajesh Khanna, Rishi Kapoor, Dev Anand, Tabu, Farha , Feroze Khan, Vinod Khanna etc used to make it a point to call me up that too on my landline and fix up appointment for interview or request me to clarify some controversy involving them. Why take for instance the evergreen and sweet Shilpa Shetty who I know right from the time she had made her debut 27 years ago with Baazigar. Shilpa had rung me up just today in the morning to give me her side of quotes to clarify Sachiin Joshi allegedly claiming that she and her husband Raj Kundra have defrauded him over the matter of gold.

However, the new breed of actors who are emerging slowly and steadily and embracing stardom all of a sudden seem to have fears over sharing their numbers even with senior journalists like me. Like for instance, Rakul Preet Singh, Ileana D'Cruz, and Siddharth Malhotra to name just a few, because they have a lot of secrets which they feel the poor journalist will lay open in public. Or else they are all scared of their managers or PR persons who seem to strictly warn them not to part with their numbers to members of the fourth estate at any time. Rakul Singh Preet ought to have realised at least now that  it is better to cultivate the journalists so that at least she can be rest assured that her version will at least be covered in toto truthfully by senior journalists like your truly at a time when she is embroiled in the sordid drug controiversy which now threatens to make her career go extinct in blazes because of the controversy in not only Bollywood but also South Indian film industry