Shilpa Agnihotri fumes

Monday, March 05, 2007

When a recent report in a popular tabloid hinted, in not too uncertain terms, about Apoorva Agnihotri having an affair with his Kaajjal co-star, the chirpy Surveen Chawla, his wife Shilpa Agnihotri couldn't keep her emotions under control any more. Tagged as the sati-savitri of the tele-industry for tagging along with her hubby at every event around town and praising him to the skies at the drop of a hat, Shilpa, an accomplished actress in her own right, took all these epithets with a smiling face despite having confessed in private to be quite hurt with the same. She vents her anguish saying, "Is it a crime to love your own husband?

Is it that sacrilegious to accompany him to social outings? It may probably be the time when it is becoming fashionable to come on someone else's arm but that's not me. If that is hurting some people, so be it" says Shilpa with anguish, who however had chosen not to give it much importance in print. "But I think, it is this very thing that probably has emboldened some people to write ridiculous things about us", fumes Shilpa who goes on to explain, "Apoorva has always been media-shy. He's not arrogant but he's not the kind to harp about himself in print. As for me, I like to talk to only those people I trust and am comfortable with and that too only when I have something consequential to talk about.

This attitude of ours rubbed off some people the wrong way, who, when they realised that we did not budge after small nudgings, decided to go over-the-top and announce that Apoorva is having an affair. I was shocked when I read that report; not because I doubted Apoorva. I would never do that. I trust him more than I trust myself but I was appalled by the degradation of reportage. How can someone put into cold-print a set of lies and get away with it? As an actress, I know that we are so closely bound with the unit members who we interact with at least twelve hours a day that it's a very common thing to share lunch or go to each other's vanity vans to chat and that is what happened between Apoorva and Surveen. Does that automatically translate into that they are having a scene? It's so ridiculous and maligning.

After this incident, Apoorva has already gone off the press totally and poor Surveen was so shaken that she couldn't even talk to me properly on the phone when she called me, despite being such a good friend of mine. I severely condemn such reportage and would like to go on record as Apoorva's wife that I refuse to believe that they are going around. I know my hubby and my friend too well to believe this hog-wash!" stresses Shilpa, who after Fame X will now be seen again in Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi and is looking to take up yet another serial. "But I hope to get a comedy or something equally exciting. I am done with my share of saas-bahu sagas!" she asserts before signing off.