For
years
together,
Amitabh
Bachchan
has
been
the
biggest
force
in
Bollywood
and
Aishwarya
Rai
(now
his
bahu),
the
face
of
Bollywood,
to
the
Westerners.
But
when
Shilpa
Shetty
went
on
to
win
the
reality
show
Big
Brother
in
UK
all
that
quickly
changed.
When
Shilpa"s
publicist
Dale
Bhagwagar
publicly
admitted
for
the
first
time
that
what
his
client
was
facing
behind
the
four
walls
of
the
Big
Brother
house
was
indeed
racism,
he
fired
up
a
gigantic
hype
for
her
in
UK
media.
Taking
advantage
of
the
sympathy-factor
in
the
controversy,
he
hammered
every
move
of
hers
in
the
media.
This
further
generated
a
storm
of
public
emotions,
which
was
felt
in
India
only
after
the
whole
hoopla
was
created
abroad.
Resultantly,
by
the
time
Shilpa
emerged
a
winner
on
the
show,
she
was
an
icon,
'the
diva
from
India" who
had
suddenly
'replaced"
the
Bachchans
as
the
'face
of
Bollywood".
Next
year,
the
actress
popularly
went
on
to
anchor
Bigg
Boss,
the
Indian
version
of
Big
Brother.
Apparently,
the
bitterness
of
the
Bachchans
was
clearly
visible
at
the
next
IIFA
Awards
(with
the
Big
B
also
being
its
ambassador)
which
co-incidentally
took
place
in
UK
that
year.
It
is
said
that
the
deafening
chants
for
Shilpa
Shetty,
made
the
Bachchans
insecure
and
embarrassed
them,
as
they
felt
terribly
ignored.
To
add
to
the
awkwardness,
a
fan
of
Shilpa
flew
a
mini
airplane
above
the
IIFA
awards
venue,
tagged
with
a
huge
flying
banner
greeting
her.
No
wonder,
in
spite
of
the
Bachchan"s
past
affinity
towards
Shilpa,
they
kept
distance
from
her
during
most
of
the
event.
Two
years
have
passed
since
then,
but
the
Bachchans
don"t
seem
to
have
forgotten
the
embarrassment.
And
now,
in
the
strangest
development
of
sorts,
Amitabh
Bachchan,
the
biggest
star
India
has
ever
produced,
is
gearing
up
to
step
into
Shilpa"s
shoes.
After
successfully
anchoring
the
king
of
all
shows;
Kaun
Banega
Crorepati,
Bachchan
is
said
to
be
preparing
to
anchor
Bigg
Boss,
clearly
considered
to
be
Shilpa
Shetty"s
domain
till
now.
Now
why
would
a
megastar
like
Amitabh
Bachchan
want
to
take
over
anchoring
a
show,
which
Shilpa
was
so
popular
with?
One
can"t
help
but
wonder
if
this
is
sweet
revenge!