A lot has been written about the chaos and disorganisation at the GIFA event in Kuala Lumpur last week. But among all the chaos, Salman Khan came to Sunil Shetty’s rescue.
After Shah Rukh Khan cancelled his performance due to a strained muscle and the organizers needed to fill that gap left by SRK’s act, Sallu offered to fill in.
An emotional Sanjay Gupta called us from Kuala Lumpur to say, “When Salman came to know Shah Rukh couldn’t perform, he went up to anna and told him, ‘No problem bro, I will perform for 45 minutes or make a second entry to compensate.’
And Salman did an extended performance at the grand finale. There may be groupism in the film industry, but when the chips are down for one actor, all the others come together for him. Salman, Shah Rukh, Abhishek — all came together for Sunil.”
All for one
As for the rivalry among stars in the industry, Gupta says, “After the grand finale, there was a post-event party at the Palace of Golden Horses, which went on till 7 am after which all the actors headed straight to the airport. Every day, Salman’s room turned into a club as everybody would gather there in the evenings and have a rocking party!”
Sanjay Gupta is visibly upset at news reports alleging mismanagement at the event. “IIFA and other events have been coordinating for the last seven years while GIFA is just in its second year. I have seen Sunil personally carrying everybody’s bags from the lobby and looking after everybody as if it was his own family.
How can they talk of lack of hospitality when Sunil and his father have been in the hospitality business for decades? I have seen Sunil standing on his feet, six days and seven nights, organising things personally. It’s sour grapes for those people who didn’t get any awards. They are cribbing about the event.”
No mismanagement
It was believed that SRK backed out from performing because of money issues and chose to anchor one segment instead, “I don’t think that’s true. The poor guy could hardly walk because of his strained ligament and he was so apologetic about it!”
|
