NEW DELHI: The sting operation by Cobrapost titled “Operation Karaoke” exposed some popular names in Bollywood industry that had fall for the temptation of money and agreed to be a part of the foul practice in the wake of 2019 general elections.
36 Bollywood actors, directors, singers, comedians, and choreographers have been exposed in the shocking sting by Cobrapost.
The Cobrapost also claimed that they had also approached veteran actor Raza Murad, Vidya Balan, Arshad Warsi and Saumya Tandon with similar offers. However, these celebrities refused refused to sell their soul for money.
The report says that “While we saw all these celebs succumbing to the lure of money and agreeing to indulge in this unethical and unlawful practice, there were some notable exceptions, though. When we approached Vidya Balan, Arshad Warsi, Raza Murad and Saumya Tandon with our proposition, these celebs chose to go by their conscience and straightaway refused to play ball.”
Some Notable Exceptions like Vidya Balan, Arshad Warsi, Raza Murad & Saumya Tandon Stood by their Principles & Refused Straight Away !
— Cobrapost (@cobrapost) February 19, 2019
Veteran actor Raza Murad rejected the idea of promoting a political party on social media.
“Nahi mujhe nahi kholna yahan pe mujhe nahi kholna Twitter pe (No, I don’t want to open an account on Twitter),” Mr. Murad said when the Cobrapost team offered to help him create one.
[also_read url=”https://www.siasat.com/news/cobrapost-these-cine-celebs-agreed-cash-tweet-offer-promote-political-propaganda-1469339/”]Cobrapost: These cine celebs agreed to ‘cash-for-tweet offer’ to promote political propaganda[/also_read]
Arshad Warsi too refused to come on board as his manager said,
“Sandeep ji unfortunately maine actually kal sir se baat kee. Political campaign toh hum nahi kar payenge sir ko kuch aur laga pehle toh (Sandeep ji, I spoke to Sir [Arshad Warsi] yesterday. Unfortunately, we will not be able to do political campaign.
Soumya, too when contacted, rejected the offer outright.
“Main kisi bhi party se koi bhi affiliation personal ke liye nahi karna chahti kyonki sir mere sidhanton ke khilaaf hai. Bahut saare actors aapko paise ke liye bahut kuch karte nazar aayenge lekin agar main kuch decide karoongi toh wo tabhi karoongi jab main genuinely believe karti hoon usmein (I don’t want to have an affiliation with any political party for personal gain, because it is against my principles. You will find actors who do anything you want for money. But if I decide [to work for any party] I will do so only when I genuinely believe in it).”
And needless to say, social media users all praises for Arshad, Vidya, Raza and Saumya for keeping their integrity intact.
Check out the tweets here:
@vidya_balan @ArshadWarsi #RazaMurad @saumyatandon this country really need actors and citizens like you. Big Salute to you guys. https://t.co/hLWmU1EOVo
— Vikram Singh (बनारसी बाबू) (@iambanarsibabu) February 19, 2019
My personal favorite @vidya_balan refused to take money and promote any party. So did @ArshadWarsi and Raza Murad Sahab in Operation Karaoke. Kudos.
— Abhisar Sharma (@abhisar_sharma) February 19, 2019
https://twitter.com/iKhalidSameer/status/1097819557526294529
https://twitter.com/abhijeet_dipke/status/1097801859513835520
Writer Apurva Asrani took to Twitter and opined, “Almost all the big names approached by #OperationKaraoke refused to sell their souls. It’s mostly the small fries, the ‘has beens’, who sold out. And while actors are known to dance for money, an exposè on news professionals who wreak havoc with paid news would be the real deal.”