“I’m guilty of letting Veena Malik piggyback,” admits Bollywood publicist Dale Bhagwagar

In the wake of Pakistani terrorists killing 17 Indian Army soldiers and injuring around 30 others at Uri in Jammu…

Veena Malik, Bollywood publicist, Dale Bhagwagar

In the wake of Pakistani terrorists killing 17 Indian Army soldiers and injuring around 30 others at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir, there are questions being raised about Pakistani artistes like Fawad Khan, Adnan Sami, Humaima Malick, Mahira Khan, Imran Abbas, Atif Aslam, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Ali Zafar being allowed to earn and prosper in India.

One such question is also being raised on Bollywood’s only PR guru Dale Bhagwagar, because of whom the most scandalous Pakistani personality could make her debut in India. Veena Malik, who was famous for her expose of Mohammed Asif in a cricket match-fixing scandal in Pakistan, got a platform to join India’s greatest reality show Bigg Boss hosted by one of India’s biggest movie stars Salman Khan (who is now gearing up for Bigg Boss10).

Veena had tried to implicate one of Dale’s then PR clients, Bollywood actress Neetu Chandra in the match-fixing scandal with the Pak cricketer Asif. Dale vehemently rejected Veena’s claim, but decided to blow the new controversy out of proportion in national media.

Thanks to this PR strategy, Veena received loads of free media mileage in India. In fact, if one reads up some of Dale’s past quotes on the web, one realizes that he even passed on Veena’s number (which he got from the media), when some casting guys requested it.

Both Neetu Chandra and Veena Malik were offered Bigg Boss. Neetu declined, but Veena agreed and came down from Pakistan with Bollywood dreams in her eyes. Having got a foothold on Indian primetime television, Veena extensively flirted with Ashmit Patel, who was coincidently handled by the same publicist during Bigg Boss. Coming out of the show, Dale was one of the first persons she called and met up with.

When confronted with this, the celebrity publicist replied, “I am not against artistes from any country. I have even handled the PR for Pakistani actress Meera. But yes, I am guilty of letting drama queen Veena Malik piggyback on my strategy and enter Bigg Boss.”