In a surprising turn of events, the third day at Bigg Boss 9 House turned out to be the day of the lady. And what a lady she has turned out to be. Iranian import Mandana Karimi who has begun her innings in Bollywood, unexpectedly emerged the new woman of substance.
The hottest face of BB9, subtly put everyone from Suyyash Rai and his girlfriend Kishwar Merchant, her tied-up partner Keith Sequeira’s girlfriend Rochelle Rao, Aman Verma and Prince Narula in place just in a day.
She reminded Keith and Suyyash to converse in Hindi (as per the rule of Bigg Boss) and requested Keith to ask his girlfriend to “chill” about their partnership. All this prompted Keith to caringly tell her that she may make enemies in the House if she continues to put her foot down. But that hardly stopped a strong Mandana, who immediately confronted Suyyash for taunting about her foreign accent.
“I have always maintained that one should expect the unexpected from Mandana. She may be a lovely and ravishing looking lady, but those are not the only qualities she has. Mandana is gritty, gutsy, emotional, sharp and intelligent — a lethal mix for Bigg Boss,” says her publicist Dale Bhagwagar, who has earlier handled the hype and hoopla for Shilpa Shetty during the international racism controversy in UK’s Big Brother.
So was his brief to Mandana similar to that of Shilpa? “It is not at all fair to compare two individuals. Their minds, backgrounds and personalities are very different. However, I have to admit that I’ve given certain similar tips,” says the PR specialist who has looked after promotions and crisis management for a full 20 controversial names which have appeared on Bigg Boss since the first Season.
Dale reveals, “I’ve asked Mandana to always stand for whatever she believes in and stand firmly. Bigg Boss is a reality show where everything gets magnified manifold. Mandana’s thoughts are clear, but she is still working on her Hindi, and her accent. So to make up for that drawback, I’ve asked her to never shy from expressing her thoughts and emotions.”
Apart from Mandana, the public relations man has handled the media for some of the most controversial Bigg Boss names like Rakhi Sawant, Kashmera Shah, Sambhavna Seth, Sherlyn Chopra, Pooja Misrra, Diana Hayden, Shamita Shetty, Vindu Dara Singh, Zulfi Syed, Ashmit Patel, Salil Ankola, Upen Patel, Anita Advani, Amar Upadhyay, Aarya Babbar, Sonali Raut, Rahul Mahajan. This Season, he is also looking after the publicity for Vikas Bhalla and Aman Verma.