DD Kisan - Amitabh Bachchan - Lintas controversy refuses to die down

"Mai chupaana jaanata to jag mujhe saadhu samajhta,

shatru mera ban gaya hai, chalrahit vyavahaar mera "

Around 5 PM yesterday, Amitabh Bachchan updated his status with these lines penned by his father Harivansh Rai Bachchan. He tweeted the same on his twitter account as well. The lines can be roughly  translated as, ‘If I knew how to hide things, people would think I am a saint. However, my guile free behaviour has become my enemy.’

Saddened by the happenings of the last couple of days or just a coincidence we do not know.

Since Hindu broke the story of Mr Bachchan charging a fee of 6.35 crore for endorsing DD Kisan a couple of days ago – media has been abuzz with similar articles.
It was on 20th evening that a rebuttal came from Mr Bachchan in form of a status update on Facebook.

He stated, ““I wish to state that I have not entered into any contract with Doordarshan on the endorsement of their channel DD Kisan, and neither have I received any money from them. I worked with the advertising agency Lowe Lintas on the campaign for DD Kisan and have not entered into any contract with them either, nor have I received any money from Lintas, as being stated,” he said in a statement.” He added, “I work pro bono on various issues and DD Kisan channel is one of them.”

While his 21 mn fans on Facebook and 16 mn followers on Twitter might have breathed a sigh of relief that the controversy was over – it putMullen Lowe Lintas Group under the scanner.

The agency’s reaction, as read out on Zee TV by their leading anchor Sudhir Choudhary had the following key points:
On 31st march 2015 Lintas got the authorisation from DD Kisan to get Mr Bachchan on board as brand ambassador for DD Kisan.
There was detailed discussion with the super star’s office.

Post which, on 12th May 2015 Mr Bachchan’s office approved the fee communication. After that the paper work was sent to the channel and the payment was released to Lintas.

The agency also claimed that fee clause with Mr Bachchan was already prepared – however discussion on a few things that might be beneficial to DD Kisan are still going on.
The agency has also stated that it was on 20th July 2015, that there was a communication from the super star’s end that he would not charge anything for DD Kisan and all the discussions in this direction held before are null and void.

The agency has also stated that money refund process is already underway.

However, the matter has not ended here too. I&B ministry has sought a report from Prasar Bharati pertaining to the issue to clear the confusion.