Shilpa: i m gonna sue

By Subhash K Jha

Shilpa's elation at her international triumph vanishes when she speaks about the two people Bobby Khan and Jazz Barton who allegedly exploited her name, position as the Big Brother winner to make illegal deals on her behalf.

Shilpa is a mixture of grief and indignation. "They've completely taken advantage of the fact that I wasn't allowed to speak to the press after I came out of Big Brother. Yes, I'm filing a defamation case against them. I believe in doing what's right. I considered Bobby a friend."

At the same time Shilpa acknowledges Bobby's hand in her current status. " I never denied that the Big Brother Deal came through him. I give him complete credit for that. I paid 6,000 pounds to Jazz. She was the common factor between and Endemol(the company that produced Big Brother)."

She's frank enough to admit others were approached first for Big Brother. "They wanted a Bollywood actor. They first approached a couple of other actors. Then finally I did it. The next thing I know, when I come out of Big Brother Jazz had signed a huge deal on my behalf with British paper The Sun! How could she?

! Nobody has the power of attorney to do that. I've the best PR people and agent in Britian, people who've handled Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and David Beckham. Who are Bobby and Jazz springing into the picture to claim they're my agents? They just want to make a quick buck."

Shilpa accuses Jazz of making a fool of herself on the BBC. "These are people who've called themselves my friends. They're now shaming me and my country. What will people think?

I was saddened by his loose statements Bobby made about my family and about my mother in particular. How dare he even think of speaking like that about her?! I was very hurt."

The hurt to the family precipitated the legal action. "I can't take any slander against my family. Hit out at me, not my family. Even money out of the last instalment I got for Big Brother has gone to Jazz's account.

I haven't stopped that. I don't know how they can claim that Shilpa duped them. We don't belong to that class of people who deprive others of their rightful money."