In a move that has surprised filmwalas, the usually non-controversial Kareena Kapoor has ended the services of super-agent Reshma Shetty and her agency Matrix, which had been handling her work for 13 years now. Kareena has reportedly jumped ship to rival agency Kwan, a move believed to have been engineered by her former manager (and ex-Matrix employee) Poonam Malhotra Damania just weeks after the latter had a falling out with Shetty, leading to her exit from Matrix.
Story goes that Kareena contacted Shetty last week saying she wanted to discuss “important matters”. Shetty, who was travelling then, sensed trouble, but asked Kareena to allow her to return to Mumbai so they could meet and talk. But, sources say, days after their exchange Shetty learnt Kareena had already signed up with Kwan. Not one to lose an opportunity to rub a rival’s face in the mud, Kwan quickly put out a statement announcing they would be representing the actress hereon. Insiders say Kwan and Kareena’s former manager Poonam had already been in talks about a potential job, before the latter’s exit from Matrix. But once she was out, the conversation got more serious. The rival agency apparently offered a sweet role to Poonam only if she could poach the actress from Shetty.
Some in Bollywood have been quick to point fingers. Shetty’s camp was accused of leaking the details of former client Salman Khan’s unprofessional behaviour with Sanjay Leela Bhansali recently, which led to the shelving of their film Inshallah. Shetty’s camp has denied the rumours. She has also been accused of instigating her current star client Akshay Kumar to quickly claim the Eid 2020 release date for his next film after Inshallah was called off. But Salman, never pleased at being upstaged, has announced he will have a release during Eid next year—even if there is no clarity yet on what film he could rush into production to meet that deadline.
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