Salil Ankola to quit Big Boss?

An interim injuction passed by the Bombay High Court today will, in effect, force cricketer- turned-actor Salil Ankola to quit the reality show Big Boss, being aired as well as produced by the Sony channel.

Ankola had entered into an agreement with Ekta Kapur's Balaji Telefilms in June this year to act in its serial 'Kasturi', later renamed as 'Karan Apna Apna' on Star One.

The agreement required him to work solely for Balaji, and not to act in any other serial or a programme on any channel or produced by any other production house, "which makes programmes that can compete with the programmes produced by Balaji."

The agreement was to be in force for 12 months from the date of telecast of first episode of the serial Karan Apna Apna.

Karan Apna Apna went on air towards August end. According to Balaji, Ankola shot for the serial until October, then he disappered. In the meanwhile Sony announced that its reality show Big Boss will feature Ankola too, alongwith other celebrities.

So Balaji went to the High Court. The Justice D K Deshmukh today passed an order that pending the arbitration Ankola shall not "advertise, endorse, do voice-over, or act in any programme" made by the production houses or channels who "directly or indirectly compete" with Balaji's programming.

The dispute as to the breach of the agreement is now with the arbitration tribunal. But, as Kadam explained, till the triabunal sorts the matter out, Ankola can not act in Big Boss or in other non-Balaji programme, for that matter.