Bipasha Basu came down to Delhi for what was expected to be just another promotional activity by a celeb. It turned out to be anything but that, as accusations of starry tantrums, breach of contract, abusive behaviour, harassment – many of them contradictory – flew around. Bipasha and Shemaroo say that she was being coerced into being part of the hotel chairman’s birthday celebrations. The chairman, Ashok Mittal, predictably denies this. We bring you all sides of the story…

Bipasha’s PR team’s take:

“Initially, Bipasha was supposed to release the DVD in Delhi on February 4 and in Mumbai on February 5, but since John had time on the fourth, they launched the DVD in Mumbai first.

We met Ashok Mittal for the event and he agreed to sponsor the entire launch. He also said that since it’s his birthday on the 5th, he’d like Bipasha to come for his birthday party and cut the cake. We told him that actors charge a fee for such events and that Bipasha too would ask for that. Then he said that he’d sponsor the launch, which would include, besides the rooms, tickets, backdrop, projector, light and sound, ground travel and security. Ashok Mittal said that he can only give his BMW for ground transport and I should arrange for the rest. We gave him an estimated bill of Rs 2.9 lakh for the entire arrangement. He initially gave a cheque for one lakh, but the day the cheque had to be encashed, there was a stop payment order on it. Read more…