Fuelling the issue over Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan charging Rs 6.31 crore to promote Doordarshan Kisan channel, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has issued a probe into the matter. After Bachchan denied charging any money and vouched to have done the project pro bono, the ministry will now look into why the payment was made. Meanwhile, the ad agency has issued a statement saying it has initiated a refund of the amount.
“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,” Amitabh Bachchan said in a statement.
“My ‘deliverables’ on this campaign have been executed by me many days ago. I work pro bono on various issues and DD Kisan channel is one of them,” the actor said. “What money transactions transpired between DD and Lintas, is between them. I shall not be able to shed light on that.”
While he denied the charges, the ad agency said they had been negotiating with the actor and was told he won't charge anything. They even had a detailed break up of how the funds would be paid to the actor including the fact that Rs 3.89 crore was to be paid during the confirmation of the advertisement.
Information and Broadcasting minister Arun Jaitley has inquired for and issued a probe into the matter. “It has come to light that Prasar Bharati did pay a sum of Rs 6.21 crore to Lintas to get promotional work done for DD Kisan. But with Amitabh Bachchan having denied charging anything, it now needs to be probed as to why & how this money was paid,” ministry sources reported.
