Corruption may be the flavour of the season — what with anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare fighting for a corruption-free India — but the stars of Gali Gali Chor Hai, a satirical film on the same topic, were nothing short of synonyms of righteousness.
The meet began with lead actor Akshaye Khanna sincerely apologising for delaying the event by a good two hours. The reason, as he explained at length, was because his leading ladies — Mughda Godse and Shriya Saran — had misplaced their luggage.
And while the seasoned actor had more than a few quotable quotes, the star of the evening was controversy's latest child, Veena Malek.
Malek, who scorches the silver screen in an item song as Channo was clearly unprepared for the swarm of questions streaming her way as she repeated her answers more than twice.
"I wish I was Channo. It takes courage to wear a lehenga with a G-string," Malek said while explaining why she had chosen this particular film as her launch pad for Bollywood.
Saran, who had remained calm throughout the event, was later seen screaming at the organisers for the inconvenience caused.
Special screening
And while the film premiered in Dubai last Thursday, moviegoers here were not the first to watch it — as was explained by Khanna.
"Who better than Hazare to relate and understand the film? We organised a special screening for him and his village. There were about 3,000 people sitting on the ground and enjoying the film. It was a very unique experience for me," Khanna said.
When they weren't trying to convince us to watch the film, Khanna and Malek stole a few moments to offer some insight into Bollywood. Khanna, who leads a controversy-free life explained that his "clean image" wasn't intentional.
"I'm not a good talker. I like to read but as a subject I don't make interesting copy… one reason why I may come across as being very boring and plain," he said.
Boring he is not. With an impressive list of performances in a career spanning 15 years, Khanna has earned accolades for his acting talent and winning the trust of A-list directors in films like Dil Chahta Hai, Taal, Humraaz, Race and Hulchul.
Son of veteran actor Vinod Khanna, the actor has managed to steer clear of being part of any one lobby. Has that worked to his advantage?
"Yes, definitely. As an actor one should be open to working with anyone as only then can you grow. Once you have worked with a set of people you are comfortable with, you tend to be drawn to that group again. Maybe that could explain why certain groups are so successful in the industry because you've tasted success with that particular set of people," he said.
Something that Malek acknowledges. Her debut performance in Channo is sealing her envelope of success — despite it being just an item song, most people have now come to associate Malek as the lead actress for Gali Gali Chor Hai. "I am extremely thankful to the film industry for making space for me. I feel so welcome."
And if Bigg Boss put her in the spotlight for her onscreen liaisons with two male contestants on the show ensuring her a spot as one of the final six contestants, Malek says her next stint in NDTV's soon to be aired Swayamvar is a decision she took for "personal gain".
"I would like to settle down now and after a string of Mr Wrongs, I really hope to find my Mr Right," she said.
