Lata Khubchandani

Manisha Koirala recently played the good angel in soothing ruffled Nepalese feathers over the rumoured derogatory remarks made by current heartthrob Hrithik Roshan about the Nepalese people.

Manisha returned to Bombay on December 28 after a brief visit to Nepal and recounts what transpired there:

"I was in Nepal and a few nights ago, at a family friend's house.

"They were discussing our films and asking who was the current favourite. Obviously, Hrithik is today's most popular star.

"I said so and praised him because I know both his parents and they're wonderful human beings. My friends had seen his interview on Star Plus on the Simi Garewal show. They said he's such a lovely boy... we bless him . He's so nice and humble.

"The next day I hear Hrithik has said that he hates Nepal and the Nepalese. I was taken aback and disturbed. I'm a strong Nationalist myself. I couldn't understand how he could have said this.

"When the whole mob starts saying something, you tend to believe it.

"But I told myself that I should check this for myself before I believed it. So I called him up. Asked him if he had indeed said those things.

"He said, 'No Manisha, I haven't said these things. In fact, I'm totally shocked how anyone could attribute such things to me.

"I had been warned that I would face bad press. But this is scandalous and it's destroying the friendship between two countries. Not only that, it's killing people. It's more than just bad press.'

"I realised Hrithik was speaking the truth. Because if someone has said something to the media, he cannot go back on it so convincingly if he's guilty.

"I believed him because I know him as a good person and I know his parents as very down-to-earth people. I told him, 'Hrithik, do me a favour. Please talk to the Nepal press.' He said that he'd already given a write-up which would be published all over the world.

"But I insisted that he speak to Nepal television -- that would be aired all over Nepal because that is the place that people have been most affected. In Nepal, they have stopped telecasting Indian channels completely.

"I called the information and broadcasting minister and said, 'Look, Hrithik is ready to talk. And to stop this madness, it is necessary for people to hear his voice rather than see something written. That would be more impactful than just the press release.'

"I asked his permission for Nepal television to telecast this. He agreed.

"We spoke to Hrithik; recorded his statement, where he said, 'I love the Nepalese as much as I love Indians or anybody else in the world. How can I say anything like this? I'm a person who believes in love.'

"He said all this so strongly. This was aired on Nepal television. He also faxed me the press release that he had issued.

"I forwarded it to all the newspapers possible. This was aired on the night of December 27, on Radio Nepal and Nepal television. Yesterday, December 29, it was in all the newspapers.

"Unfortunately, before this was printed, they declared a bandh in Nepal. It was a peaceful one.

After Hrithik's clarification, people udnerstood understood that Hrithik had not said these things. It was a stupid rumour which increased in magnitude.

"Today Nepal is calm again. There is no more chaos. So people have got the message.

"I thought it my duty that the right kind of message went out. If something wrong was happening, people should know about it. So I thought Hrithik should talk to the people himself, via the press. An interview would have taken longer, and and many more lives could have been lost. So the best I could think of was to record his voice immediately.

"Today Nepal is calm. Everyone has understood that people that vested interests were at the bottom of this and not Hrithik.

"I wouldn't want to speculate about what the bigger game is. I'm too small a person for that.

"There are two versions of the incident, but the best thing the government is doing right now is to get to the source of it. That is the right thing to do because anything that creates this kind of violence and causes death should not be taken lightly.

"It affects the country, the people, even economically. And lives have been lost.

"What has happened in Nepal is that stars have sometimes made derogatoy remarks about the country and the Nepalese are a little sensitive to these comments.

"They are also fans of Hindi film stars and love Hindi films. So it hurts them if they hear anything derogatory about themselves. They would tend to believe thos kind of rumours easily.

"It is unlucky that a person like Hrithik, who is innocent, had to be trapped in such a situation.

"So that is why we did it to prove his innocence.

"He was going off on his honeymoon and told me that he was thinking of cancelling it.

"I told him, 'No, no, you just clear this whole issue out."