On Koffee With Karan on Sunday the one person that Rakhi Sawant singled out for praise was filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
"I like your films, Karan. But the one filmmaker whom I really like is Sanjay Leela Bhansali," Rakhi enthused. The host couldn't agree more. "He's my favourite too," Karan answered.
The endorsement of Sanjay's filmmaking acumen couldn't have been more timely. On Sunday he was down with acute exhaustion.
Feeling low, Sanjay switched on to Karan's show. "And that's when I heard Rakhi talking about me. So sweet! I think she's so spunky, lively, honest and straightforward. 'Main jo hoon so hoon...' I really like that. Coming from a very humble background myself I share Rakhi's pride for my roots and a don't-give-a-dman disdain for snobs."
Sanjay recalls, "I had called Rakhi on the sets of Saawariya. She lit up the set with her exuberance."
In fact Saawariya has been an experience of many such spicy women for Sanjay. "Zohra Sehgal, Begum Para, Asha Sachdev, Rani....And Rakhi on the sets...I've had a ball. And Rakhi won my heart when I was feeling so low on Sunday."
When told that no bigwig from Bollywood was willing to share tv space with Rakhi Sanjay ripostes, "Karan should've asked me. I'd have happily gone. If I can appear with Mallika, why not Rakhi?"