The actor's plans to join the social activist at his fast in the city was aborted, as the anti-corruption rally became a no-show

It was an ingenuous and foolproof marketing device that went awry. Writer-director Rumi Jaffery and his leading man Akshaye Khanna were to join Anna Hazare and his team at the MMRDA grounds in Mumbai.

However, before the B-Town folk could carry out their plans to grab eyeballs at the rally, Anna's show was over. Says a source, "Rumi's film Gali Gali Mein Chor Hai deals with the anti-corruption theme. The plan was to sit in with Anna at the fast on Day 3 of the scheduled three-day rally.

Rumi's team had hoped that by the third day the turnout at Anna's agitation would reach an all-time high. But the opposite happened. And the Gali Gali...team had to drop their plans."

The filmmaker doesn't deny the embarrassing dead end reached by their unofficial tie-up with Anna. "We were definitely looking forward to joining Anna Saab.

This wasn't to cash in on his name. That our film is based on anti-corruption is a happy coincidence. But the rally ended abruptly. Our plans had to be dropped."

Rumi incidentally seems to be getting politicians interested in his political satire. Last week he had Congress politician Rajeev Shukla over for dinner. However the filmmaker protests, "Rajeevji is an old friend. I've known him from the time he was a journalist.

We don't want the film to be politicised at all. Yes, Anna Hazare will be watching the film shortly. But we are not looking at him as a politician. He symbolises the fight against corruption which our film is all about."