The media seems to be so obsessed with the Shah Rukh Khan-Shirish Kunder episode that it is fishing for similar stories to report, even if it amounts to imagining some! One such incident a prominent publication in Hyderabad has reported is about Aazaan actor Sachiin Joshi teasing Celebrity Cricket League (CCL) brand ambassador and Southern actress Priyamani in a Shirish Kunder-like "allegedly inebriated" state at a party. Luckily for Sachiin, the article doesn't conjure up a ‘slap'.

Sachiin who plays cricket for Sohail Khan's Mumbai Heroes has been globe-trotting from Australia to Maldives to States to Dubai off late. But the Hyderabad publication ‘insists' he tried to "hold her hand" and "hug" Priyamani, rubbing the damsel's "ego" the wrong way at a CCL after-party. The funny part is that the said article claims this inspite of quoting Priyamani's mother in the same piece, stating that the actress was "busy shooting" and that "nothing like this has happened."

Sachiin's publicist Dale Bhagwagar also points out that the report is a figment of over-active imagination. "It's a fabricated story. Someone is trying to use the media as a platform for personal gain or vendetta, trying to plug and plant false and fictional information in the form of a news story. The media should be wary of such people trying to cause malice by manipulating a journalist," he says.

Last week, a Mumbai tabloid had also funnily reported that Sachiin Joshi was found strolling in "pink chaddis" at a Dubai hotel where CCL players were put up. "They were red chaddis and not pink and Sachiin was wearing them above his blue tights," his publicist had joked then, comparing the young gun to a superhero; very much like the character he played in Aazaan.


Now, now! With this new Priyamani ‘story', things are surely hotting up on the Sachiin front! Wonder if the writer should be ‘crowned' the ‘king' of sham! Shah Rukh-Shirish not withstanding, this even seems to be a perfect case for the Press Council chief Markandey Katju to comment on, before Sachiin Joshi emerges the new ‘Controversy Prince' of Bollywood and cricketainment.