While a fair share of celebs has flown down to Florida, USA, to take part in International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA) this weekend, the rest of the fraternity is doing its bit in order to step out and cast its vote today. For instance, Kangna Ranaut, who is promoting her film 'Revolver Rani', has managed to get a day's break. A source says, `She was supposed to go to Ahmedabad and Jaipur, but now that trip has been cancelled. Now she may visit these cities after the film's release.`
Suniel Shetty has already postponed the promotional tour for his film, 'Koyelaanchal', to be able to vote.
Farhan Akhtar postponed his trip to Florida for an awards do because he wanted to stay back in Mumbai and cast his vote first
Meanwhile, Farhan Akhtar who will be attending the IIFA awards in Florida, has declared that he will cast his vote and then go to the US. In a recent interview, he even appealed to everyone to vote.
The team of Subhash Ghai's film, 'Kaanchi', which is slated to release tomorrow, has also decided to take a break from promotional activities keeping the Election Day in mind
The team of Subhash Ghai's film, 'Kaanchi', which is slated to release tomorrow, has also decided to halt its promotions for a day. Sukhvinder Singh, who has lent his voice to a song in the film, says, `When the film's promotional schedule was being planned, all of us informed the team that we wanted to keep everything aside on Election Day. Our marketing team has planned the promotions accordingly. I was also supposed to fly to Bangalore for a recording, but I have pushed that ahead now.`
Sukhwinder Singh
Taking a stand
At a Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) meeting between film producers and other artistes, it was decided that producers would either cancel their shoots today or begin shooting only after 2pm. Dilip Pithwa, general secretary, FWICE, says that he has already written to all four producers' bodies requesting them to let their unit members (artistes and technicians) go vote.
Accordingly, the unit of the Neha Dhupia-starrer, 'Ekees Topoon Ki Salaami', will start its shoot late. Says a source, `Neha requested the producer, Abhinav Shukla, to let the shoot start late. Now all unit members will have enough time to cast their vote and head to the sets for the shoot. The producer has also agreed to the same.`
At recording studios too, work will startonly post 2pm. BM Tiwari of Sound Engineers Association adds, `All technicians have been instructed to report to work later on account of elections. Only those who have to send in their episodes earlier on have been given some concession. Then again, they have been asked to vote before getting to work.`
Celeb no-show of another kind?
Even as Mumbai goes to polls today, several Bollywood stars are expected to come out and cast their vote. While some are travelling due to their work assignments, most celebs in Mumbai plan to exercise their right. That said, much like the hoi polloi, some tinsel town folks don't have their names on the voters' list. One would think that celebdom comes with its own benefits but it seems that having one's name on the electoral rolls is a different matter. hitlist tells you who in Bollywood may not be able to vote due to his / her name missing from the voters' list...
Missing from the electoral rolls?
Madhur Bhandarkar
Madhur, who has always been vocal about his political views, is also not on the voters' list. Madhur confirms, `Yes, my name is not there on the voters' list. I have been voting in the same constituency for many years now, but this time around, I don't know how my name has gone missing from the list. I plan to go to the polling booth and figure this out as I wish to cast my vote.`
Arbaaz and Sohail Khan
Actos-directors, Arbaaz and Sohail Khan too are missing from this voters' list. Interestingly, their brother Salman's name is very much there on the list. While Arbaaz remained unavailable for comment, Sohail replied to our message saying that he hoped to cast his vote today. `I hope my name will be there on the list; I will be going with my father tomorrow,` he said.
Esha Gupta's Delhi debacle
The actress recently travelled to Delhi to cast her vote but was shocked when she got to know that her name was not on the electoral rolls. Miffed by the incident, she vented her anger on a social networking site. `Where every vote matters, the Election Commission didn't make my card, and they refused to let my mom cast her vote today. Poor thing had to return with all her ids,` she recently tweeted.
