The covert media organisation, Cobrapost, carried another massive sting operation that left Bollywood fans reeling in shock. Naming their new expose as Operation Karaoke, the Cobrapost team disguised themselves as PR agency co-ordinators who approached around 40 Bollywood stars and asked them if they can use their celeb status to influence their fans to vote for political parties. Around 36 celebs fell for their trap and agreed to do so, on the promise of money. Cobrapost Sting Operation 'Karaoke' Claims 36 Bollywood Celebs Accept Money to Promote Political Parties.
As per the Cobrapost blog, the celebs that have been exposed in the covert operation are "Abhijeet Bhattacharya, Kailash Kher, Mika Singh and Baba Sehgal; actors Jackie Shroff, Shakti Kapoor, Vivek Oberoi, Sonu Sood, Amisha Patel, Mahima Chaudhry, Shreyas Talpade, Puneet Issar, Surendra Pal, Pankaj Dheer and his son Nikitin Dheer, Tisca Chopra, Deepshikha Nagpal, Akhilendra Mishra, Rohit Roy, Rahul Bhat, Salim Zaidi, Rakhi Sawant, Aman Verma, Hiten Tejwani and spouse Gauri Pradhan, Evelyn Sharma, Minissha Lamba, Koena Mitra, Poonam Pandey, Sunny Leonne; comedians Raju Srivastava, Sunil Pal, Rajpal Yadav, Upasana Singh, Krushna Abhishek and Vijay Ishwarlal Pawar; and choreographer Ganesh Acharya and dancer Sambhavana Seth."
Cobrapost also added that only four celebs that they approached - Arshad Warsi, Vidya Balan, Saumya Tandon and Raza Murad - rejected their demands outright. Cobrapost Sting Operation ‘Karaoke’: Vidya Balan, Arshad Warsi, Raza Murad, Saumya Tandon Praised by Twitterati for Not 'Selling Their Soul' – Read Tweets.
They have also released videos of their conversations with these stars. Sunny Leone and Sonu Sood have already claimed that these videos are heavily edited and give a very misguided output (never mind that they actually entertained the conversation.
Many Twitter users have found a lot of amusing observations in the whole operation, like Sonu Sood charging the highest of all, Mahima Chaudry's 'threat' of switching allegiances if not paid, to Aman Verma and Shakti Kapoor regularly getting caught in sting operations.
Here are 10 such funny ones!
Tweet #1
Mahima Chaudhry be like - With the payment of mila to BJP, warn with Congress. #OperationKaraoke #BikaooBollywood pic.twitter.com/9wllEg4j2L
— Bollywood Gandu (@BollywoodGandu) February 20, 2019
Tweet #2
Cobrapost did not contact Anupam Kher because they knew that they cannot offer anything bigger than padma bhushan.#OperationKaraoke #BikaooBollywood
— Knight Watchman (@knightwatchman_) February 19, 2019
Tweet #3
Most Bollywood stars supported so called 'fight against black money' during Demonetisation. #OperationKaraoke
— Zoo Bear (@zoo_bear) February 19, 2019
Tweet #4
#Irony Vivek Oberoi was PAID to say demonetization was masterstroke against CORRUPTION. #OperationKaraoke #BikauBollywood pic.twitter.com/Li7XITGmV0
- Supariman ™ (@SupariMan_) February 19, 2019
Tweet #5
My favourite thing about this sting operation is Shakti Kapoor demanding ₹1 Crore for his political tweets even without having a Twitter Account (?) #OperationKaraoke https://t.co/oCOv7XMgx7
— Trendulkar (@Trendulkar) February 19, 2019
Tweet #6
Bollywood and TV Celebs asked for cash in black to support fight against black money during Demonetization.#OperationKaraoke
- Jet Lee (Vasooli Bhai) (@ Vishj05) February 19, 2019
Tweet #7
#OperationKaraoke is the one time jaha Sonu Sood would be the highest paid actor
- Shreemi Verma (@shreemiverma) February 19, 2019
Tweet #8
Poonam Pandey doesn’t care about getting exposed in #OperationKaraoke she said, “What’s left to expose now?”
- Pakchikpak Raja Babu (@HaramiParindey) February 19, 2019
Tweet #9
The most expensive smile ever!
*Charges Apply
#OperationKaraoke pic.twitter.com/eetWapakH4
— Renjith Thomas (@TowardsLiberti) February 19, 2019
Tweet #10
If there is any clarity on the scene, then it is clear that Aman Verma has a stinging look.
— Rofl Gandhi (@RoflGandhi_) February 19, 2019
There are other Twitter users who feel that this expose only brought out actors who are in the twilight of their careers, instead of actually going after the big guns. There are others who feel that there is nothing wrong with being endorsers for a cause, for that's what actors do. So what's your whole take on this? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 20, 2019 07:43 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).