Sonam Kapoor defends Abhay Deol regarding Aisha promotions

By Bollywood Hungama News Network -

August 11, 2010 - 12:56 PM IST

Download image as wallpaper

In today's Bollywood, an actor's role doesn't start and finish with the time that he spends on the sets followed by dubbing. It extends way beyond that with the minimum expectation of him being available at least till a week after the release. Though 6-9 months may have been spent during the actual making of a film, it's those couple of months prior to the release and the week that follows which are most important. That's because this is the time duration when one has to be public eye literally 24X7.

Sonam Kapoor defends Abhay Deol regarding Aisha promotions

100 odd interviews, a couple of dozen of promotional events, chat shows, photo shoots, being active on social networking sites - all of this is pretty much forms the part of the package. It is no more a requirement; it is actually a given. Something, which hasn't actually turned out to be the case with Abhay Deol when it comes to Aisha.

For someone who has been known to take a step ahead and promote each of his films pretty aggressively, Abhay Deol was conspicuous by his absence when it came to Aisha. Now that was indeed surprising because Aisha is clearly his most non-offbeat film in recent times. However, even though he took a front foot forward and spoke at length about his last released like Road, Movie or Dev D, Abhay was missing from the scene when it comes to the Sonam Kapoor starrer.

With the film's lead actor and the most experienced of the lot (Aisha features a bunch of newcomers) missing from action, it was time for some widespread speculations and murmurs of all not being well between the talented actor and the makers.

Says an industry observer, "One can understand Abhay's absence since he is in Spain shooting for Zoya Akhtar's Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. It is a big film with Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar and Katrina Kaif so it is expected that Abhay would accommodate his dates as per the other actors. By no means should one be expecting Abhay to be spending a couple of months promoting Aisha in India when the action is happening in Spain for his next film."

No wonder, Sonam - the central protagonist in Aisha - also comes in Abhay's defence, "I know for sure that he did have a discussion with the producers of Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara but he wasn't allowed to leave Spain. He did his bit though by giving his interviews through email", defends Sonam.

Now even as the film has released, Sonam doesn't hold any qualms against Abhay's absence, "It isn't as if he didn't promote the film at all. In fact he did spend a full 10 days into doing a lot of pre-recorded interviews and shows so that they could be used around the film's release. With him in Spain, it wasn't fair to expect that he would physically come and participate in any promotional activity here in India."

"I am sure even he is missing all the fun that we had while promoting the film and now that the film is a success", concludes Sonam who is on a definite high after the twin success of Aisha and I Hate LUV Storys.