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Don’t mess with Preity Zinta!

This could make for the perfect Bollywood potboiler. It has a bit of everything, love, money, a breakup and family drama.

And like Bollywood is wont to do these days, the hero in this former Bollywood actor’s life, has turned villain in this plot.

The Hindi film industry’s award-winning actor Preity Zinta, the star of popular films such as Veer-Zara, Koi Mil Gaya and Dil Se has set of an acrimonious and very public attack on her former love interest, Ness Wadia, a scion of the textile-aviation-biscuits group, who she has accused of molestation and abuse during an IPL match at the iconic Wankhede stadium in Mumbai.

The actor, who ended her relationship with Wadia a couple of years ago, lodged a police complaint earlier this week alleging Wadia had touched her inappropriately, threatened her and insulted her publicly on May 30.The incident, predictably, has grabbed media headlines and is being discussed heatedly which is not surprising because Zinta, the daughter of an army officer, is a self-made woman who does not hesitate to stand up for herself when required.

If the charges made by her stick — assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty, intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace and the use of word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman — Wadia is in trouble and could well go to jail.

“I am shocked and dismayed. The allegations are totally false and baseless,” Wadia told the media when the incident hit the headlines. Not surprising also is the reaction from the Wadia camp. While the women’s commission backing Zinta is pressing for prompt police action on this complaint, his supporters are doing their best to prevent the allegations from sticking to their boss. Strangely enough, a group of protestors who work for his family-run hospital took out a morcha last week saying Preity was lying about the incident that allegedly took place at the stadium during the match between Kings XI Punjab ( that the two jointly own) and Chennai Super Kings .

The Mumbai police are now investigating the case and is likely to include the minor son of an unnamed iconic Indian cricketer, who is reported to have been witness to the ugly event, where, Zinta said Wadia threatened that he could get her to “disappear.” The industrialist also allegedly told her that she was a nobody because she was only a film star while he was a corporate biggie with political clout.

Zinta, who has taken off to the USA after lodging her compliant, is now keenly awaited back home where the police has summoned her for further details about her allegations.

My daddy bestest…

It takes a very strong man to wear his heart on his sleeve, unapologetically.US President Barack Obama is one such man when it comes to his relationships with his loved ones. We have seen him romance his wife and indulging his daughters, even though we know he is a disciplinarian too with his children. The world saw another part of this man on Father’s Day when he talked about his role as a father, the challenges that it poses and the satisfaction that he draws from being a father.

“Fatherhood is among the most difficult and rewarding jobs a man can have. It demands constant attention, frequent sacrifice, and a healthy dose of patience,” Obama said recently at his Father’s Day proclamation. How can anyone forget his early comments when his elder daughter was stepping into adolescence and he was worried about the day she would go out in short skirts and young men would serenade her?

“Even in a time when technology allows us to connect instantly with almost anyone on earth, there is no substitute for a father’s presence, care, and support”, he said.

“On Father’s Day, we show our gratitude to the men who show us how to learn, grow, and live,” said the US President. With encouragement and unconditional love, fathers guide their children and help them envision brighter futures, he said, adding that they are teachers and coaches, friends and role models for their kids.

“They instill values like hard work and integrity, and teach their kids to take responsibility for themselves and those around them. This is a task for every father — whether married or single, gay or straight, natural or adoptive — and every child deserves someone who will step up and fill this role,” he said.

Obama himself practically grew up without his father who had divorced his mother and moved away to Kenya when he was only a child. In heart rending accounts of his brief meeting with his father, the President had this to say in his memoir, Dreams From My Father: “I only remember my father for one month my whole life, when I was 10. And it wasn’t until much later in life that I realised, like, he gave me my first basketball and it was shortly thereafter that I became this basketball fanatic. And he took me to my first jazz concert and it was sort of shortly thereafter that I became really interested in jazz and music. So what it makes you realise how much of an impact [even if it’s only a month] that they have on you. But I think probably the most important thing was his absence I think [that] contributed to me really wanting to be a good dad, you know? Because I think not having him there made me say to myself ‘you know what, I want to make sure my girls feel like they’ve got somebody they can rely on.’”

Small wonder then that the President is around his two daughters, Sasha and Malia, as much as he is able to, given his hectic schedule.

And it is in honour of the unsung fathers of the country that the White House is hosting an event that will examine the situation that working dads in the United States find themselves in, given that many of them are struggling to meet their familial obligations while juggling multiple jobs, among other things.

sudhamenon2006@gmail.com