Saif Ali Khan: Justified?

Stars getting into verbal scuffles with mediapersons at press conferences is not unknown. But what transpired in Delhi on Tuesday evening goes beyond the usual press-star conflict.

Apparently, when Saif Ali Khan showed up nearly two hours late in Delhi for an event related to Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Bullett Raja, the mediapersons present at the venue demanded an apology.
However Saif, say official reports, refused to apologise arguing it was the Delhi traffic that delayed him.

Tigmanshu, who accompanied Saif in Delhi, refutes the no-apology reports. “Saif did say sorry to the waiting mediapersons. But they were not willing to simmer down. They got increasingly restless. It was a closed, cramped space, and one photographer broke into a scuffle. That’s when we quit. We decided to leave without doing the event.”

Saif has publicly vowed to stay away from Delhi (which is a second-home to the nawab) for all media promotional activities. But his begum Kareena Kapoor who is with Saif in Delhi now, has counselled Saif to keep his cool.

Says a source, “Kareena has been giving Saif tips on how to remain calm under provocation.”

This is the second incident of a star getting into a verbal conflict at a public venue. Last week, apparently, while shooting for Vishal Bharadwaj’s Haider in Kashmir, Irrfan Khan was asked by protesting students to snuff out a cigarette that he was smoking. Irrfan, however, denies this incident.