Brand Gujarat ok, not brand Modi

Once bitten, twice shy. Not having forgotten his political skirmishes under Rajiv Gandhi, Amitabh Bachchan was livid on Thursday over a Youtube video, which has dragged his name into an unsavoury political controversy by suggesting that he has endorsed Narendra Modi as his Prime ministerial choice.

The 70-year-old actor went into a tweeting frenzy when the video started circulating and screamed, ‘’Fake! Fake! Fake! Appalled and angered by this illegal act...Has no concurrence from me at all.’’

He further threatened legal action against the person who had uploaded the video.

The 70-year-old veteran star who is the brand ambassador of Gujarat Tourism pointed out that the video was made by manipulating a voiceover that he did in 2007 for a ‘Lead India’ campaign. Explained Bachchan on his blog, ‘’Dear all...In the year 2007, I did a ‘Lead India’ campaign, where we

talked of the glorification of the country. Somebody has made a fake video by using my voice and text of what I spoke in the original, and falsely and mischievously, interspersed it with visuals that indicate a campaign for the promotion of Chief Minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi.” Modi too shared Bachchan’s concern and sought an apology from the creator of the fake video. “Agree with SrBachchan. The author of the fake video should take action immediately and apologize to Amitabh ji,” Modi said in his tweet. Following Bachchan’s vociferous protest, a music composer from Rajkot, Utpal Jivrajani, admitted to having uploaded the video on YouTube and apologised. However, he denied being the brain behind its creation. “I have nothing to do with this video. I just got it on WhatsApp from one of the many groups I am associated with and when I found it interesting I uploaded it,” Jivrajani told a wire agency.