Mumbai: State Industries Minister Subhash Desai had a taste of the flip side of the popularity of Marathi film Sairat, when his personal mobile number was displayed as that of Rinku Rajguru’s – the heroine of the movie — on her Facebook page.
For the past two days, Desai has been receiving numerous calls from all over Maharashtra.
“It becomes so embarrassing, especially if you are at a public function and have to explain that you are not some actress but actually the industries minister of the state. Finally, I decided to switch off the phone,” Desai said.
“It must have been the handiwork of some hackers, who posted my number on the actress’ website. She has no role in this,” he added, setting the record straight.
“Whenever I told callers who rang to congratulate the actress, that it is a wrong number, the next question would be, ‘But who are you?’ Finally, I decided to switch off my phone for some time. But even after that the SMSs kept coming,” Desai said.
“I’ve now taken appropriate steps and the calls have stopped,” he explained, though he did not divulge whether he had lodged a complaint with the cyber security cell of the police.
Rinku, who hails from Akluj in Solapur district of Maharashtra, received a special mention from the jury for her stellar portrait of ‘Archie’ in the hit Marathi movie ‘Sairat’ at the National Awards this year. Sairat, directed by Nagraj Manjule, has so far grossed around Rs 40 crore and is on the way to becoming among the biggest blockbusters in Marathi cinema.