Veteran Actor Raza Murad was one of the four actors, who had refused to sell his soul to the Cobrapost undercover team when he was approached to support the Congress for a fee by using his social media accounts. The other three actors were Saumta Tandon, Arshad Warsi and Vidya Balan.
In the video released by Cobrapost, the veteran actor is heard flatly refusing the Cobrapost’s offer to support the Congress in exchange of money. Murad told the Cobrapost reporter that he did not have a Twitter account.
The conversation started with a phone call by the Cobrapost’s undercover reporter, who reminded him about his earlier conversation. To which, Murad said, “Ok tell me where do you want to shoot?” His response made it clear that he had not understood the offer made by the Cobrapost team. His reply implied that the offer was for a film project as he demanded for a script and a location.
The reporter then explained, “Let me explain. Let’s say you have your social media accounts such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. You will just be required to tweet (in favour of the Congress.” Pat came Raza Murad’s reply, “No brother, I am not on Twitter.”
“But you are on Facebook?” asked the reporter.
“Yes, I am on Facebook but I don’t speak about politics,” replied the veteran actor.
The reporter persisted and requested him to only publish social media posts praising the good works of the Congress. Murad replied, “You want to record my views? You can do so and then you are free to publish it wherever you want.”
He continued, “I have no intention to open a Twitter account because some frustrated people, who are jobless enjoy abusing you.”
“Sir, how long does it take to open a Twitter account?” insisted the reporter. Murad reiterated, “I don’t want to open an account on Twitter.”
Convinced that Murad was not likely to agree to his proposal, the Cobrapost reporter gave up on him and ended the conversation by thanking him.
Cobrapost had broadcast a stunning undercover operation on Tuesday called Operation Karaoke, revealing how 36 celebrities from the Indian entertainment industry had agreed to accept money to support a political party using their social media pages for a fee.
These celebrities included actors from TV and films, singers, social media celebrities and stand-up comedians. Among actors, some of the notable names are Sunny Leonne, Vivek Oberoi, Jackie Shroff, Tisca Chopra, Shakti Kapoor, Sonu Sood, Shreyas Talpade, Ameesha Patel, Mahima Chaudhry, Puneet Issar, Surendra Pal, Pankaj Dheer and his son Nikitin Dheer, Deepshikha Nagpal, Akhilendra Mishra, Rohit Roy, Rahul Bhat, Salim Zaidi, Rakhi Sawant, Aman Verma, Hiten Tejwani and wife Gauri Pradhan, Evelyn Sharma, Minissha Lamba and Koena Mitra.