Imran and Deepika banned from tweeting

MUMBAI: Producer Kunal Kohli, currently shooting for his film Break Ke Baad in Mauritius, has forbidden lead actors Deepika Padukone and Imran Khan from talking about the film on social networking websites.

Kohli told IANS, “I have only asked Deepika and Imran to desist from tweeting for three weeks until Imran’s new film I Hate Luv Storys is released. I don’t want any overlapping in the public’s subconscious about the two films.”

“Once Imran’s other film is out, he and Deepika are free to tweet to their heart’s content,” he said.

Imran Khan has 143,495 followers on Twitter, while Deepika Padukone has 240,214. Break Ke Baad’s director Danish Aslam has 956 followers.

I Hate Luv Storys is scheduled to release on July 2 and stars Sonam Kapoor, while Break Ke Baad does not have a release date as yet.

This is the second instance when actors have been prohibited from tweeting about a film.

In the past, Sajid Nadiadwala had to restrain Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra from talking online about their upcoming film Anjaana Anjaani.

Imran Khan and Priyanka Chopra have often posted images online of them hanging out with their co-stars or of the set.

Twitter has credited its popularity in India to its Bollywood membership, especially after actors Shah Rukh Khan and Abhishek Bachchan joined the website.

However, Kunal Kohli’s restrictions have apparently not been taken well by Imran Khan who was heard grumbling loudly about his freedom of expression being curtailed.  Bollywood has been using Twitter and Facebook extensively as promotional tools.

But not everyone is a fan.Justifying his stand, Kohli determinedly said, “I really do not approve of stars giving out information on micro-blogging sites, but I do not think we should stop them. What I can do is decide when the right time to tweet is.”

Published in the Express Tribune, June 17^th, 2010.