Now the story can be told. What did Akshay Kumar mean in the video from The Great Indian Laughter Challenge that has gone viral when he told mentor and comedienne Mallika Dua as she rings the bell, “Mallikaji aap bell bajao, main apko bajata hoon”? Certainly not what her father, veteran journalist Vinod Dua, implied in outrage on social media this evening when he blasted Akshay who is a judge in this reality show of stand-up comedians.

Sources on Star Plus, the channel hosting the show, say that what Akshay meant was,“Mallikaji aap bell bajao, main apko (kaan ke neeche) bajata hoon!” Which is Bambaiya Hindi for he would “give her a clip beneath the ear”. The comment was certainly not sexist, the Star Plus sources insist, and it was said in fun amidst a lot of laughter. They are more interested in finding out how the video of this comment, which was edited from the telecast of this episode of The Great Indian Laughter Challenge, got mysteriously leaked online this evening.

“Akshay never meant it to be vulgar nor derogatory and the entire incident if you see the video was a riot of fun,” said a source from the show. “The whole idea of The Great Indian Laughter Challenge is that the stand-up comedians and performers entertain the judges and studio audience with their skills. The judges bring their own brand of comedy to the show. That’s why Bollywood funny men Sajid Khan and Shreyas Talpade were brought in to replace Mallika Dua, Zakir Khan and Hussain Dalal as mentors.”

While Akshay was unavailable for comment because he left Mumbai this evening for Dubai where he is joining Rajnikanth and A. R. Rahman for the music launch of their sci-fi film 2.0on Friday, the goss on the incident is that Mallika is using the leaked video to settles scores with Star Plus which held her, Zakir and Hussain responsible for poor audience ratings and fired them from the show. The shoot happened weeks ago. People are asking why Mallika did not make this hue and cry earlier? Why take a statement out of context and make an issue out of it now?

There is another side to the story that is intriguing Bollywood. And it’s to do with Mallika’s father Vinod Dua taking up cudgels on his daughter’s behalf against Akshay. Attacking the actor, the senior journalist said on his Facebook page, “I am going to screw this cretin Akshay Kumar for telling his co-worker Mallika Dua that ‘aap bell bajao main aap ko bajata hun’.” To which people in Bollywood are taking exception. “If Dua intends to hold Akshay literally to his word (which was said in jest on the show), then what must we make of Dua’s own statement on Facebook when he says he wants to screw Akshay? Does the journalist imply that he wants sexual intercourse with the actor?” a trade source asked Peeping Moon.com in indignation.

While trade analyst Amul Mohan told the media, “I think this is just a case of sour grapes because the mentors were shown the door,” another Bollywood insider wanted to know if Dua had seen the outrageous content and appalling language used by his own daughter Mallika in her comic videos on social media and AIB. “Look at the cheap language and vulgar abuses Mallika has given in all her popular viral videos. She can’t be having double standards about sexism,” he said. Agreeing with this argument, Bollywood trade analyst Atul Mohan asked, “When your daughter does such things on stage, what do you have to say about that?”

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