Prajjal Saha
Media

Got Rs 4 lakh? How 'bout a cup of Darjeeling with Ash?

In an online auction on Baazee.com, bidders are ready to pay exorbitant prices for a date with their favourite filmstars

The Queen is white-hot. And, the King isn't. At least, for now.

Fans are ready to pay more for just a tea session with Aishwarya Rai than spending an entire day with Shahrukh Khan.

In an online auction on Bazee.com, fans have literally gone berserk in wanting to spend some quality time with the cinestars. For a tea session with the former Miss World, the highest bid till date is a cool Rs 4 lakh. For spending a day with Shahrukh Khan, the top bid has been Rs 3.65 lakh.

For winning a tea session with Rai, there has been a total nine bids and the starting bid was of Rs 1.2 lakh by a NRI Mairaj Hussain. The highest bidder till the time of filing the story was Sanjay Agarwal from Jodhpur.

While these offers are very popular abroad, this is happening for the first time in India. The auction has been kicked off by the Indian film and television industry to raise funds for the tsunami victims. All monies collected from these auctions will be donated to the Prime Minister Relief Fund.

Talking about the credential of these bidders, Deepa Thomas, spokesperson, Baazee says, “Unless the bidder has had a bad track record in the past, or an exorbitant price has been bid, we are assuming the bids to be genuine. But actual checking would only happen on February 11, a day before the auction closes.”

She says, “The Aishwarya Rai auction is expected to end with a much higher bid. Perhaps, it will go up by a couple of lakhs more in the next five days.”

Of the bidders, only 50 per cent are NRIs; the rest are home-grown lakhpatis.

In terms of popularity, the Big B retains his charisma. A high tea with Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan has won the highest bid of Rs 3.1 lakh.

There are some other interesting offers such as a gym session with Sanjay Dutt or a bike ride with John Abraham. While a gym session with Sanjay Dutt has won a highest bid of Rs 1.2 lakh, a zoom with the Dhoom star has won the highest bid of Rs 1 lakh till date.

Even Karan Johar and MF Hussain are going strong. Fans are ready to spend Rs 2.02 lakh for spending a day on the sets with Johar. And for a master piece by MF Hussain, the highest bid till date has been Rs 2.55 lakh. However, the price quoted for Hussain's masterpeice doesn't seem to be on the higher side as his creations generally get this price.

Some costumes worn by the popular stars in different movies are also up for auction. For instance, Saif Ali Khan's jeans and shirt which he wore in the film 'Kal Ho Na Ho' has won a highest bid of Rs 40,500 till date. Similarly, the dress Diya Mirza wore during the song Zara Zara in the film 'Rehna Hain Tere Dil Mein' has won a bid of Rs 50,000. Kareena Kapur's outfit from the movie 'Fida' has own a highest bid of Rs 61,000 till date. Meanwhile, Shahid Kapur's T-shirt and jeans from the same movie have won a bid of Rs 21,000.

The Mumbai film industry is pitching in with more contributions. Producer Vashu Bhagnani has donated 12 Bollywood costumes worn by cine stars Amisha Patel, Zayed Khan and Arjun Rampal in the movie ‘Vaada’. Venus Records has contributed two costumes worn by Kareena Kapoor in the movie ‘Hulchul’.

Indian Television has also donated 27 television costumes designed by Ashley Rebello. The glamorous outfits were worn by well known TV personalities like Aamna Shariff, Rajeev Khandelwal, Shabbir Ahluwalia, Ronit Roy, Gurdeep Kohl and Rakshanda Khan at the Indian Telly Awards 2004. All the proceeds of these 27 auctions will go to Akshara Foundation & CRY’s Tsunami Relief Fund.

Baazee.com is also supporting the CRY Tsunami Relief Fund by involving its one million-plus user community in a fund raising drive. The drive involves CRY Child Art Wallpaper being sold on the site against fixed donation slabs from Rs 100, Rs 250, Rs 500, Rs 750, Rs 1,000, Rs 2,000 and Rs 5,000. These proceeds will go to the CRY Tsunami Relief Fund. Baazee will also make a matching contribution to CRY equaling the money donated by its users through this effort.

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