Bollywood superstar Salman Khan called out businessman Ashneer Grover, known for his fame on Shark Tank India, during an appearance on his show Bigg Boss, revealing his ‘hypocrisy’.
This came after Grover’s video clip about his skills and Salman’s easiness in signing for an advertisement went viral on social media
Grover, co-founder and managing director of the fintech company BharatPe, shared a story about his boldness while connecting with the Tiger actor for an advertisement. At a speech at Lovely Professional University, he recounted how, as a small company, he needed to gain trust quickly and thought of hiring Salman as a brand ambassador.
The entrepreneur disclosed that when he contacted the Indian actor’s team, they quoted a fee of 7.5 Indian crore rupees. He calculated that he would have to invest 100 Indian crore rupees in total, allocating 7.5 Indian crore rupees for the Sultan actor and estimated that around 1 to 2 Indian crore rupees would go towards promotional expenses plus the cost of airing the campaign on TV.
“Typically, the amount you spend on creating an advertisement can be two to three times more in total costs. I faced a risk of 20 Indian crore rupees while having 100 Indian crore rupees in my pocket. I wasn’t sure if the next round would happen, but I took that risk.”
He recounted asking Salman to reduce his fee, to which the latter agreed to 4.5 Indian crore rupees. Grover humorously recalled that at one point, the Bollywood actor’s manager asked him if he had come to buy vegetables, to which he replied, “No, I simply don’t have the money to pay.”
In a promo for the show, Salman confronted Grover directly, asking about a past statement where Grover mentioned signing him for a specific amount. “I heard you say something about me. You claimed we signed for this amount, but you got all the figures wrong—what’s with the hypocrisy?”
The BharatPe attempted to mask his nervousness with a smile when the megastar said: “Signing you as a brand ambassador was my best decision.”
In response, he said: “But the way you’re speaking now is different from what I saw in your video. Your attitude wasn’t like this back then.”
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Grover tried to regain control of the conversation, suggesting, “Perhaps my comments didn’t come across correctly in the podcast.”
But the host continued to press on, standing close to the entrepreneur and maintained a respectful tone while still challenging him, saying, “But it appears to be equal here.”
