Did Pallavi Sharda skip event to avoid Ranbir Kapoor?

It was the first media launch of Pallavi Sharda's upcoming film, Besharam on Thursday night and all eyes were trained on the whereabouts of the debutante. While the film's lead actor, Ranbir Kapoor and director, Abhinav Singh Kashyap were present, Pallavi's absence was rather conspicuous. When enquired about her no-show, the organisers of the event blamed her absence on her hectic shoot schedule.u00a0

Incidentally, the mass media SMSes that had gone out earlier in the day had confirmed Pallavi's presence for the event.

A crewmember says, "Both Ranbir and Pallavi were shooting for a song in Film City the whole day. Since their shoot went on for long, the timing for the event too was pushed back thrice. Finally it started very late around 11 pm. Just before the event, Pallavi told the crew she was too tired to attend. Also, she didn't hav enough time to get ready for the launch."

However, a friend of the actress paints a different picture. "That's not true. Pallavi and the rest of the cast were never supposed to be part of this function. It was a case of miscommunication between the production and the marketing team. She is a newcomer and she can never give such bizarre excuses," she says.

At the first look of the event a few days ago, Ranbir had been unable to make it, forcing his director to interact with the media alone. "Perhaps, this was their way of organising an event exclusively for him," adds the actress' friend.

Producer Himanshu Mehra remained unavailable for comment. u00a0