Hang the divorce... it's a 24-crore deal!

The Chand-Fiza controversy may have been much ado about nothing, but there are lessons to be learned in media manipulation and cashing in on quick fame

The moon and breeze, together, have the power to spin many a splendid story. So, it comes as no surprise when Chand-Fiza concoct a fabulous fairytale around their love-hate affair, albeit with a farcical twist.

Today, Anuradha Bali alias Fiza Mohammad, the estranged wife of the flamboyant former deputy chief minister of Haryana, Chander Mohan alias Chand Mohammad, has taken her man back graciously, because "he asked for her forgiveness." "My culture tells me not to insult a guest. So I let him return to my house," she said.
But that wasn't before other things came pouring in, like an alleged Rs 24-crore deal with a Canadian film company to tell her story, which Vinod Dua of NDTV writes off as "absolute non-sense, and totally frivolous".

Reality shows should stand in salute: her home production, Chand ki Fiza, should be out soon, with none other than the heroine, herself, in the lead. The couple, who's no Sallu-Aishwarya or Tom Cruise-Nicole Kidman, has seen a rise that has secured them lifetime memberships in the gossip columns of the world, an absolute must to transform from just another pretty face to a brand worth its value in the green. They are cutting no frills to up their equities from cheesy comments to public display of love and heartbreaks, their arsenal is time-tested to generate shock, awe, pity and finally, celeb immortality.

Let's consider the trendsetters. Padma Lakshmi's claim to fame was her marriage to and subsequent divorce with novelist Salman Rushdie and Paris Hilton managed to make public explicit romp sessions with the most talked-about men to feed the bottomless sleaze pit. The principle is simple: the lower you stoop, the higher your fame quotient skyrockets.

A common practice in the West, this mushy brand game was still a rarity in India before the promising pair showed up. The lissome Fiza, a former assistant advocate general of Haryana and Punjab, seems to have mastered the art effortlessly. Her dealings with Chand were never quite private, right from their first meeting at a work-related event, to him wooing her relentlessly, proposing marriage, converting to Islam, bringing back the ex-wife, filing for divorce, and finally, asking for forgiveness. Every move perfectly timed, all happenings well hyped. Big brouhaha; bigger gain. But this is not to say that everyone fell for their lame bait; there were some who had pre-empted the agenda well in advance.

"We never covered the issue in detail; news hours are too precious. We want to give our viewers relevant information, not inconsequential controversy," said Times Now's Arnab Goswami.

But their script is still on a roll. After the separation, when Chand crawled back to Fiza's Mohali home begging for forgiveness, the Chand-Fiza love story entered the annals of romantic history. True love seemed to have been vindicated. Only that the media was conveniently kept handy all the time. Fiza, as expected, has a more practical plea for their media romance. "Chand had declared his love for me at a press conference. When he left me, he used the media to send me messages. I went to the people of the country crying when he divorced me on phone from London and the media supported my move. So when Chand returned and I told him I didn't trust him anymore, he made the media a witness to ask for my forgiveness," said Fiza.

But if sources in the local media are to be believed, the 30-something fiery advocate, didn't have to do much to wrap the scion of Haryana politics' first family around her little finger. The elder son of former state chief minister Bhajan Lal followed her around town with dogged perseverance, flooding her with passionate SMSes.

But Fiza claimed she knew fickle men "of his kind" and wanted her name in his epithet.

"Other than the video of them together and his lovey-dovey SMSes that Fiza produced as evidence along with her police complaint and also flaunted to the world media, a sex tape may also have been involved and some amount of arm-twisting," said a Chandigarh journalist, who claims insider knowledge of the tale.

Fiza, however, denies the allegations. "People have accused me of being a gold-digger and blackmailer. But the world knows Chand came to me, I didn't go after him. When he came to me, he was penniless, having bequeathed all his assets to his first wife and family. I sheltered him. Like every woman in love, I believed him and was shattered when he left me just after days of our marriage to run off with his first wife," an angry Fiza had said just days within her suicide attempt.

Talk of creativity in brand building. "For both, it's a win-win situation. Chander Mohan was aware he would never be able to match his father's charisma and his little out-field adventure gave the leader from Kalka a fair share of the arc lights. Fiza, on the other hand, was turned into a celebrity overnight. Her chic dressing sense when she was first seen with Chand, her all-white puritan look when she was hurling abuses at her alleged two-timing husband, her distressed suicide attempt and then her virgin pink appearance on national television to take Chand back great marketing tools, those," said a media-watcher.

Meanwhile, the Mohali police have simply forgotten the complaints Fiza had filed against Chand, accusing him of rape, defamation, hurting religious sentiments, cheating.

"What can we do? He is a very powerful man, a former deputy chief minister and an ex-CM's son. It's good for
us that the matter has been resolved amicably and two are back together," said a senior police official from Mohali, wishing anonymity. More excuses follow.

"I conducted a proper inquiry into it. We found nothing in the complaint, and so we quashed it," offers Jatinder Singh Aulakh, Senior Superintendent of Police, Mohali.

Even Muslim clerics have stopped protesting the misuse of the tenets of Islam for a marriage of convenience.
"All's well that ends well," philosophised Khaja Hassan Sani Nizami, a renowned Islamic scholar.

And Chand-Fiza can't stop grinning, planning their next moveu2026 is it a marriage guide, or an autobiography? And oh, Fiza has even decided to take part in a television reality show being filmed in Malaysia.

Long live love in the games of fame, and longer live its brand value!