When she anchored an event for Doordarshan in August this year, she was known as Mona Pahuja. The show, and her performance, weren’t noticed and her struggle as an actor continued. Few months later she changed her name to Aina Pahuja on “astrological” advice. Stars favoured the change and she bagged the most high-profile assignment of her career from the national broadcaster as the host for the red carpet event of the opening ceremony of the ongoing International Film Festival of India in Goa. Fame followed but it was draped in ridicule. A week after the show was aired live on DD India and DD National on November 20, an edited version of her commentary and interviews of the visiting dignitaries popped up on YouTube. In the video, Pahuja is seen uttering bloopers one after the other. She is, for instance, seen introducing Goa Governor Mridula Sinha as the “governor of India”. She even misidentifies the Governor’s gender. “.We have governor of India right here and we would like to share something with you.may be his views,” she gushes before playfully asking a sombre-looking Sinha: “How are you doing?. aapko kaisa feel hota hai ki aaj hum is level par pahunche hai (how do you feel about us scaling such heights)?” Another dignitary is identified as the defence minister even as she keeps firing most inane questions at visibly stumped visitors. The exaggerated exuberance continues as Pahuja observes: “India ki tarakki ho rahi hai aur achche din aa rahe hai Modiji ke according (India is making progress and better days are here according to Modi).” Pahuja was lucky that her live show on DD channels didn’t elicit much response. Her stars, however, didn’t seem to have any influence over digital media. The YouTube video went viral in no time and in three days it had garnered two lakh views and counting. Doordarshan officials were not forthcoming about who hired Pahuja and if due diligence was conducted before handing over the mike to her for an international event of repute. Her co-hosts, incidentally, were veterans film actors Raveena Tandon and Anupam Kher. Pleading ignorance about how Pahuja landed the project, a senior official of the team producing the event said: “All I know is that she is an aspiring actor from Mumbai. Our brief was to hire someone young, glamorous and bubbly for the red carpet event and she fit the bill.” Instead of investigating the hiring process, Doordarshan officials have initiated an inquiry into who leaked the video. “What has happened has happened. we all make mistakes,” said Mukesh Sharma, additional director general, western zone, Doordarshan. “The live event wasn’t even noticed by many. It’s the YouTube video that has created the controversy. It was a deliberate mischief.” On her part, Pahuja said she was not given enough time to rehearse for the event. “My cue mike collapsed few minutes before going live. I didn’t have a list of the guests and I didn’t know who was who,” she said.
