New Delhi: Comedian Kunal Kamra says he was approached to feature on the upcoming season of the popular reality series Bigg Boss, an offer he turned down.

The comic on his Instagram Story on Tuesday shared a screenshot of his purported WhatsApp conversation with someone who claimed to be "handling the casting for this season of Bigg Boss".

According to the screenshot shared by Kamra, the casting professional said the comic's name came up as someone they might find interesting.

"I know it might not have been on your radar, but honestly, it's such a mad platform to show your real vibe and win over a massive audience. What do you think? Should we talk about it?" the person wrote in the text.

In his response, the comedian said: "I would much rather check into a mental hospital..." It's unclear whether Kamra, who is facing multiple FIRs for his comments, was offered the 19th season of Bigg Boss or the season four of its OTT version.

In 2023, there were reports that Kamra was in talks to join Bigg Boss OTT 2.

The comedian, known for his anti-establishment views, is embroiled in a controversy over his 'traitor' jibe against Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in his latest stand-up show "Naya Bharat" which premiered on his YouTube channel last month.

On Monday, Kamra wrote an open letter online ticketing platform BookMyShow requesting it to either not delist him or to hand over the contact information of audience members he has earned through his solo shows over the years.

Earlier this week, the comedian also moved the Bombay High Court, seeking to quash an FIR lodged against him by the city police for his alleged remarks against Shinde, with the Madras High Court extending his interim anticipatory bail in relation to the case till April 17.

Kamra also claimed he has been receiving death threats after the show and hence, requested the police to question him via video conference.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Mumbai, Apr 29 (PTI): Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ticked higher for the second straight session in a volatile trade on Tuesday as investors turned cautious amid concern over geopolitical tensions.

However, intense buying in blue-chips Reliance Industries, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services and unabated foreign capital inflows supported the domestic market.

The 30-share BSE benchmark gauge climbed 70.01 points or 0.09 per cent to settle at 80,288.38. During the day, it jumped 442.94 points or 0.55 per cent to 80,661.31.

The NSE Nifty ended marginally up by 7.45 points or 0.03 per cent to 24,335.95.

"After showing a sustainable upside bounce on Monday, Nifty shifted into a consolidation with a small high-low range on Tuesday and closed the day higher by 7 points.

"After opening on a positive note, the market was not able to continue with the morning gains and slipped into minor weakness from the highs in the early part of the session. It later shifted into a range-bound action for the better part of the session," Nagaraj Shetti, Senior Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities, said.

From the Sensex firms, Reliance Industries, Tech Mahindra, Eternal, HCL Tech, Infosys, IndusInd Bank, Tata Consultancy Services and Bajaj Finserv were the biggest gainers.

In contrast, UltraTech Cement, Sun Pharma, Power Grid, NTPC, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Mahindra & Mahindra were among the laggards.

The BSE midcap gauge climbed 0.23 per cent and smallcap index went up marginally by 0.09 per cent.

Among sectoral indices, BSE Focused IT rallied 1.23 per cent, IT (1.13 per cent), capital goods (0.94 per cent), teck (0.76 per cent), industrials (0.70 per cent) and consumer durables (0.60 per cent).

Metal, utilities, commodities, telecommunication, services, bankex and financial services were the laggards.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 2,474.10 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.

"The market exhibited largely range-bound oscillation, as caution prevailed amid geopolitical concerns over border tensions. The sustained inflows from FIIs provided support to market sentiment and restricted further pessimism. Meanwhile, mixed Q4 results have raised the risk of downward revisions to FY26 projections," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said.

In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng settled in the positive territory, while Shanghai SSE Composite ended marginally lower.

European markets were trading mostly in the green. US markets ended mostly higher on Monday.

"Markets traded lacklustre and ended nearly unchanged in the absence of any significant trigger. After an initial uptick, the Nifty moved in a narrow range and closed flat," Ajit Mishra - SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.

Meanwhile, Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir for a fifth consecutive night, expanding the arc of violations to the Akhnoor sector of Jammu district, an official said on Tuesday.

This was the fifth consecutive night that Pakistan resorted to unprovoked firing along the Line of Control (LoC) amid heightened tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad following last week's terror attack in Pahalgam.

Nearly 50 public parks and gardens located in vulnerable areas of Kashmir Valley have been shut as a precautionary measure in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack.

India's industrial production growth remained almost flat at 3 per cent in March sequentially, though on a year-on-year basis, it slipped from 5.5 per cent, mainly due to poor performance of the manufacturing, mining, and power sectors.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 1.59 per cent to USD 64.81 a barrel.

The BSE benchmark index Sensex jumped 1,005.84 points or 1.27 per cent to settle at 80,218.37 on Monday. The Nifty rallied 289.15 points or 1.20 per cent to 24,328.50.