The real Kamal Haasan, who is at present shooting in Italy, told Mumbai Mirror

Brinda Parekh: “Hi, is that Kamal Haasan sir? Sir this is Brinda here. Brinda Parekh. A journalist gave me your number. He said you are in Mumbai and want to speak to me.”

kamal haasan: “Yes, yes Brinda. I’ve been hearing a lot about you. Very good you called. See, I want you to do a film for me.”

BP: “Of course sir. Any time sir. What film is this?”

kh: “A friend of mine is making the film. It’s a bold subject, very powerful. I think you are just right for it. I’ve been seeing some of your films. You were very good in Pokkiri, but they completely wasted you in London Dreams.”

BP: Thanks sir. You saw the film?

kh: I think you have much more potential. You should do this film, which my friend is making. It’s a showreel for you Brinda - main lead.

BP: Sir, who is the director?

kh: He’s a personal friend. His name is Faisal Saif. He worked with me in MumbaiXpress. He’s trying to make this film on a tight budget. I want to help him, but he just refuses to take my help. I told Shruti to do a song for him but she had to pull out at the last minute. Brinda, you must do this film. For me. You understand?

BP: Yes Kamalji, I understand. It’s my honour that I am able to do something for you? Who can say no to you?

kh: Tell me, are you running after money or do you want to make a real name for yourself?

BP: Money is never a priority for me sir. I want to do good work.

kh: See, Faisal’s budget is really tight. Can you do this film without a fee? Please. You don’t worry about the film. I’ll personally take care of the publicity and PR. You convince Faisal to make the film in Tamil also. I’ll take care of the rest.

BP: Okay sir. As you say.

This telephonic conversation between model-actress Brinda Parekh and ‘Kamal Haasan’ took place on June 6. ‘Kamal’ (who called from the number 098332880) gave Brinda the number of a Faisal Saif. What transpired from thereon reveals a sensational Bollywood casting scam.

A similar call was made by this ‘Kamal’ to Kabir Bedi’s son Adam Bedi, asking him to do Faisal Saif’s film (which he claimed was already signed by Brinda Parekh). The bit about ‘adjust the fees’ was also brought up. Bedi grew suspicious when ‘Kamal’ told him that he was neither producing nor directing the film.

A call to the real Kamal Haasan’s daughter, Shruti Haasan, revealed that her father was actually in Paris, shooting for a film at the time and couldn’t have possibly made any such calls. The film in question is For Adults Only (don’t miss the poster) and narrates the journey of a high-class prostitute.

It just didn’t add up, Adam Bedi told Mumbai Mirror from the United States, where he is holidaying, “Why would Kamal Haasan be calling me for a film that he has nothing to do with? After I spoke to Shruti, I just let the matter drop.” Meanwhile, Faisal Saif sent a contract to Brinda, which specified that she was doing the film for zero remuneration; this got Brinda suspicious. Then Faisal told Brinda to see “Dr Kamal Hassan’s” Twitter account.

On checking this out, she spotted one tweet that read, “Brinda Parekh will be the next big thing - watch out! Faisal Saif was one of the eight followers of this account. The moment Mumbai Mirror made enquiries about this Twitter account and the phone number, the Twitter account was deleted on June 25, and the phone number has been switched off continuously since.

It turns out that Faisal Saif is not alien to controversy. The man who, in his Twitter account claims, I believe in S&M (sadomasochism). It takes sexto another level, was in the news last year when actress Meera lodged a complaint against him in Pakistan for defamation, though Faisal called it just a misunderstanding.

Much later, Faisal was heard bragging in the industry about his close association with Kamal Haasan. Hrishita Bhatt, who acted in Faisal’s first film Jigyaasa, had said in interviews earlier that she knew him as an ex-assistant of Kamal Haasan.

When contacted, Faisal insisted that he had personally met Kamal but denied ever being his assistant. Faisal said, I don’t know where this is coming from. Even I have been getting calls from someone saying he is Kamal Haasan and have been in touch with him for months now.

To add to the murky tale, another number (09789010209) was traced, from which a person would call actors pretending to be a journalist from a reputed news channel or newspaper, urging them to get in touch with ‘Kamal Haasan’.

The real Kamal Haasan, who is at present shooting in Italy, told Mumbai Mirror, Three years ago something similar had happened. Someone was trying to impersonate me. I had lodged a police complaint. It may be the same person doing it again. I want to tell my fans and everyone in the industry not to believe anyone making calls in my name. If I have to say something, I will say it in person.

The mysterious number being used by the Kamal Haasan impersonator has now been traced to a person called Sulaiman Khan, who lives in Mahim.

The voice sounded exactly like Kamal sir. I was completely fooled. I hope whoever is behind this gets arrested, said Brinda.