Rahul Mahajan has rushed to the defence of his new bride Dimpy, whose bikini-clad item girl days were revealed by a tabloid after their televised marriage this week.

“All these big stars who sport bikinis or kiss on screen are paid in crores, and get called classy. I don’t see any reason to make a hue and cry about Dimpy’s bikini shoots,” says the star of reality show Rahul Dulhania Le Jayega.

HT City has found pictures of a bikini clad Dimpy smouldering into the camera. The tabloid said she was known for her bold scenes and a ‘hot number’ in the Bangla film Hello Memsaheb.

“She has told me everything about her past... it’s behind her now,” Mahajan says. “I don’t like people raising questions about my wife. She is my wife now and people should learn to respect her as Mrs Mahajan. I know who she is and I am proud of her.”

Mahajan adds that such reports were designed to malign his image. “I am used to such rumours, and they have stopped affecting me since I have gone through worse. First people spread rumours about me not getting married and now they are trying to portray it in a negative light,” he says, “We are happily married, so please just stop talking about my wife and leave us alone.”

Producer of Hello Memsaheb, Arijit Biswas, says Dimpy has a bold and go-getting attitude. “She is quite free in front of the camera. Her camera-friendly attitude will surely take her places,” he says.

Despite the wedding vows and drama quotient, Rahul Mahajan’s marriage on television with 21-year-old Dimpy Ganguly was unable to beat the popularity of Rakhi Ka Swayamvar, NDTV Imagine’s earlier show in 2009. According to aMap — an audience measurement and analytics company — Rakhi Ka Swayamvar had garnered a Television Rating Point (TRP) of 6.31, while Rahul Dulhaniya Le Jayega got a TRP of only 4.04.

The aMap data mean that the final episode of Sawant’s show was seen by 6.31 per cent of the TV viewing population during that time band, while only 4.04 per cent viewers saw the Mahajan show. Mahajan, son of a former minister in the Indian government, on Saturday got married in a ceremony broadcast live as part of the reality show.

However, Imagine maintains that Rahul Dulhaniya Le Jayega got more viewers than Rakhi Ka Swayamvar. Nikhil Madhok, VP-marketing of Imagine, said: "Our internal research says that Rahul Dulhaniya...has actually garnered more viewership than our earlier show Rakhi Ka Swayamvar. While Rahul’s show was aired six days a week, Rakhi’s show was on air for only five days a week. Also, with Rahul’s show we had kept two slots, one at 8 pm for smaller towns and a repeat at 11 pm for urban audiences. We are actually happy with the response and will be launching a few more celebrity reality shows in the near future."

aMap Chief Executive Officer Joseph Eapen said: "A TV rating of 4 is a great number for Rahul Dulhaniya... given the long duration of the programme and the competition it faced from National Bingo Night on Colors." Bingo got a TRP of 1.14 on Saturday.

Another celebrity show which was on air last week did not fare well. Data show that Living with a Superstar on Discovery Channel, which is a new 10-part documentary series on Shah Rukh Khan, garnered less than one per cent viewership for its first episode on February 26. However, Rajiv Bakshi, director-marketing of Discovery, said: "Our first episode was on the Budget day, when traditionally viewership of all non-news channels drops. But our internal research says our first episode witnessed viewership much more than that of any English language show aired that day during prime time." We have eight more episodes and we have a strong consumer campaign going on across all media platforms, added Bakshi.

Eapen of aMap feels on any given day the viewing share of a general entertainment channel (GEC) is 39-40 per cent but that of an infotainment channel is just 1.2-1.5 per cent. "Given this scenario, Living with a Superstar would have done much better on a GEC platform, as browsing on these are the maximum; it would have been more conducive for this programme," Eapen said.

Jehil Thakkar, head of media and entertainment, KPMG, said: "Celebrities are roped in for any show to attract eyeballs. For reality shows, there is no systematic reason for drop in viewership. For instance, while Kaun Banega Crorepati was a super hit, Shah Rukh Khan’s earlier reality show Paanchvi Paas did not do so well."

"I do not see any quantum jump in viewership going forward, unless the format of the show itself is changed. Living with a Superstar on Discovery is already a limited edition show and by the time word of mouth gets around, the show will be over," added Thakkar.

Farokh Balsara, partner with Ernst & Young, said, "Drop in TRPs is a function of multiple things. It depends on the timing of a show and what else is being aired at that time. It also depends on the placement of the channel, carriage fees paid to cable operators, as well as the clutter in the market. Today, several celebrity reality shows are being aired, even in regional language GECs."

New Delhi: A city court on Tuesday allowed Rahul Mahajan to leave the country to go on a honeymoon with his newly wedded wife.

Special judge JPS Malik granted Rahul the permission and released his passport. But he will need to furnish a surety bond of Rs 500,000 and register his marriage within two months.

Clad in a blue shirt, Rahul who was in the court, appeared pleased with the decision.

He married Dimpy Ganguly on a TV reality show on Sunday. Rahul, son of late senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Pramod Mahajan, in his March 5 application had said he wanted to "go to the Maldives and Ireland for his honeymoon on March 9 and stay there till March 30".

Rahul's passport has been in the court's custody since his trial in a drug abuse case in 2006 and he was not allowed to leave the country without the court's permission.

Rahul and his father's secretary Vivek Moitra were admitted to Apollo Hospital here June 2, 2006, after they allegedly consumed contraband drugs laced with alcohol at Pramod Mahajan's then official residence at 7, Safdarjung Road. Moitra died in hospital.

Rahul was let off drug trafficking charges, which entail a harsher punishment, but was booked for consumption of banned drugs.