Ram Murti appeals to Bollywood stars

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">DEHLAN, Una: Ram Murti has appealed to Bollywood superstars to help free his son Antaryami and the two other Indians held hostage in Iraq.<br /><br />He was talking to <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">TNN </span>here as the Iraqi tribal leader negotiating the release of the three truck drivers was also reported to have said that they could come closer to freedom if Bollywood superstars Asha Parekh, Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra appeared on television and requested the captors to free the three men.<br /><br />Ram Murti spoke to all the three stars and urged them to felicitate the release of the three.<br /><br />Meanwhile, Joginder, brother of Tilak Raj, the other hostage from Una, reached Dharampur from Mumbai.He said he came to know of his brother''s abduction only a couple of days ago.<br /><br />Meanwhile, Iraqi negotiator Sheikh Hishm al-Dulaimi was quoted as telling <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Outlook</span> magazine that "If Indian actors like Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra go on TV and request not only me but the kidnappers and other Iraqis to solve the story, then the drivers could be released."<br /><br />Bachchan and Dharmendra have played in Hindi cinema''s action sagas and bittersweet dramas for decades, often starring together, developing a massive fan base that has crossed geographic and linguistic boundaries.<br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><br />Dharmendra is an MP. Bachchan remains India''s top film star at 61.<br /><br />Dulaimi said his favourite Hindi actress was Asha Parekh, Bollywood''s "dancing queen" of the 1960s. "The hostages would be released today itself. If she calls me herself, that''s what will happen," he said.<br /><br />Asked about the mediator''s call for Bollywood intervention, Indian junior foreign minister Edappakath Ahamed told <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Outlook</span>: “We haven''t been told anything about it yet.�<br /><br />Dulaimi is trying to secure the release of the three Indian truck drivers—Antaryami, Tilak Raj and Sukhdev Singh -- who were kidnapped with three Kenyans and one Egyptian on July 21.<br /><br />The previously unknown Islamic Secret Army-Holders the Black Banners group has threatened to kill the hostages unless their employer, the Kuwait and Gulf Link Company Limited, pulls out of Iraq.<br /><br />The militants also demanded that Iraqi detainees be freed from US and Kuwaiti prisons and that damages be paid to families victims in Fallujah.</div> </div>