A New Alliance

A New Alliance • PDA Publicity • Harsh Lessons

It’s been the subject of Bollywood gossip for a year now, but last week, when Salman Khan appeared as a guest on the first episode of a new season of Karan Johar’s Koffee With Karan, it became clear to anyone who had doubts that the long friendship between Shah Rukh Khan and his Kuch Kuch Hota Hai director was indeed over. Karan, who has long considered SRK his lucky mascot, had his favourite actor open previous seasons of his show, and on one occasion, when Shah Rukh was travelling, Karan had him record a special video message that was played during a season premiere.

But roping in Salman Khan to open this season—with nary a message from SRK in sight—is being viewed as a deliberate move on Karan’s part, a way to tell the world that he’s moved on. Salman and Shah Rukh, who famously fell out a few years ago when they got into a heated argument at Salman’s then-girlfriend Katrina Kaif’s birthday party, continue to maintain a safe distance from each other. And, as Salman explained on Karan’s show, the embrace he extended to SRK at an Iftaar party some months ago shouldn’t be construed as an olive branch or a sign that the two actors have gone back to being thick friends.

More interesting were Salman’s sly digs at ‘it boy’ Ranbir Kapoor, who is currently dating Katrina. What was pleasantly surprising to note was the vulnerability Salman revealed while talking about Ranbir and Katrina. When explaining to Karan that he looked forward to working with him in the future, Salman remembered that Karan had in fact signed Ranbir for his next film. “He’s taking away everything,” Salman joked of the Barfi star.

Deepika Padukone is not pleased that the media has misinterpreted Cocktail director Homi Adajania’s affection for her as a drunken come-on. The famously bindaas filmmaker openly lavished kisses on his leading lady for photographers gathered outside a Mumbai lounge where they were celebrating the completion of their new film Finding Fanny Fernandes with the rest of the unit. Tabloids quickly jumped to the conclusion that Homi had had a little too much to drink, and was making Deepika uncomfortable with the PDA, but eyewitnesses insist he was intentionally putting on a show for lensmen.

Deepika has reportedly laughed off stories that she’s miffed with Homi, insisting to friends that she remains very close friends with the director and his fashion stylist missus Anaita Shroff. Moreso, Deepika’s boyfriend Ranveer Singh was himself at the do, and appeared amused at Homi’s attention-grabbing antics.

A young male star coming off a good year at the movies (of his two releases in 2013, one was a big box-office success, the other didn’t make much money but earned him mostly positive reviews), is now being seen as a possible rival to a popular star-kid who until recently was perceived as the only up-and-comer with superstar potential. Both actors share a cordial friendship, have partied together in the past, and aren’t in the least bit awkward about the fact that one is dating an actress that the other used to date.

If the rising star does have issues, it’s not with the star-kid but with one of his directors. Turns out this filmmaker, popularly regarded as the poster-boy of indie cinema, had promised the rising star the lead in his epic period film, which he subsequently signed the star-kid to act in. The rising star has told friends he was disappointed when he learnt he’d been dropped from the project, but more upset that he found out from the press and not from the filmmaker who owed him an explanation.

Another project, a proposed Hindi remake of a popular Telugu blockbuster, that was reportedly being planned with him in the lead and produced by a company in which the same filmmaker is a partner, did not eventually materialise. In fact, another A-lister’s name got attached to the movie, and once again the rising star discovered this in the papers. The remake hasn’t taken shape at all, and it seems unlikely that it will. But the young actor has confessed to his dear ones that experiences of this nature taught him early on that the film industry could be a tough place.

The young star shares a very close friendship with the filmmaker’s business partner, another director, with whom he recently made a movie. But he can’t seem to get over this “betrayal” that has made him “wiser” and “more cautious” in his own words.

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Rajeev Masand

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