Link-ups Old and New

Link-Ups Old and New • The Fairest Of Them All • Sold on Himself

Link-Ups Old and New • The Fairest Of Them All • Sold on Himself

Student of the Year star Varun Dhawan wasn’t exactly unprepared for tabloid rumours, having been raised in a film family and around other second and third generation filmi kids like Ranbir Kapoor and Arjun Kapoor. The actor, who has been previously linked to Alia Bhatt and Shradha Kapoor (he has denied being in a relationship with either), is now seeing Bipasha Basu if the gossip rags are to be trusted. “We had a good laugh about that,” Varun has said of such stories, which he insists are false.

Meanwhile Bipasha, who has made no efforts to hide or deny her own relationship with Harman Baweja, has also dismissed the link-up with Varun good-humouredly. The actress recently returned from London where she was shooting with ex Saif Ali Khan for Sajid Khan’s Humshakals, and managed to make time to hang out at the city’s hotspots with Harman during her time off from the set. The vibes between Bipasha and Saif (who famously ‘hit it off’ while filming Race some years ago, shortly before Saif and Kareena became an item) were warm and friendly, say unit members who were nervous initially about the stars’ comfort level. But comic scenes were canned without trouble and the pair appeared to have moved on gracefully.

In an industry where stars happily run each other down behind their backs while pretending to be great friends, it’s refreshing to know that there are still some people who can be counted on to say only what they really mean. Deepika Padukone, ex-girlfriend and blockbuster co-star of Ranbir Kapoor, has reportedly been telling off friends who thought they could share a laugh with her about the debacle of his latest film Besharam. “You’re being too harsh,” she has said to gossipmongers who delighted in discussing Ranbir’s fall from grace.

While she won’t defend the film (possibly because, as she told the film’s detractors, she hasn’t yet seen it), Deepika has repeatedly been saying it’s unfair to write off Ranbir, or to place the entire blame of the film’s failure on his shoulders. She remains uncharacteristically silent, though, when the subject shifts to the film’s leading lady, the underwhelming Pallavi Sharda, who Deepika again will not defend.

Close friends of the actress reveal that she’s in a good place both personally and professionally, and that she has resolved whatever grudges she held against Ranbir around the time of their break-up. “Which is why she doesn’t need to revel in his failure,” a source explains. In fact, she recognises that they make a saleable and exciting pair on screen (as was evident in Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani), and cannot wait to start working with him on Imtiaz Ali’s next, another love story.

A down-on-his luck actor who scored a surprise hit recently has decided to exploit the current success of his movie by hiring a shrewd publicist, and showing up just about anywhere that cameras are likely to be present.

Nothing wrong with that, given that the poor chap was more or less forgotten until now.

But the problem is, the gummy-smiled actor appears to have great delusions of his importance. He has insisted that his publicists negotiate a handful of magazine covers for him, and put him on all the top chat shows on television, aside from securing him invitations to every big bash in the city. Unfortunately for him, the only person who thinks his fate has truly turned is himself. His publicist has been screamed at for not delivering, and for failing to “milk my success”.

Not only do magazines not want him on their covers, they’re not exactly queuing up to interview him for inside stories either. The few journalists his publicist has been able to round up to interview him have apparently come away complaining that the actor invariably asks them to interview his girlfriend too, who is not only unconnected with films, but flat out boring as well.

The young fellow doesn’t even have another film on the cards, aside from a possible sequel to the hit he’s celebrating. His publicist has reportedly told him, gently, to expend his energies finding movies he can do, and that publicity would invariably follow. But the actor seems to have only one thing on his mind—waking up to pictures of himself in every tabloid and film glossy!

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Rajeev Masand

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