Two couples and a tutorial

Two Couples and a Tutorial • More Than Just a Filmi Friend •

The Envious Filmmaker The unit of Anurag Basu’s Jagga Jasoos is currently shooting in Cape Town, and photographs of Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif shopping on their day off from the set have already surfaced on the internet. The film’s leads are believed to have spent an afternoon browsing through a local mall, and didn’t flinch when desi fans spotted them hand-in-hand, or hankered for autographs and pictures. Fans noted that the couple was perfectly comfortable with the attention and made no effort to hide their closeness.

Meanwhile, in another part of the world, another star couple has reportedly been spotted getting cosy. Deepika Padukone apparently showed up in Barcelona a few days before the Dil Dhadakne Do unit sailed off on a cruise where they’ll shoot the chunk of the movie. Apparently DP and Ranveer Singh took in the sights and sounds of the city during his day off from work, although a source on the set reveals that the actress wasn’t shy about hanging out with the unit too. In an interview not long ago, Deepika told me she’d love to be an assistant on Zoya Akhtar’s set because “it’s the best script I’ve read”. She didn’t land up seeking an apprenticeship with the director, but Deepika does share a warm friendship with producers Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani, who she’s likely to work with again sometime in the near future.

Sonakshi Sinha brought in her 27th birthday last Sunday at Olive in Mumbai, and invited a gaggle of her filmi friends to party with her. Her Tevar co-star Arjun Kapoor, her Lootera director Vikramaditya Motwane, actor Sidharth Malhotra, model Niketan Madhok, and photographer Rohan Shrestha were among those spotted downing shots with the actress. Conspicuous by his absence, however, was Sonakshi’s R…Rajkumar co-star and “good friend” Shahid Kapoor, who, it is rumoured, took the actress for a late-night drive after her party.

A friend of Shahid’s reveals that the pair has become very close after working together, and that Shahid even advises Sonakshi on her career. It was the Haider hero who apparently recommended that Sonakshi sign up with the same talent management agency that handles his film and advertising work.

However, turns out there’s no truth to rumours that Sonakshi turned down the Akshay Kumar starrer Singh is Bling because Shahid was uncomfortable about her friendship with Akshay. In fact, she wasn’t even considered for the film, which Kareena Kapoor has now reportedly landed. The film’s producer, Ashvini Yardi, a friend of Sonakshi, wasn’t too keen to repeat the Akshay-Sonakshi pairing so soon after Holiday, and so didn’t even approach the actress for the role. She didn’t go to Katrina either, because that casting might suggest they were making a sequel to Singh Is Kinng, which this project isn’t.

Not long after his latest film bombed at the box-office, a prominent filmmaker was catching up with his team over drinks at his sprawling home recently. The seasoned chap appeared defeated, and eyewitnesses suspected that his mood was a result of the film’s dismal performance.

Over the course of the evening, the gathering grew more intimate. When the filmmaker was alone with his core group—his leading man, senior assistant directors and key crew members who have worked with him for years—it became clear that what was troubling him had nothing to do with the fate of the film.

The filmmaker, who has been routinely linked romantically with many of the actresses he worked with, was apparently upset that the film was now done, and with it he’d lost any opportunity to ‘get close’ to his latest leading lady. In a moment that some described as desperate, others pathetic, the gentleman in question leaned over to his leading man and allegedly whispered (loudly enough for the group to hear), “Tu ne uski li kya?” (Did you have her?) As it turns out, he was all cut up over the possibility that his lead actor had had a fling with her, but he hadn’t had a chance to get close. Yeesh!

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Rajeev Masand

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