Role Call

Island of Insecurities • The Fight for Deepika • A Well Choreographed  Party

When Ranveer Singh left the premiere of Kai Po Che at its intermission last week, it expectedly set many tongues wagging. Sure, there is a simple explanation for this—he had an early morning flight the next day to Kolkata, where he was to resume shooting Gunday—but industrywalas are wondering if there might be more to it.

Ranveer was spotted playing musical chairs, thrice changing his seat, during the first half of the film. At first, he was sitting beside TV star Sushant Singh Rajput, one of the three leading men of Kai Po Che. Then, he moved next to casting director Shanoo Sharma. And later, when he noticed old friend and director Shaad Ali, he switched to an empty seat beside him. But the actor slipped out when the lights came on. (Hrithik Roshan, meanwhile, who showed up for the premiere well before the film’s cast had arrived, stayed till he had watched the entire film).

Gossip mongers have been quick to find a more juicy explanation for Ranveer’s behaviour. According to some, the actor suffered pangs of insecurity while watching Sushant on screen. It is being said that Ranveer’s ego may have taken a beating since his mentor Aditya Chopra signed up Sushant for a Yash Raj Films project a few months ago. Ranveer, who was until recently the blue-eyed boy of Aditya, who launched his acting career in Band Baaja Baaraat, is reportedly less than pleased that his producer has now added Arjun Kapoor, Ayushmann Khurrana and Sushant to the YRF talent roster, making Ranveer no longer the studio’s sole racehorse.

For all practical purposes, film directors Rohit Shetty and Sanjay Leela Bhansali are fighting over Deepika Padukone. It turns out that Shetty’s Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Chennai Express is currently running behind schedule and the filmmaker needs 10 more shooting days of his leading lady. But Deepika has apparently committed those dates to Bhansali’s Ram Leela, which she dives right back into after wrapping this schedule of Shetty’s comedy.

To sort out the issue, a meeting was reportedly called a few weeks ago between a representative each from Shetty and Bhansali’s teams, a third one from Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies outfit, and a fourth from Deepika’s talent management agency. When Bhansali’s guy explained their predicament—it was hard to give dates to Shetty since these were combined dates with leading man Ranveer Singh, who is also busy with other projects—Shetty’s rep allegedly lost his cool and cursed Bhansali’s man.

The meeting was quickly disbanded. When Bhansali learnt of what had transpired, he insisted there was no way he was going to even consider helping Shetty out anymore. Shah Rukh, who’s producing Chennai Express, decided not to get involved, having recently patched up with his Devdas director after a long cold war. Shetty, meanwhile, won’t get off his high horse and apologise to Bhansali on behalf of his assistant.

So, Deepika is in an awkward position, with no idea how to resolve the issue. Currently filming in Wai with Shetty and Shah Rukh, she will likely move on to Bhansali’s film, leaving the two filmmakers to sort out the mess for themselves.

It was a case of carefully timed arrivals at the 50th birthday party of a prominent filmmaker last Sunday. As many as four significant actresses showed up over the course of the evening, but their ins and outs seemed to have been surprisingly well planned. Among the first to show up was an A-lister whose former boyfriend once tried hard to persuade the birthday boy director to cast her in a film, but without much success. At the party, the actress hung out mostly with another top filmmaker and her male co-star in an upcoming action romance who has worked with the birthday boy director previously. This group left shortly after the cake was cut, making way for the next set of starry arrivals.

The director’s muse of three films turned up a little before midnight with her actor husband and chatted warmly with the filmmaker’s current leading lady, who walked in around midnight after a long drive from an out-of-city location where she’s shooting. Last to arrive was another top actress who has been signed up for a sports biopic the filmmaker is producing. Eyewitnesses say she was friendly with the director’s current heroine, but exchanged distant vibes with the married actress.

Conspicuous by their absence were most of the director’s leading men. His current star was filming out of town, an actor he launched a few years ago was also unavailable. Most surprising, however, was the no-show by the Numero Uno superstar he’s worked with thrice in his career—who was very much in the city and lives only a stone’s throw away from the party venue.

Deepika PadukoneRanveer SinghSushant Singh Rajput