Why Imran Skipped Ranbir’s Do

Why Imran Skipped Ranbir’s Do • Avoiding Jackky Bhagnani • Another Affair in the Family

That Ranbir Kapoor threw a party last week is stale news. The guest list seems to have gone public too, with pictures of his filmi friends entering the party having made it to the tabloids already. Shahid Kapoor was there, Ranveer Singh and Anushka Sharma were there, Angela Johnson (alleged to be Ranbir’s new flame) was spotted, Karan Johar showed up too. But missing from the impromptu celebrations were Imran Khan, Deepika Padukone, Katrina Kaif and Sonam Kapoor, all of whom had been invited, apparently.

A conspiracy theory doing the rounds is that Imran, Deepika and Sonam may have consulted with each other and decided not to turn up for Ranbir’s party. It seems they were aware that photographers and TV channels would be staked outside his Bandra home, and the next morning pictures would be splashed in the papers.

Imran, it appears, hasn’t forgiven Ranbir for the spate of negative stories he believes the Kapoor kid’s gang planted against him recently. Deepika and Sonam are still reeling from the tirade Rishi Kapoor went on, questioning their upbringing, after they made jokes about his son on that now infamous Koffee With Karan episode. A source tells us that the three stars felt showing up for Ranbir’s party would be seen as confirming his repeated claims that there is no tension in his relationship with these actors. They didn’t want to look like fools for partying with the same guy they’re meant to be pissed off with. And hence decided not to go at all.

Jackky Bhagnani and his producer father Vashu haven’t stopped smiling since the box-office collections of Faltu came in. The film may not have broken any records, but its moderate success has surprised Bollywood. Now they’re working towards putting together a foolproof follow-up project.

First step in that direction—hiring a director who has his finger on the nation’s pulse. Vashu is believed to have zeroed in on Jab We Met director Imtiaz Ali, who’s currently putting final touches on his Ranbir Kapoor vehicle Rockstar. Awkward about telling the producer-father duo that he had little interest in making a movie with Jackky, Imtiaz allegedly quoted a whopping Rs 12 crore directing fee to Vashu, who got the message loud and clear. The hunt for a willing director continues.

Kareena Kapoor was the next stop for Vashu, who was reportedly keen to sign her opposite his son. Having worked with Kareena since as far back as Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai, the producer was hopeful. But, as the story goes when Kareena found out why Vashu had been repeatedly calling her ,she panicked… and came up with a smart plan. Days later, at a press conference, Kareena mentioned to the media how pleased she was that her “bhaiyya” Jackky’s film was doing well at the box-office, thus nixing whatever dreams Vashu had of pairing the actress opposite his son as a romantic lead.

Now one hears the Bhagnanis have set their sights on Anushka Sharma. It appears that both father and son have been making repeated calls to the actress, trying to pin her down for a script narration. But Anushka (who has at least two Yash Raj Films projects in her kitty, and a good shot at landing Ayan Mukherji’s next opposite Ranbir) has been deftly avoiding the baap-beta duo, claiming that she’s been shooting round the clock all week.

The star wives’ club in Bollywood has been gossiping lately about this once-popular male star, married and father of two kids, whose marriage has reportedly hit the rocks. It appears that the actor has been in a serious relationship with a divorced woman he met last year while shooting for a film in the north. The lady in question is mother to a teenage girl, and belongs to a business family. Word on the street is that she’s drop-dead gorgeous. The actor’s wife hails from a prominent business family in Mumbai, and recently inherited a neat fortune. Apparently she is aware of her husband’s relationship, but has chosen to turn a blind eye to his indiscretions. Friends of the actor say he is besotted with the new woman in his life, but he’s made it clear that he won’t leave his family. Extra-marital relationships aren’t uncommon in this actor’s family. He isn’t the first man in that house to get into a serious romantic relationship beyond his marriage.

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Rajeev Masand

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