MUMBAI: Dad Rishi Kapoor fumed after actresses Deepika Padukone and Sonam Kapoor gossiped breezily about his son Ranbir Kapoor with director Karan Johar on his chat show. The senior actor has now threatened to ensure that nobody from the Kapoor khandaan works with Karan. Some years ago, Salman Khan and Aishwarya scorched the screen as the lovelorn couple in ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’.
The two were to pair up again for Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Baji Rao Mastani’, but when they split, working with her ex-boyfriend was out of bounds for the light-eyed beauty.
It’s virtually impossible to bring former lovebirds together for a film. Besides Salman, Aishwarya will not be seen with ex-boyfriend Vivek Oberoi. And reportedly Kareena has replaced Salman’s ex-girlfriend Katrina in Khan’s home production ‘My Love Story’. “It’s unlikely Salman-Katrina will come together for a film. The press won’t let them breathe free,” says a veteran film journalist.
“But, is it humanly possible to do intimate scenes with an ex. Besides the awkwardness that a camera can capture, the shared history would make for tabloid fodder,” he adds.
In Hollywood, former couples Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz took the mature road after ending their romance, going on to film ‘Bad Teacher’ together. Drew Barrymore even believed that her relationship with on-off boyfriend Justin Long helped their chemistry in the movie ‘Going the Distance’.
It was only Madhubala who managed to do love scenes with Dilip Kumar in ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ though they were not on talking terms then. About six years ago, filmmaker Suneel Darshan put up elaborate sets for picturising a song for his film ‘Barsaat’, with Akshay Kumar and Priyanka Chopra, the hit pair of ‘Andaaz’, ‘Mujhse Shaadi Karoge’, ‘Aitraaz’ and ‘Waqt’. But after rumours of an affair between the married actor and his co-actor, Suneel was forced to replace the cast once they pulled out.
He says, I had planned the film with Akshay and then had to jump to the first available star.
So much time and money went into it. Producer-actor Arbaaz Khan points out that stars usually cite date problems, a discomfort with the role or quote an exorbitant price to opt out of the project. When shooting with an ex, it can get awkward to watch the other move on.
Harman Baweja spoke out on his angst to a tabloid during the filming of ‘What’s Your Raashee’ as he watched ex-girlfriend Priyanka Kapoor exchange text messages with Shahid Kapoor. For ‘Milenge Milenge’, Shahid and Kareena avoided shooting together for the patchwork scenes of this much delayed film, which became a disaster. Apparently, Kareena also refused to promote the film.
Romance is not always the reason that keeps stars from sharing screen space. It’s highly unlikely that Kareena and Abhishek Bachchan, who made their debut together, will be cast again due to bitterness after Abhishek’s engagement with the former’s sister Karisma ended. There were whispers of an affair with co-star Hrithik Roshan too early in their career and rising star Ranbir is a cousin.
This may not leave Kareena with too many options of working with the younger heroes, but it has definitely worked in her favour as she has bagged some prestigious projects with the older Khans (Shah Rukh, Salman and Aamir).
Then, of course, there are stars who wouldn’t even want to be in the same room together. For instance, Salman Khan avoids Vivek and keeps a distance from Shah Rukh Khan after the face-off at Katrina’s birthday bash. Filmmaker Subhash Ghai buried his longstanding feud with Salman and worked with him in ‘Yuvraaj’ two years ago. Ghai also managed to bring together stalwarts Dilip Kumar and Raaj Kumar, who had differences for almost 35 years, in ‘Saudagar’ in the early 90s.
Decades ago, differences between Amitabh Bachchan and Shatrughan Sinha created casting problems for filmmakers when Sinhas quote; “Amitabh Bachchan gets nervous in front of me…,” was splashed in magazines. The two Bengali tigresses Raakhee and Sharmila Tagore couldn’t see eye to eye during the making of ‘Daag’. Sharmila had become Gulzars favourite then, and Raakhee couldn’t digest this.
Many second lead actors at times walk away with accolades, giving a complex to the lead pair. Comedian Mehmood was a scene stealer in film after film and had a huge fan following. My career dipped because I would outshine heroes, he once said. Recently, Irrfan Khan commented that many heroes avoided working with him. Nothings changed!
Director Siddharth Malhotra adds, “One can achieve the impossible if one is willing to take the risk. I am sure Ranbir-Deepika, Abhishek-Rani and Abhishek-Kareena will some day come together. Time heals wounds people mature.” Of course, as in politics, there are no permanent friends or foes in Bollywood!
