“I have no idea as to who the hell is spreading such baseless stories.” This was the first reaction of Radhika, singer--anchor Shaan’s wife, while commenting on a report published in a Mumbai newspaper about her insecurity related to actress Rimmi’s alleged show of intimacy with her husband, Shaan.

Reportedly, Radhika walked out on Shaan in a posh London restaurant when actress Rimmi got a little-too-close-for-comfort with him. Further, that Rimmi broke into common link language, Bengali, with Shaan and whispered sweet somethings into his ear (although Shaan claimed that they had barely met once before and hardly know each other) while ruffling his hair ? which caused his otherwise-cool wife to lose her temper and storm out of the venue.

“It’s true that she came up to Shaan to say ‘hello’ and whispered something to him in Bengali, but there wasn’t any kind of insecurity on my part. Why should there be? After all, Shaan and I make a perfect couple and we are very happy together,” clarifies Radhika emphasising that her marriage with Shaan is too solid to shake because of such baseless rumours.

“Rumours of an affair and stuff like that is actually silly and might be the work of some mischievous elements who are not happy about our great married life,” says Radhika in an angry tone. [Shaan is quoted as having said that Rimmi was in the habit of irking couples thus, because she was “jealous of them”.] Radhika added that she knew her husband “too well” and he was not going to fall for some sidey. Though she didn’t mention Rimmi directly, it was quite evident that she was very angry because of the fact that the Bengali actress sought to cash in on some cheap publicity out from this episode.

“Moreover, this incident took place some four months ago and what surprises me is the fact that these things are popping up now, after so long! This clearly means that someone is trying to create an unnecessary controversy out of it,” fumes Radhika.

Is Rimmi a family friend of theirs? Do they know her for some time which led to her acting too familiar with Shaan? “No, no, we do not know her at all,” Radhika claims. “Shaan isn’t even friendly with her. Don’t know what prompted her to come and talk to him.” Maybe the beer she was supposed to have glugged might have helped loosen up her friendly feelings? Did Rimmi came up to Shaan with a purpose? If Rimmi was not a close family friend, why did she playact with Shaan as one? Was it because she hasn’t been in the news after her recent flops?

And now that her film, Golmaal, is releasing, she might have been trying to generate some pre-release attention. Positive or negative, publicity always helps, as the Mumbai mantra goes. “I don’t know if she has given the statement for publicity or something else. But I would wish her all the best for her forthcoming films,” is all Radhika would say in reply. While Radhika was forthcoming about the controversy, Shaan chose to clam up. When contacted, he simply refused to talk about it. “No comment, just forget it,” said the popular singer regarded for his impeccable and amiable behaviour.

Similar was the case with Rimmi who went incommunicado. When we finally caught up with her, she refused to talk about the incident, insisting she didn’t want to say anything about it.

The question: If Rimmi was not responsible for the incident and for it being raked up months later, why was she not defending herself, or at least denying it? Maybe, mystery helps further. (Sampurn)