All of a sudden, Yash Raj Films, the venerable film-making banner, is in the limelight for anything other than its movies.

However, the production house is so renowned for closing ranks and shutting its gates, that all the information splashed all over prime time television and the Internet, is traced to unnamed sources.

This summer, Rani Mukerji had insisted on treating herself to a lavish holiday by flying all the Mukerjis (six, at last count) to London and checking into St James Court Hotel. Half of Bollywood was there for IIFA but since Amitabh Bachchan is its brand ambassador and the guest list had to be vetted by the B family, obviously Rani didn’t figure anywhere on it. St James Court was bursting at its seams and they were quoting a premium summer rate (reportedly, over £1,000 per night) but Rani lived up to her name by spending like one. Yup, although the Bachchans were at the same hotel, the actress held her head high and walked right in for her personal vacation.

Of course, a little bird twittered that Aditya Chopra was also missing from the country around the same time!

Once a warm and friendly girl, Rani Mukerji has turned into one of the most secretive girls in the Hindi film industry. Perhaps she has much to hide. It was the same scenario when she was seeing the much-married Govinda. Even her closest co-stars used to crib that she was so sly, she didn’t let slip any piece of information about her after-shoot associations.

After Govinda returned to wife Sunita, Rani found the perfect partner in the paranoid Aditya Chopra who treats his life like a Fort Knox password. And so, the Rani-Aditya love story remained a subject based solely on speculation, with neither sharing even a whisper with any third person.

The confirmation came in a circuitous manner when Aditya Chopra’s marriage to Payal broke up last year. It was acrimonious because his own parents adored their daughter-in-law and had their fingers crossed that Adi’s demand for a divorce would turn out to be only a passing phase. But it turned ugly when Aditya Chopra left home and moved into a hotel, stubbornly refusing to return until Payal had physically made her exit from the Juhu bungalow.

It was peaceful for a while with Payal moving into a spacious apartment of her own, funded by the Chopras of course. But a little while ago, one heard rumblings that the divorce settlement had not been reached because Payal wanted to take Adi to the cleaners and he was adamant about not parting with that many big ‘C’s. The Adi-Payal divorce is therefore still to be settled.

All through this turbulence, Yash and Pamela Chopra kept in touch with their daughter-in-law. In fact, just a month ago, they made it a point to attend the opening of a new place only because Payal had done the interiors.

Now comes the information that Adi and Rani are impatient to be betrothed and wed. Which is causing high-level embarrassment to his parents since Payal has not divorced Aditya. There are fissures in the Yash Raj family with Yash and his son not even on speaking terms now.

What is a fact is that Yash Chopra does not agree with Aditya Chopra over divorcing Payal.

But how much truth is there in the rest of it?

Very loyally, a close Yashraj associate called the engagement news “rubbish”. Another friend came up with this explanation: Right now, the filming of Pradeep Sarkar’s Laga Chunari Mein Daag is going on at Yashraj Studios and what they’re canning is a Konkona Sen-Kunal Kapoor wedding scene. Since Rani Mukerji plays Koko’s sister in the film, she’s also dressed to the hilt, looking almost like the bride herself.

Looking at her glowing thus, somebody has put two and two together and come up with the story that Rani was getting secretly engaged to Adi!

Hey, psst!

John Abraham is in the South shooting for Nagesh Kukunoor’s Aashayen. Sources have it that he plays the role of a terminally ill patient (somewhat like Rajesh Khanna in Anand) and, for that touch of authenticity, he will be losing weight steadily. Laughs the insider, since Bipasha and John are keeping mum about their split, there will soon be stories that the actor has gone into a depression and has even lost weight alarmingly!

Bharathi S. Pradhan is managing editor of Movie Mag International