Shah Rukh Khan: “Their (Columbia Tristar and Bhansali’s) ploy is to piggyback on OSO to make Saawariya seem as big as my film. But they have made a big mistake. You can’t take a couple of 17-year-olds and make them run against me…It’ll be disastrous for them…Don’t they know I’ll finish them?”

Sanjay Leela Bhansali: “Telling jokes is not my definition of film-making…The money that I’ve spent on my film shows. I didn’t spend the money on costumes for 40 stars…Who are you (SRK) to destroy them (the Saawariya team)? Do we eat off your plate? Have we made the film with your money?”

And so, long after Om Shanti Om and Saawariya have come and done what they had to do in the theatres, their makers are still milking every ounce of public attention that they can garner for their films.

It’s a fair bet that after all this, next year this time, if you ask Shah Rukh Khan or Sanjay Leela Bhansali about their bitter rivalry, they’ll say it was all media manufactured!

Like Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan maintain to this day. What started off two years ago as Amar Singh’s boorish reaction to a foul-up in the seating arrangements where Amitabh Bachchan was ushered into a seat in the ‘E’ row at an awards function has now begun to emanate a political odour. That Subroto Roy of Sahara chose to fly out Shah Rukh in his private jet and have the Moranis organise a show for him recently in Lucknow with Rajiv Shukla of the Congress as an honourable invitee, while he pointedly left Amar Singh and the Bachchans out of his guest list, makes the political stand-off pretty clear. It’s Bachchan and Amar Singh on one side and Shah Rukh with Rajiv Shukla on the other side of the fence.

That the two Bachchan men and Shah Rukh Khan are civil with each other when they meet is no proof that the rivalry does not exist. Watch them a couple of months from now when the awards season starts. You’ll see Papa Bachchan rooting for son’s Guru while Shah Rukh will pull out the stops for Chak De! India. It has already started with Abhishek Bachchan, who has not given a single formal interview after his marriage, granting an exclusive to Filmfare, precisely a month before nominations begin for the next round of awards! But ask Bachchan or Khan about their intense one-upmanship and they’ll tell you that it exists only in the minds of the media.

Sanjay Dutt and his former buddy Sanjay Gupta have fallen out, ever since the actor discovered that huge sums of money had gone unaccounted. Dutt pulled out of White Feather Films, the film-making company the two Sanjays set up together. He has started Sanjay Dutt Productions and, before going behind bars, he had personal one-to-one chats with several actors and directors to make a movie for his new banner. But he has not asked Sanjay Gupta to make one for him. But ask either of the Sanjays about their parting of ways and they’ll assure you that they’re still great pals.

At a private, star-studded screening of Om Shanti Om at Yashraj Studios, producer Gauri Khan did not have Juhi Chawla on her list. Karan Johar, Saif Ali Khan and Kareena were there. Everybody had arrived. But Shah Rukh wouldn’t start the show until buddy Juhi arrived. Ask any of the parties involved in this and they’ll tell you that Gauri and Juhi don’t have any differences at all. The media has such a fertile imagination.

Today, Kareena is on a patching-up spree. Kareena and Saif made a surprise entry at the premiere of Saawariya. It was a Kapoor khandaan event and Kareena-Karisma are persona non grata at family gatherings. But Kareena’s dazzling presence and grace in wishing cousin Ranbir Kapoor melted the ill-will of the past. Actually, there was never any ill-will. But blood is thicker than water. And the media is the water out here!

Hey, psst!

Can’t believe this one. JP Dutta who had promised not to make another movie if Umrao Jaan flopped, has gone back on his word. He’s not just making a new film but is also grooming daughter Nidhi to face the camera. The word is out that Nidhi is learning kathak and is getting ready to be launched as an actress by her doting dad.

Bharathi S. Pradhan is managing editor of Movie Mag International