Why Rani Mukerji is becoming a recluse

Heart of the matter

For the last month, rumours have been swirling about Athiya Shetty and Arjun Kapoor being Bollywood’s newest item. It all started with a party at director Punit Malhotra’s pad in early March, where the young'uns are said to have hung out together all night.

Only the 30-year-old Ki & Ka actor has a different story. “Athiya is my sister’s friend. I have known her for a long time. I think people are just surprised to see that we know each other,” Arjun told me earlier this week. In just four years, Arjun’s become such a veteran of hook-up rumours that he’s learnt to laugh at them. “Athiya and I will be linked up until they find the next person to hitch us up with. I have learnt to never let these things hamper by relationships or how I live my life.”

If there is one person he wouldn't mind being linked to, who would it be? “Charlize Theron,” pat comes the reply. “I have always loved her and after Mad Max, I have become a complete fan boy,” he confesses with a laugh. Considering Arjun even loves Charlize’s bald avatar, it really must be love.

Doting mom

Rani Mukerji and Aditya Chopra have always been very low-key. So, it wasn’t surprising when the couple, along with their four-month-old daughter Adira, decided to fly out of the country to celebrate Rani’s 38th birthday last week.

Except now one hears that the impromptu getaway was planned so that Rani could continue to keep Adira away from the public eye. “She didn’t want people to come home to wish her because that would mean them meeting Adira. Rani wants her all to herself for a little while longer,” says a friend of family.

A very hands-on mother, Rani has barely stepped away from Adira in the last few months. The only time she’s been spotted in public since the birth of Adira was just days before her birthday. Rani visited Karan Johar’s pad in Bandra to wish his mother on her birthday.

“Rani is very fond of Hiroo aunty, and if she is in town, she’s always wished her personally. This year Rani dropped in but didn’t stay for the party because she wanted to get back to Adira,” adds the friend. Once the couple gets back from this birthday holiday, they’ll fly to Paris where Adi will start shooting Befikre with Vaani Kapoor and Ranveer Singh.

Out in the open

This Bollywood khandaan seems to be in the middle of what can only be described as a divorce epidemic. After months of speculation, one couple from the family has finally admitted that they are separated. By issuing a statement last week, they have managed to hang on to some semblance of dignity in what was promising to be a messy situation.

The other couple, who are not as high profile, also seem to be heading slowly but surely towards ending their marriage. The wife has already hired a divorce attorney while the husband doesn’t feel the need to be discreet about spending time with his girlfriend any more.

She lives in a filmi neighbourhood, so in the initial months the brawny actor-director-producer never used his own cars to travel to her home. He could have friends drop him, use his family members’ cars or even Uber it. But not any more. These days, it’s very common to see his huge SUV parked in her building compound at all hours of the day. In these tough times, the birth of a grandson seems to have brought some happiness to the elders of the khandaan.