How Kajol and Karan Johar kissed and made up

Starry Starry Night

Bollywood parties are the perfect setting to see the real dynamics between our shiniest stars – who snubbed whom, who spent the night whispering sweet nothings to each other, and... who left together at the end of the night?

At a recent Diwali party, jaws dropped when two A-listers drove out of the venue together. The actor is a superstar who has been playing the field since his long-standing relationship disintegrated last year. His equally good-looking companion for the evening was an actress riding high on her recent success. The actress, who has been in a committed relationship for almost two years, was flying solo on the night of the party because her actor beau skipped the Diwali do. Yes, of course, the duo could have left together to discuss work but then again, they are yet to be paired with each other by any filmmaker. So...

Homebound

Remember I told you about how Kareena and Saif were planning on heading to Reykjavik to see the Northern Lights last month. It seems like they decided to take a rain check and spend more time at Saif’s ancestral home in Pataudi. "I really think we are going to holiday more and more in Pataudi now. Kareena also loves it here and I want to be around because the renovations are going on. I want to get more involved with the locals...support sports and education,” Saif told me recently when we spoke. What about checking "seeing the Northern Lights" off their bucket list? "Oh, we will definitely do that soon. I’ve waited a long time." With Saif getting busy with the promotions for Happy Ending and Kareena shooting Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Saifeena will now only take a break at the end of the year. As is tradition with the couple, they’ll head to Gstaad in the Swiss Alps to bring in the new year.

Govinda’s Struggles

Talking of Saif, his Happy Ending co-star Govinda is having a tough time wrapping his head around how much film promotions have changed in the period that he was away. Apart from the romcom with Saif, Govinda also has YRF’s Kill/Dill on release this month. Recently, the film’s marketing team landed up at the actor’s Juhu bungalow for a meeting. On the agenda was to explain the concept of viral videos to the veteran actor and to convince him to do one. With everyone from Shah Rukh Khan to Alia Bhatt and even Sharman Joshi participating in videos that have gone viral in recent months, the team wanted to add another dimension to their marketing strategy.

After a short spiel, they showed Govinda Shah Rukh’s Barely Speaking with Arnub that was made by folks at The Viral Fever and Alia’s very funny Genius of The Year by All India Bakchod. Not impressed with either, Govinda suggested that he will write and shoot the video himself. And, that’s where all discussions ended. Last heard, the team at YRF are still trying to figure out how to explain the big bad world of the internet to Hero No 1.

Faking It

It’s an open secret that producers and publicists manufacture romances and controversies to sell their film. In most cases, the actors in question have some chemistry off-screen and happily go along with fabricated news. But not this young’un who is being linked up with his co-star. Their film releases only next year but rumours of the couple being an item started as soon as they got on the set. Apparently the film’s producer, who also happens to be related to the leading man wants to present a "garma garam film" to distributors. And, to old-fashioned producers nothing spells "garma garam" like a hook up. So, the poor hero has had no choice but to suck it up and go with his producer’s wishes. Like they say in Bollywood, publicity ke liye kuch bhi karega.

All Iss Well

It seems like the patch-up between Kajol and bestie Karan Johar is actually for real. After almost a year of cold war between them, Kajol and KJo were seen laughing and chatting at the inauguration of the HN Reliance Foundation Hospital in Mumbai recently. This was quite an improvement from the Manish Malhotra fashion show in August this year where they looked through each other. The two friends, who share a friendship that goes as far back as the shoot for Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayege, are making an effort to repair their relationship. Last week, Kajol dropped into Karan’s Dharma Productions office in Khar. Apparently she was in the area and just dropped in for a chat. It’s always good to see friends bury the hatchet.