Rumours of the Barbara Mori-Hrithik Roshan romance will continue till the release of Rakesh Roshan’s Kites later this year.Despite vehement denials from the lead actor and interviews to the media from his wife of eight years — the usually reticent Sussanne Khan saying, “Hrithik, Barbara and I are friends’’ — the lead pair of Kites will continue to be discussed in bedrooms and make-up vans, and even provide material for a good publicity campaign for the desi version of Dirty Dancing.
But that’s all it will be. Hrithik Roshan and Sussanne Khan are definitely not heading for a split. Reports have it that the light-eyed actor has even promised his wife that once Kites (their home production) is completed, he will disassociate himself from the Latino bombshell even professionally. So Kites may well be the first and last film in which these two actors will be seen together. Pssst: insiders say that Sussanne has reportedly issued an ultimatum to that effect.
Coming to the point of the story: film wives (like the proverb suggests) may be the last to know about the various romantic link-ups involving their husbands. Most rumours are even dismissed as a figment of the media’s fertile imagination. But don’t be fooled. These ladies know exactly who it is that they have to axe from their famous actor-husbands’ list of leading ladies.
Let’s take a walk through Bollywood history. Look at the example of the best screen pair ever — Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha. There were hushed whispers about the superstar of the ’70s and ’80s and several of his heroines, but his wife Jaya Bachchan deleted just one heroine’s name from that long list. Film-makers have gone grey but haven’t succeeded in getting the magical Silsila pair back on the silver screen, much to the disappointment of their fans.
There are examples galore in every decade of film wives standing their ground and getting rid of that one heroine who has made her the most uncomfortable. That is why Ajay Devgan never worked again with Mahima Chaudhary, though they’re both fantastic actors; Akshay Kumar will not team up with Priyanka Chopra and Sunny Deol didn’t team up with Raveena Tandon after Ziddi and Salaankhein.
The common link here is that in all these cases, the wives or their long-standing girlfriends (almost as good as a wife) have said no to their men teaming up with these women, however hot the pair may be. Or, however delectable the BO earnings have proved to be.
