In 2008, a tabloid ran a story that Malaika Arora and Arbaaz Khan, who had been happily married for decade then, were splitting up. A few days later, at an event to promote a skin cream, they made a show of renewing their ties. It was found that they had been party to a publicity stunt to promote the product and people were shocked that they should use their relationship with such opportunism. 
Almost eight years later, it is therefore ironic that the two have now really decided to separate. This follows rumours chasing them for many months now saying just as much. And this time it won’t be a publicity stunt. Malaika and Arbaaz released a joint statement in a newspaper announcing the split. They wrote, “We have maintained a dignified silence till now but it is causing us too much confusion and is disturbing for our families.... Yes, it’s true that we are separated, but where our lives go and what transpires between us, it is for us to decide. Wherever it goes from here, we will talk about it when we are ready to.” 
The statement also said that the reason for the split was not a relationship between Malaika and a businessman or because her in-laws disapproved of her lifestyle or because her husband was financially instable, as had been speculated. 
Their family members are also still adjusting to the news apparently. Malaika’s sister Amrita Arora put up a group photo on Instagram of many member of the family including the couple, Arbaaz’s younger brother Sohail Khan, his wife and Amrita herself, along with these lines: “There is no such thing as a ‘broken family’… Family is family.” But then she decided that she needed to change it and instead there were just two words, ‘Good times’. 
There has been also another set of rumours emanating from the same family. It is said that Sohail and his wife, Seema, are also going through troubled times. And the reason is alleged to be an affair he is having with the actress Huma Qureshi. Both Seema and Huma have denied that there is anything going on but all sorts of news like Seema leaving the house has been reported. These are testing times for the Khan family. What eldest brother Salman feels about all this is not known yet.


Cricket troubles

Anushka Sharma continues to feel the heat of what it means to be in a relationship with an Indian cricketing icon. She was dating the India Test team captain Virat Kohli, when a fall in his performance started to make trolls over the Internet blame her presence in the touring team for it. 
She subsequently broke up with Virat and you would have thought that was the end of being a target for such viciousness, but alas no. When Virat’s popularity suddenly leapt up following a series of great innings during the World T20 Championship that was being held in the country, the trolls again began to hound her, by saying that it was good that the break up happened and that was the reason for Virat’s return to form. It led to Virat putting up Tweet that lambasted those who were doing this. He wrote, ‘Shame on people for trolling @AnushkaSharma non-stop. Have some compassion. She has always only given me positivity’. There were also rumours of a patch up between them but that is probably just idle speculation. 

Enter the police 

The Hrithik Roshan-Kangana Ranaut spat is fast spiraling out of control. What should have been an alleged affair that went sour, is now in the middle of a criminal investigation. And it is hard to figure out what exactly is the crime that has been committed. 
In short, Hrithik’s contention is that someone impersonated as him and sent emails to Kangana. She mistook them as being sent by him and that was how she felt an intimacy towards him. Meanwhile, Kangana has been named in the First Information Report which the police file before investigating a case. 
She has now been summoned to the police station to give her testimony. Her lawyers have however written to the police that a woman cannot be summoned like this to a police station. Kangana has maintained that Hrithik’s whole story is hogwash and that she had a steady offline relationship for a long period with him before they broke up. 
If that is the case then it doesn’t really matter whether the mails were sent by Hrithik or an impersonator because he was anyway meeting her outside. In fact, this whole issue should have been settled between them like mature adults. 
Instead the police are now wasting their time over something like this when they should be doing more important things. Also, this comes at a time when Kangana has just won another national award for Tanu Weds Manu Returns. You don’t really want to deal with something like the police at a time of celebration.

What to choose?

It is a curious sort of problem that Sonam Kapoor has. Except for Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, her career over the last three years had been on a nosedive. It is a flop list that includes Bewakoofiyan, Khoobsurat and Dolly Ki Doli. Two out of the three were heroine-centred roles, which means the responsibility for the flops were solely her lack of market appeal. 
And Prem Ratan Dhan Payo was an out and out Salman Khan movie in which the presence of the heroine is usually just ornamental. But all that changed when Neerja released in February because suddenly Sonam found critical acclaim, something that has been rare in coming to her. Not only was the movie appreciated by reviewers, even the audience took to it, taking it to the very exclusive club of female oriented movies that become hits. 
But now Sonam is facing a peculiar problem. During a media interview, she was asked about which role she had taken up next. Her answer was nothing. And that the inaction on this front was leading to great stress! To choose or not, that is the question.

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