AND it’s time to give you the skinny on another big Bollywood gossip story that’s been festering on the grapevine for months. Everyone knows Shah Rukh Khan and Arjun Rampal are just not the BFFs they used to be, but do you know why? As in, what really went down? Well thanks to my secret spy on the fly, you do now 🙂 xoxo
The History
Arjun Rampal and his wife Mehr Jessia have been part of the Shah Rukh Khan BFF clan for several years now. Deemed “Mannat regulars” Arjun and Mehr were affectionately tagged “furniture” in the Khan household, given their constant presence there for parties and such…
And who can forget the infamous Lady Gaga twitpic taken at an afterparty at Arjun’s club Lap in Delhi…
In fact Arjun eventually became better friends with Gauri Khan than her husband SRK (as many mistakenly believe.) Mehr initially seemed like the odd one out (given her quirky nature) but she warmed up to the Khans over time as well.
Cut to – SRK signs Arjun to play the bad guy in his mega-budget Ra.One and the industry starts buzzing with how Shah Rukh had been promoting his new BFF, even putting in a good word for him with producers across the board.
Obviously being SRK’s BFF has it’s perks 🙂
The Fall Out
BUT (like every glorified relationship in the spotlight) alas this one was probably doomed to fail from the start… After Ra.One tanked at the box office, rumor had it Shah Rukh started wondering if perhaps he should have cast someone else as his arch nemesis in Ra.One.
He was constantly being told that Arjun was a miscast and they should have worked with a better “actor” so the film would not have failed. When news reached Rampal’s ears that his BFF was entertaining these allegations he was bummed big time (kinda like his character in Rock On!) BUT he didn’t let on…
Cracks started appearing in the quartet when Rampal stopped being part of their regular night outs. The final blow was dealt at the Marrakech film festival last year which both SRK and Arjun attended. After the event, SRK was heard joking that Arjun tried to hog the limelight by throwing himself a birthday party at the festival. And yup, Arjun snapped. This time he sat down with SRK and poured his heart out, also throwing in his apprehensions about Priyanka Chopra getting too tight with the Mannat crew.
There was a distinct chill in relations for months, broken only by mutual friend (and Shah Rukh’s closest confidant) Mushtaq Sheikh.
Like did you know for instance that Mehr planned a special surprise birthday party for Arjun on November 29th 2012 and invited Gauri but Shah Rukh Khan was not invited?! Oopsy.
Patch Up Pending
So where are we now? There hasn’t exactly been “patch up” between the two. Publicly they laugh it all off and feign ignorance when anyone broaches the fall-out but my spy reveals that there might be a chance that the two will rekindle their friendship some time in the near future. But me thinks it could be a rocky road back to BFF-land. I guess that’s why they say don’t mix business with pleasure?! Especially Bollywood with real life…
Come to think of it, I remember Shah Rukh Khan revealed on Koffee With Karan – Season 3 once that he carries around a bunch of relationship fear/baggage and therefore has no friends, or as he poignantly puts it, has trouble keeping his friends and that’s the sad truth… *awww* Shah Rukh… don’t be like that 🙁 you know we love you… xoxo
Psst! Click here to post the rumor you want clarified (or just more juice on) and my Bollywood Spy Quest team will get on the job! xoxo