The ultimate sign of stardom has visited Akshay Kumar — director Anees Bazmee flew to the US last week where the actor will be parked for the next two months to shoot for Sajid Nadiadwala’s Kambakht Ishq.

Anees Bazmee went to the US to complete Akshay Kumar’s dubbing for Singh Is Kinng. The film is ready for an auspicious 08/08/08 release but since Akshay couldn’t come to Mumbai to dub his scenes, the mountain went to Mohammed.

The director is relieved that his film is ready, but anxious. After resounding commercial hits like No Entry and Welcome, Anees Bazmee has entered the top league of directors here and the expectations from Singh Is Kinng are, “So huge that I’m worried”.

There’s a buzz that SIK will be Akshay’s last film with Katrina Kaif. Rumours insist that wife Twinkle put her foot down over persistent references to the Akshay-Katrina off-screen chemistry. And, like she did in the case of Priyanka Chopra, Twinkle has used the same solution of stopping hubby from working with Katrina any more.

Sigh, just when Akshay gets nice and cosy with a co-star, the pair breaks up. Look at Priyanka — ever since Tina’s diktat, Akshay has never worked with her again despite this lead team’s 100 per cent hit rate at the box-office.

But, unlike Priyanka who was single then (boyfriend Harman Baweja was not officially on the scene or acknowledged during Priyanka’s Akshay era), Katrina has also had some answering to do. She does have a hot-headed Khan in her life and he has been breathing fire for a while over Akshay.

By not working with Akshay anymore, Katrina has also pacified her man Salman. He even agreed to escort her to the Singh Is Kinng music release. Of course, it helped that Akshay was in the US and not at the party. That itself was a bit curious since there was a press conference earlier which Akshay attended. So why didn’t the music release happen when the hero was in town? Whatever the answer, Vipul Shah, producer of SIK, neatly avoided a Salman-Akshay collision.

Meanwhile, if SIK is indeed the last Akshay-Katrina-starrer we will be watching, it really is the best way to mollify Twinkle and Salman. Akshay has already moved on to younger pastures like Deepika and Asin as has Katrina who has Ranbir and John as future co-stars.

Talking of Ranbir, he is in that squirmy, uncomfortable position right now where he’s got lots on offer but plenty depends on how Bachna Ae Haseenon turns out in August. After all, Saawariya got him only a towel-iya tag and didn’t work at the box-office. And there’s already Imran Khan, Aamir’s super-successful nephew, at the door taking all the attention (and films) away from Ranbir. Yes, Jaane Tu… is a major hit with repeat audiences patronising the film. This Imran (Khan) film has completely eclipsed the other Emraan (Hashmi) starrer, Jannat.

Even Aamir did not expect Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na to be such a rage at the multiplexes. “I certainly didn’t think it would surpass even Taare Zameen Par, but it has,” says an astonished but pleased-as-punch Aamir.

Aamir let his hair down on Wednesday night at Vie in Juhu, at a very private, no-media, no-outsiders celebration where only his cast, crew and family were present. A youthful hit like Jaane Tu… naturally called for a throbbing dance floor. But Aamir kept his distance, “Because I can’t stand loud music”. Every time someone (including wife Kiran) tried to drag him to dance, he begged off, wisecracking, “Pappu can’t dance.” The one time he was successfully taken to the floor, Aamir did his bit but was soon back in his chair, far away from the high-decibel music.

“I have a ruse and it never fails,” he whispered. “Every time someone takes me to the dance floor, I soon excuse myself saying, ‘I have to go to the loo.’ Nobody can stop me then and from the loo I soon return to where I was sitting!”

Aamir in a top-of-the-world mood is such a change from the grumpy Mangal Pandey.

Hey, Psst!

When it’s not Imran, it’s Neil Nitin Mukesh who’s making waves. His first commercial for Spark shoes is efficiently natty. Neil has also officially started Madhur Bhandarkar’s Jail, so stand by for a couple of National Awards. This should be a refreshing one for Neil — he isn’t called Johnny Jailor in this film.

Bharathi S. Pradhan is managing editor Movie Mag Internationa