The vice-president of a five-star hotel by the seaside in Juhu in Mumbai was pleased and surprised when he got a call from the Bachchan residence one night before Aishwarya Rai’s birthday (November 1). Pleased, because the Bachchans wanted the hotel to do the catering for the celebration the next evening. Surprised, because the catering was for a grand number of six people!

But of course the hotel rustled up its best and sent over their kebab chef with a tandoor because the party of six wanted fresh kebabs served at the table.

That was cosy but Aishwarya was mighty upset when a Mumbai tabloid ran a story about her finalising a hospital in Andheri for her delivery (Vidya Balan’s sister also delivered her twin babies there a couple of months ago). The story went on to talk of how the hospital gave her several privileges like complete privacy when she went there for her sonography. To this Ash retorted through her publicist, “So, do other people stand on stage and do their sonography? Isn’t privacy always accorded to a patient during sonography?” But what upset the mum-to-be was that the tabloid also said that Aishwarya had picked 11.11.11 to have a “C” section.

There have been umpteen stories about Aishwarya all her life. But this one seems to have upset her enough to get her publicist to send every publication an official statement decrying the lies that pass off as journalism. With motherhood around the corner, this really should be the least of Aishwarya’s concerns. This is the time for unbounded joy and one would have thought Aishwarya would’ve gone far beyond reacting so strongly to it. Let the publicist send out a denial, that’s fine. But why should the glamorous mom-to-be be upset? Let 11.11.11 (which is around the corner) come and go and the veracity of the tabloid tale will automatically be put to test.

Meanwhile, 11.11.11 will also be the day when Ranbir Kapoor’s marketability will be on test. So far, Ranbir has displayed great acting genes but to this day he has not had a huge solo success. Raajneeti was a multi-starrer and Anjaana Anjaani, his last solo outing, was a complete loser. He hasn’t had as much box office acceptance as even an Imran Khan (Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, I Hate Luv Storys, Delhi Belly, Mere Brother Ki Dulhan have all fared well). But Ranbir has chosen to give himself such an exclusive tag (he refuses to meet a reporter unless he is promoting a film) that one isn’t sure if he has established a warm audience connect. Of course, ultimately it is the film itself that will be the deciding factor. But what about the star charisma that Salman Khan and Ajay Devgn exude? Ranbir Kapoor is still very far away from drawing an initial audience on his own steam even though he has the same airs as the seniors.

While Ranbir promotes Rockstar relentlessly and Shah Rukh Khan stomps that Ra.One is a hit and half of Mumbai’s tinsel town was in Delhi-Noida for F1, the one who was missing in action was Hrithik Roshan (wife Sussanne partied at Noida and Delhi). A text message from him reads, “Been trying to take out some time for myself since the past five months. And when the time came I slipped a disc in my back, so am recuperating under house arrest. Would be fun if the pain wasn’t so bad!” Come December and Hrithik too will be out in full force since Agneepath is due for release on January 26.

A little bird also chirps that Hrithik’s trainer is down from London and the actor is on a high protein diet to get fit for his first schedule of Krrish 3 which kickstarts in December. (It is Krrish 3, not Krrish 2 as some reports claim.) This time the meticulous Rakesh Roshan has gone several steps further in his planning. He holed up for three days in a hotel room with his action and art directors, had models made of his major sets, called his son in to take a look at what he was going to do on those sets and had every shot broken down into minute detail. Imagine Rakesh Roshan’s dilemma when, after all this painstaking blueprinting, his second heroine Jacqueline Fernandes quit without explanation!

But the belief that everything happens for the best came to the fore when the Roshans returned to the agile and available Kangna Ranaut, their first choice for the supergirl’s role. And now Krrish 3 is all set to roll in Mumbai on December 1.

At the end, let’s return to a tabloid tale, this time one that claimed Jacqueline quit Krrish 3 because she didn’t want to do a kissing scene. “What kissing scene,” splutters Rakesh Roshan. “There is no kissing scene in Krrish 3. I’m making a film for a family audience!”

Bharathi S. Pradhan is editor,The Film Street Journal