The Diwali showdown just got hotter. With Karan Johar throwing open his awesome new office to his friends in the media to watch the teaser of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (ADHM ) a day before it officially went public, comparisons with Ajay Devgn's Shivaay have begun in right earnest. Devgn's promo is full of thrills and Lord Shiva's tandav avatar. ADHM is a lyrical romance with beautiful faces. What is common, apart from the same release date, is that both films have been shot abroad. Karan has London and a bit of Vienna as the backdrop for Ranbir Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai and Anushka Sharma's curious triangle. And there's an intriguing touch of Fawad Khan - the Pak actor Karan cheekily calls his "current crush".

While conspiracy theories and the swipes at each other have just begun in the Devgn vs Johar battle for box-office supremacy on Diwali, how does Kajol, caught between bestie and hubby, handle it? She doesn't because Karan and she have not been on talking terms for three years. They had a fall-out over Ajay and Karan simply stopped all communication with her. To the extent that when Manish Malhotra, who's close to both, hosts a party or has friends over for Ganpati (he has a stylish three-day celebration every year), Karan makes it clear that he'll come on the day when Kajol is not around.

Diwali does come with a lot of dhamaka . Kajol's Diwale Dulhaniya... director Aditya Chopra too is barely friendly with her since that Diwali three years ago when Yash Chopra's Jab Tak Hai Jaan and Devgn's Son of Sardaar clashed at the box office. In 2013, Devgn had sued and lost the case against Yash Raj over alleged monopolistic business practices, and Kajol lost her friendship with the Chopras.

Around the same time, she lost Karan too, although his mother Hiroo continues to be civil with her by sending her birthday greetings and responding to her calls. But guess who Hiroo really lavishes affection on? She adores Ranbir Kapoor who regularly drops in to meet "Hiroo Aunty", sits at her feet and listens to all her stories about the past.

By the way, one is sure that Ranbir's recent choices that went wrong (Besharam , Roy, Bombay Velvet ) haven't made a dent in his appeal or morale in any way. His intensity gets your attention instantly in the teaser of ADHM. Ranbir has his own way of going about his work. He doesn't have to be pampered or have a coterie around him, which is starkly different from the way Salman Khan operates.

Before picturising the title song of ADHM , Ranbir had the song plugged to his ears for days until he had every word and beat firmly in his head. And his endeavour during its filming was to do the entire tight close-up without blinking his eyes even once. Quirky choices or flops, Ranbir is here for the really long haul.

Fawad Khan has also become a favourite of the Dharma family. And that happened somewhere up in the air between Mumbai and Delhi. When Karan and his director Shakun Batra were casting for Kapoor & Sons , every actor in town had turned down the part of the suave homosexual brother. First choice Saif Ali Khan kept chewing his nails over it for three months before finally saying, no. Hrithik couldn't wrap his head around a dysfunctional family and turned it down. Farhan Akhtar thought about it and shook his head. Shahid Kapoor said, no, thank you. Even Aditya Roy Kapur didn't want to play the gay older brother. Most of them asked for Siddharth Malhotra's no-risk, all-safe part.

Still undecided, Karan was flying to Delhi when he found Fawad on the same flight. They got talking, and Karan found Fawad stylish, suave, suitable for the part. The Pak actor liked what was on offer but guess what he did? He told Karan that his wife Sara was his sounding board - she had this great feel for a good script, and he wanted her opinion before making his decision. So the script went to Pakistan and soon Karan, who'd never met Sara before, got a call from her. She told him that it was such a terrific script, she wanted Fawad to put everything else aside and do Kapoor & Sons . She was right. Strangely, Fawad was gay in the film but girls of all ages swooned over him.

Sara's place in Fawad's life is something his fans will have to get used to. It's not just his scripts and roles that she has a say in because he respects her opinion. It's Sara who keeps tabs on and responds to his tweets, sending out a swift 'thank you' from her account to people who comment on him. I got one too.

Anyway, Karan's "current crush" (that's strictly tongue-in-cheek) has a special role in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and he also has a Dharma film with Katrina Kaif coming up in a few months.

And when Karan called up Saif to wish him on his birthday last month, the actor swore that he'd strangle the next person who told him what a great part he had lost.

Bharathi S. Pradhan is a senior journalist and author