There's an interesting game being played around Aamir Khan. Now that he occupies an exalted position in terms of saleability, people go around a maze even when they simply want to gossip about him. Unlike say a Ranbir or a Ranveer who will be named, there has been an increasing number of guess-who stories about "a certain 50+ superstar". That could be Shah Rukh, Salman or Aamir.

Then they mention a wife who's fed up of his shenanigans outside the marital boudoir and there's a frequent swipe at the "young actress he's promoting". Even when the star wife posted pictures of a family holiday, there were snarky comments that she was trying to prove that all was well in her marriage. The wife angle eliminates bachelor boy Salman.

To further close in, the items make references to the "young actress" with whom he co-starred in a record-setting hit. You score out Shah Rukh's name and you're left with Aamir.

After so many clues, they may as well have named him. But the respect and awe that Aamir has earned in recent times forces item-writers to be circumspect about his "current affairs" if any. I also think it's because they're petrified that Aamir, who can be revengeful, will dump that media house or slap a suit. Or, what I really suspect is that the scribes don't have a clue and simply watch their backs.

When Fatima Shaikh, Aamir's daughter in Dangal , was signed on opposite him after much deliberation and several auditions with other contenders, for Yash Raj Films' Thugs Of Hindostan, all those anonymous items went "Hmm, we told you so". But still without naming him.

If any part of the Aamir-Fatima link-up is true, Aamir is too clever to give himself away. While those outside his close circle won't dare question him, he has a neat way of keeping his nose clean with friends who matter. Before Fatima was signed on, he "confessed" to a chosen few that he was hesitant about having her on board because he wasn't sure if, after playing his daughter, the audience would accept them with even a whiff of a romance between them.

Naturally, any sensible person would put that sort of doubt to rest because we live in times where the audience is mature enough to accept Priyanka Chopra as Ranveer Singh's sister in Dil Dhadakne Do and as his wife in Bajirao Mastani. Back in 2000, Shah Rukh and Aishwarya Rai played twins in Josh. Two years later, they were lovers in Devdas. Or wind back to the 70s and there was Jaya Bachchan playing Sanjeev Kumar's wife in Koshish , daughter in Parichay and daughter-in-law in Sholay . All three films were well-received, proving that even four decades ago, on-screen equations could change and the audience would accept it as long as it was done with taste.

So, although Fatima was Aamir's daughter in Dangal , if there's chemistry of another kind in Thugs Of Hindostan, it stands to reason that the audience won't raise an eyebrow.

Armed with this (expected) feedback, Fatima was signed on with Aamir telling his friends that their positive replies had tilted the scales in her favour. Especially when hers was the best out of the many auditions they had with other girls. See, he hadn't signed her on because of any other interest in her. Smart.

Given the popularity of guess-who stories, here's one on a trending topic - the Emergency and the press censorship imposed in 1975. The actress-wife of a film star-politician, soon a Rajya Sabha MP herself, was whispered to have been caught shop-lifting in the UK. Those were the times when cricketer Sudhir Naik's name was splashed all over for the same crime. But if the star-politician's wife got away with nary a mention of it anywhere, it was because the star couple was close to the ruling dispensation and censorship was in force at that time. Got it?

Bharathi S. Pradhan is a senior journalist and author