Have you heard about the date Madhur Bhandarkar had with the former second wife of Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan?

When Salman Khurshid and Mani Shankar Aiyar crossed the border and talked against our Prime Minister, even asking for Pakistan's help to defeat Modi, it delighted our neighbours and most of the Indian media, who kept it alive in the headlines for days.

But when television journalist Reham Khan, who didn't last long as the second Mrs Imran Khan, went to meet Madhur Bhandarkar for an interview in Pakistan, very few people got to know about it. The story goes that Reham told Madhur she was his fan and wanted to interview him for a Pak channel. The Indian filmmaker, who was in Lahore, was only too happy to oblige her but he cannily gauged that she was perhaps looking forward to some more Modi-bashing from Indian visitors. So Madhur decided to be upfront about it and told her that though he was only too willing to do an interview with her, if she was looking for anti-Indian government statements, he was the wrong man for it. He made it clear to Reham that he was a Modi man and would unstintingly talk in favour of his Prime Minister and the Indian government. Reham, it is believed, checked with her office, got a green signal and went ahead with the interview.

But of course, that did not hit the headlines back home in India. Make your own conclusions about what's considered newsworthy and what's set aside as inconsequential.

By the way, after a plethora of glamour-centric films like Page 3 , Fashion, Heroine and Calendar Girls, Madhur is finally making his second political film (after Satta which starred Raveena Tandon). It's work in progress and there has been no official announcement. But the whisper is that he's readying a script on the Emergency, which will be his next film. If that works out, it will be a better watch than his overused formulaic outings Heroine and Calendar Girls because this will focus on political intrigue, leaving little space for bikini models, one night stands and substance abuse. One hears Madhur's still researching the events of 1975 but one is already sure that this will kick up quite a bit of controversy with the film industry and the media taking political sides.

Currently, the film industry is taking sides over the legal battle between Hrithik Roshan and Kangana Ranaut. There are those who tend to support the more saleable name, that is, Hrithik in this instance. They're sure that this will boomerang on Kangana and cite the case of Vivek Oberoi who forfeited his goodwill in filmland after he took on the more saleable Salman Khan over a personal issue. Salman got overwhelming support from his colleagues and it resulted in a slump in Vivek's fortunes.

So is Kangana worried?

Someone who's watched her long before Queen and Tanu-Manu elevated her status, narrates an incident when she was shooting for Fashion . A fashion show and ramp walk was being filmed with real life A-listers like Karan Johar sitting in the front row for authenticity. When Karan arrived on the set, friendly actors like Priyanka Chopra immediately went over for the customary welcome hug. But the one who waved from her chair and wouldn't go over or shower any special attention on him was Kangana. She wasn't rude but she wasn't effusive either.

"She never sucks up to anybody," observed this insider. "She really was nowhere when Fashion was being made but even then she had that touch of arrogance in her." In other words, she's not someone who'll make any overtures to Hrithik out of fear that the industry might gang up against her.

She once told me that she doesn't know the meaning of fear. That she's so fearless that even if she were to lose all her money, she wouldn't blink because she's confident she can start from scratch and get it all back, again and again. That kind of confidence is rare in a film industry girl, which doesn't augur well for Hrithik. This actress isn't going to turn back from the battlefield.

Finally, a quick question on convoluted relationships in the film industry: how is Alisha Berry, the new girl in Vikram Bhatt's new randy film Love Games , related to Anupam Kher? Here's how it goes. Alisha is the daughter of former glamour model Nandini Sen and late businessman Gautam Berry. (Berry was also Amitabh Bachchan's business partner at one time.) The same Gautam was once married to Kirron Kher, present wife of Anupam Kher; it was Gautam who fathered her son Sikander (Anupam legally adopted Sikandar after his marriage to Kirron.) Therefore, Anupam's son Sikander Kher is Alisha's half-brother, they share the same biological father. QED.

Bharathi S. Pradhan isa senior journalist and author