He is brawny. She is beautiful. He is an alpha male. She swears by women's lib. He is quite a Casanova. She is a one-man woman. Kambakkht Ishq, the 2009 cheesy on-screen romance between Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor, is being reanimated full length in Bokaro.

The love-hate relationship, à la Bollywood, between leopard couple Akshay and Kareena at Jawaharlal Nehru Biological Park has spurred hopes of the spotty family growing bigger very soon.

The five-year-old big cats were brought to Bokaro zoo from Tata Steel Zoological Park in Jamshedpur last November. Soon after setting paws at the biological park, playboy Akshay had made passes at Mani and Ameena, the two older residents of the leopard enclosure, quite to the chagrin of his ladylove. However, he has mended his wayward ways now.

Zoo vet Dr Gautam Chakravarty said Akshay and Kareena were having a steamy romance this sweltering summer. "Akshay had been friendly towards the other leopardesses, but Kareena remains his favourite. He is, currently, mating with her and we hope to see bundles of joy in a few months from now," he said.

Junior assistant zoo manager R. Pravin said they were doing their best to offer the passionate couple a congenial atmosphere. "The blazing sun can sap energy. We are taking good care to ensure that heat doesn't hinder the mating ritual. The enclosure has a big banyan tree for shade and drinking water is being refilled at regular intervals," she said.

According to Pravin, Akshay and Kareena have been making love since Wednesday morning. "They mated around two dozen times and took a break only when lunch was served. They were together this (Thursday) morning too."

The senior zookeeper maintained that animals did not like being disturbed during the mating season and they were trying to keep large crowds away from the leopard enclosure.

"A male leopard urinates in a ring to declare his possessiveness while the female beckons her partner with light lashes of her tail and a coquettish growl. This is a time when visitors should not be allowed," Pravin, a postgraduate in zoology, said.

Dr Chakravarty said the spotty couple was expected to mate for another couple of days after which they would stay apart, raising hopes of healthy cubs by early September. "A leopardess has a gestation period of around 100 days. A litter normally has two to three cubs. We are keeping fingers crossed."

Romance is in the air at Bokaro zoo. For, it is not just Akshay-Kareena making love, but their deer neighbours too.

Pravin said five Sambhars - two males and three females - were in the mood for love too. "The Sambhars have been seen mating for three days. We expect a visit from the stork soon," she added.