Big Boss 2 contestant Raja Chowdhury and item girl Shraddha Sharma had been going steady for nearly a year now and were even supposed to get engaged by the end of this month, but things went kaput after Shraddha found Raja cheating on her with two girls. His escapades were caught on camera by the team of a reality show.

When contacted Shraddha Sharma said, “This is shocking for me. It’s all over between us. He is constantly calling me but I don’t want to have anything to do with him anymore.

Many of my friends warned me about getting into a relationship with him, but he always showed how caring and nice he was. He called me and told me that he was under the influence of alcohol but that’s no explanation.”

Speaking about dealing with the trauma Shraddha said, “I guess everything happens at the right time. I am busy doing films down South. One of my films Jeeva has just released and I am shooting for one more film Jaye Ho. I am also doing a couple of reality shows, so life is busy - it will divert my attention from all this.”

No longer her former effervescent self, Rani Mukerji consciously avoids socialising these days.

A source who was earlier close to Rani says, “Rani has stopped communicating with all her friends including Urmila Matondkar, Dia Mirza and Manish Malhotra. She hardly calls them up and at times, she doesn’t even take their calls. Instead, she prefers to spend a lot of time with her niece (Mysha).”

The only person Rani is in touch with from her friend circle is choreographer Vaibhavi Merchant, that too perhaps because she often bumps into Vaibhavi at Yash Raj Films. Vaibhavi regularly works for YRF whose scion Aditya Chopra has been dating Rani for nearly three years.

Why has Rani changed so much? Earlier, she used to attend important social functions particularly hosted by those who mattered to her. But recently, she even skipped Dr RK Agarwal’s daughter’s wedding, and consequently, shocked several of her friends from the industry who expected that she would definitely turn up for the occasion.

“The change in Rani’s behaviour is inexplicable. Her friends want her to be the old Rani again but all she wants is to be left alone. She has become a very, very private person,” adds the source.

Rahul Mahajan who got married last week on the reality TV show ‘Rahul Dulhaniya Le Jayega’ will be able to travel to the Maldives for his honeymoon. A court order in Delhi allowed Rahul to get his passport back. His passport had been taken from him in June, 2006, when he was granted bail in a drug abuse case against him.

In order to release his passport, Rahul has now been asked by the court to furnish a fixed deposit of Rs 5 lakhs as well a personal bond of that amount.

Rahul, the son of slain politician Pramod Mahajan, married model Dimpy Ganguly on March 7. He had been concerned about whether or not he would get his passport back, so that he could travel abroad for his honeymoon.

Shahid Kapoor at Lyricist Irshad Kamil’s bash

Aftab Shivdasani and Aamna Shariff have gone their separate ways. The couple has not been spotted together for a while now. Buzz is that cracks began developing in their relationship in November, soon after the debacle of Aao Wish Karein (Aftab’s production) which starred him alongwith his ladylove.

Says a source, “Things turned sour when Aftab began openly expressing that if he had a known actress for his co-star, things would’ve been better for Aao Wish Karein. An obviously miffed Aamna expressed her displeasure.”

Adds the source, “Somewhere down the line, Aftab also felt that the telly actress was utilising her friendship with him to her advantage. He took her along to several B-Town events and parties and she soon started developing her contacts as she was always keen to make it in Bollywood despite flop films to her credit.”

Buzz is that the actor was keen to settle down with Aamna. She had even accompanied him to the US to meet his sister and her family who is based there.

Though both stars never acknowledged each other’s presence in their lives, the first whispers of their romance trickled in as soon as they began shooting for Aloo Chat in 2008.

After her television outing as Kashish in the Balaji soap Kahiin To Hoga, it was a dream come true for Aamna when she was cast as a heroine. Aftab, on the other hand, agreed to star with a TV actress as he was the solo hero of the film. Aftab did not know Aamna before the shoot of the film. But both bonded on the sets from day one and were drawn to each other.

Aftab was dating Czech model-actress Yana Gupta before hooking up with Aamna. Aamna was known to be seeing her Balaji soap co-star Rajeev Khandelwal.

Abhishek Bachchan, one of the most sought after stars in Bollywood, washed dishes at the Golden Temple in Amritsar as part of his kar seva.

The actor was in Amritsar with his sister Shweta Nanda. They visited three prominent gurdwaras.

“Abhishek did some kar seva by cleaning up the premise, and washing the dishes at the ?langar` (in the Golden Temple). There were two other prominent gurdwaras that they visited,” Amitabh posted on his blog bigb.bigadda.com Thursday.

The 67-year-old, whose mother Teji Bachhcan belonged to a Sikh family, is happy to see the religious side of his children.

“It is always such a joy to see children putting their minds to faith and devotion. Nothing would give me greater joy and nothing I believe could be better than their achievement in belief and prayer,” he added.

Abhishek, who visited Amritsar for the shooting of his reality show “Bingo”, also posted a message on his Twitter page saying: “Went to the Golden Temple at 3 in the morning. Did seva for about an hour, then just sat there listening to the kirtan.”

A simple handcuff scene in ‘Tees Maar Khan’ turned out to be a nightmare for Akshay Kumar as the ‘key to his freedom’ was lost. While shooting for Farah Khan’s upcoming project, the action hero had no inkling that he would remain arrested for full four hours.

Talking to a news daily, a close source said, “A production hand had accidentally broken the key while pulling it out of the handcuff before the scene. But Akshay had slipped on the cuffs and the lock clicked into place. He was taking it lightly because he assumed there was an extra key. But when Farah realised the duplicate key wasn’t there, she asked for a locksmith to be summoned before rolling the camera.”

The locksmith arrived 20 minutes after the shot was over. But to everyone’s shock, the handcuff did not open.

Talking about the whole episode, Farah Khan said, “The locksmith couldn’t open the handcuff because it was an imported one and had a complex locking mechanism. So I had no other option but to send somebody to the other end of town, where my team member had forgotten the duplicate key. I was surprised that they had forgotten to bring the extra key to Film City, but there was nothing else we could do to salvage the situation.”

During this ordeal, Akshay maintained his calm, did not once lose his temper over the negligence of the ‘Tees Maar Khan’ unit and patiently waited for help.

“But I used the time to complete other shots of Akshay which required him to be in handcuffs. If we had the keys, he wouldn’t have had to wear them for more than an hour in all. But yes, it was high drama. However, I must say that it was sweet on Akshay’s part not to grumble or delay my shoot,” added Farah Khan.

Shahid Kapoor starrer ‘Paathshaala’, a film portraying the effect of the education system on children, will hit theatres on April 16.

The film, directed by Milind Ukey and produced by Bollywood choreographer Ahmed Khan and his wife Shaira, also stars actress Ayesha Takia and Nana Patekar.

Shahid, who was last seen in ‘Chance Pe Dance’, will play the character of an English and music teacher in the movie.

Ahmed insists that the topical plot of the film is going to attract huge attention.

“Once the promos are out, the film will be all over the place in the next 15 days. The film will release on April 16,” said Ahmed. “Since the subject matter is how the education system exercises pressure on children, my film is getting a lot of attention and I have been approached by many people who want to tie up with me,” he added.

The choreographer, who has films like ‘Kaminey’ and ‘Ghajini’ to his credit, was in the capital recently to audition kids for a new reality show ‘Chak Dhoom Dhoom’ on Colors. Ironically, ‘Paathshaala’ also shows how a kids reality show exerts pressure on children. “The film shows Patekar’s character calling people from a reality show and asking them to audition students from his school so that they get publicity,” said Ahmed.

The late Feroz Khan’s daughter, Laila is getting married to Farhan Furniturewala (Pooja Bedi’s ex-husband). This is also Laila’s second marriage (she was previously married to Rohit Rajpal).
The mehendi, sangeet and reception are planned from April 14-16 in Mumbai. Farhan’s ex-wife Pooja Bedi will also attend the wedding.

Bedi is very happy for her ex. She says, “I am the first person who knew about the wedding. Farhan is the father of my children and has been my best friend for years. After our divorce, we made a conscious effort to always speak well of each other. Just because our marriage didn’t turn out well, it doesn’t mean we are bad people.”

Pooja says that Farhan and she have always maintained a wonderful friendship even after their divorce and his soon-to-be wife Laila knows that. “I have known Laila since kindergarten. Her mom (Sundari) and my mom were great friends and we would often play and swim together. We have been friends for many years. When I heard Farhan was dating Laila, l was absolutely delighted. The kids love her and have taken to her.”

Pooja adds, “Laila is a warm and lovely girl. We go to each other’s homes and celebrate events together. Last week, when our son Omar celebrated his birthday, Laila had also come over. It was one big happy family with our ex-in laws and us. I am thrilled for them. It was a wonderful decision for Farhan to marry her.”

Pune: Noted singer Asha Bhonsle has distanced herself from parochial sentiments involving Mumbai and Maharashtra saying “Hindustan belongs to all.”

Speaking at a cultural evening organised by a Marathi television channel here, Asha responded to a question by interviewer and compere Sudhir Gadgil who asked her whether Mumbai was turning ugly with exodus from outside. Among the audience was MNS president Raj Thackeray.

“People are bound to flock to Mumbai as Hindustan belongs to all. Those who work hard here become prosperous. I also worked in my field with determination to earn success. I have sung in all Indian languages but I am a proud Maharashtrian,” she said.