Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif, who broke up after two years of living in together, are reuniting on-screen for Anurag Basu’s Jagga Jasoos. The movie’s promotional activities have been gaining more traction than the buzz about the film itself. The actors were still together when the film went on floor. And when the duo broke up, it was allegedly the cause for much delay. Now that the movie is finally about to be unveiled on the silver screen, the two have put their differences aside for the promos — for the most part. Their warm-again, cold-again vibes during press meets and interactions has been the talk of B-town ever since the promos began. Indeed, Katrina reportedly needed quite a bit of coaxing before coming on board, and Ranbir has been heard saying that this is the last time that the pair will come together if he has any say in the matter.
While Katrina and Ranbir aren’t the best example of professionalism, quite a number of the new crop of actors have, in fact, put their past differences aside for the sake of their jobs. Many have come together on screen post their break-up. Anushka Sharma and Ranveer Singh shared screen space in Dil Dhadakne Do after their break-up. So did Shraddha Kapoor and Aditya Roy Kapoor for Ok Jaanu, and Priyanka Chopra and Shahid Kapoor for Teri Meri Kahaani. Konkona Sen Sharma also recently directed ex-husband Ranvir Shorey in her directorial debut A Death in the Gunj.
Anushka Sharma and Ranveer Singh shared screen space in Dil Dhadakne Do after their break-up.
“Ranveer and Anushka were very professional whenever they interacted on the sets of Dil Dhadakne Do. In fact, they were quite cordial to each other,” says Shefali Shah, who played Ranveer’s mother in the movie. “Though I didn’t have any scenes with Anushka, I never observed any unprofessional behaviour from either of them during the shoot,” she adds.
The new generation has shown more professionalism than their older counterparts. Probably the reason, says relationship expert Dr Minu Bhosale, is because they have learned from the mistakes made by their predecessors. “Today’s generation is much better equipped to keep their personal and work lives separate. They’re overall much more ambitious than the yesteryear’s stars, especially in the face of much tougher competition. They have also seen how poorly handled relationships have cost earlier Bollywood stars and don’t want to repeat those mistakes,” he says.
Trade analyst Taran Adarsh says that the professionalism may also have a lot to do with the fact that the stakes are much higher today. “No one wants to let go of the box office profits for the sake of personal issues. They all know the cost of bringing personal issues into the work sphere, and it is too high in this case. So they keep the two separate,” he says.
Taran adds that even the much-debated-about Kat-and-Ranbir duo was quite professional when he saw them. “It was at an event in Abu Dhabi where they were both promoting Jagga Jasoos. They were poised and even spoke to each other cordially when they were on the podium together,” he recalls.
Film historian S.M.M. Ausaja, however, believes that it has less to do with the generation gap and more to do with personal choices. “It is true that Raj Kapoor and Nargis never worked together since she got married. She only interacted with him once, when she attended Rishi Kapoor’s wedding. However, though it’s a lesser-known fact, Rekha dubbed for two of Amitabh Bachchan’s films long after they were no longer together — she dubbed for Sridevi in Aakhree Raasta and Soundarya and Jayasudha in Sooryavansham. So, I think, it boils down to personal equations and comfort levels more than anything,” he signs off.
