Basu kept Hashmi at arm's length from Kan

It's unheard of that a director acts as the Great Wall of China between his leading lady and leading man.

But Anurag Basu has been doing just that, ensuring six degrees of separation between cast members Emraan Hashmi and debutante Kangna on the sets of Gangster.

During their outdoors shoot in Korea, the director had given strict orders to his assistants to keep Kangna away from Hashmi.

A crewmember informs, "Even at the hotel, Kangna was not allowed to frequent Emraan's room and socialise after we had wrapped up for the day. It looked weird initially, but later, Anurag gave us the real reason for doing so."

Superstitious Basu

Explains Basu, "I've realised that whenever Emraan gets involved with his female co-stars, the film bombs big time (remember Jawani Diwani and the alleged Emraan-Celina romance?), so I didn't take any chances this time and maintained a lot of space between them. You might call me a weirdo but that's what I felt and believed."

When quizzed about Kangna trying to get friendly with Hashmi, he says, "There was this buzz that Kangna has been falling all over Emraan during our schedules. Firstly, Kangna is no cannibal. Secondly, I had kept a check on them mingling too much."

The director says his formula was an immediate success and left Emraan and Kangna behaving like strangers. Basu relates an incident, "We were supposed to picturise the song Lamha lamha at this isolated island called Nami, in Korea. The sequence involved a lovemaking scene.

When we landed at the island, it was crowded with tourists. Emraan and Kangna were very embarrassed; Emraan even refused to take off his shirt. Many infants got their first lesson of adulthood while watching us canning that scene."

No lafda: Kangna

Says Kangna, "I would laugh at it when Anurag would tell me about his superstitions. But honestly, Emraan used to treat me like a sister. He's responsible and would never do anything to hurt his fiance. So there's no possibility of us getting attracted to each other."