I ONLY stated the TRUTH (Rani Chopra): Shatrunghan

Shotgun unapologetic

The veteran actor defends himself for addressing Rani Mukerji as 'Rani Chopra' on a public platform recently

Subhash K Jha

The irrepressible Shatrughan Sinha is unfazed by the brouhaha he created by calling Rani Mukerji, 'Rani Chopra' at the unveiling of Yash Chopra's statue at the Yashraj Studios on Monday. While television channels went berserk with what they saw as Sinha's faux pas, Shotgun makes it clear that the Chopra surname that he used with Rani's name was no mistake. He is not regretful about the public revelation. He told this paper, "I only stated the truth. Either you should not ask me to speak in public. If you do, you better be prepared for some frankspeak. I was asked to speak on the great Yash Chopra. While I was mentioning the family members my wife reminded me that I had forgot to mention Aditya Chopra. To this I replied, 'I have mentioned Rani Chopra and that is as good as mentioning Aditya Chopra too.' I see no harm in this. I didn't think it would become such an issue."

Rani-Adi: Married?
So does this mean that the actor has inadvertently confirmed the wedding of Rani to Aditya Chopra? For the longest time it has been whispered by people close to the Chopra family that the actress tied the knot with the producer-director in a hush-hush ceremony last year. Their relationship has so far been kept under wraps by the couple and those close to them. Shatrughan Sinha's decision to stand by his words further points to the fact that he is in the know and doesn't feel the need to keep the secret that the Chopra clan is so keen on.