Emraan and Jiah's secret liaison

Emraan and Jiah's secret liaison

Blast from the past

The twosome became cosy even though Hashmi was in a steady relationship
Vickey Lalwani
vickey.lalwani@mid-day.com

Jiah Khan, who makes her debut opposite Amitabh Bachchan in Ram Gopal Varma's Nishabd, is being touted as a femme fatale. But the sexy young actress has a fatal attraction from her past that been a secret till now. The actress was involved with Vishesh Films' blue-eyed boy Emraan Hashmi not too long ago. The twosome got real cosy on the sets of Tumsa Nahin Dekha, which was supposed to be her debut film. "Emraan and Jiah had a fling for seven months," says our well-placed source.
Spark fizzled out
Emraan was the main lead in Tumsa Nahin Dekha, which took nearly seven months to go on floors. In that meantime, Jiah and Emi discovered sparks of attraction and one thing led to another. But the source says, "Jiah had a problem with the director Anurag Basu in Dubai, and the Bhatts didn't want to make a big deal about it. They didn't want to speak ill about her, create unpleasantness or come in the way of her career, so they simply asked her to leave the film. And replaced her with Dia Mirza."
Emraan and Jiah didn't keep in touch after that, and the steam fizzled out. "It was a need-based relationship," the source adds.
'Just good friends'
It is believed that Emraan tried his best to keep his affair with Jiah as a secret, but his steady girlfriend Parveen Sahani (and soon-to-be wife) got wind of his dalliance. But it didn't break them up because Emraan denied it, and she never had any proof of his straying.
While Jiah was unreachable for comment, Hashmi brushed it off with, "There were many whispers about me and Jiah on the sets of Tumsa Nahin Dekha. But we were just good friends. She is a kid. I didn't look at her that way. If she found me attractive, I don't know because she didn't voice it."
Emraan's uncle, Mahesh Bhatt, put it in his usual forthright manner, "I have no way of ascertaining what happened between Jiah and Emraan, but there were rumours that came to my ear about a romantic relationship between them. In trying not to interfere in people's personal lives, I thought it was not important to question Emraan then. Anyway, let sleeping dogs lie. Emraan is going to settle down and be a happily married man soon."