Deepika-Ranbeer Break-up

"ADULTERY IS THE APPLICATION OF THE DEMOCRACY TO LOVE."
— HENRY LOUIS MENCKEN

IF THE GREAT AMERICAN JOURNALIST FROM THE TWENTIES WHO COINED THE ABOVE PHRASE WAS INTENDING THIS AS A JOKE, PEOPLE WHO ARE THE VICTIMS OF DECEPTION WILL CERTAINLY FAIL TO SEE THE HUMOR IN IT. THERE COULD BE NO GREATER BETRAYAL THAN DECEIT IN LOVE. ON THIS EVERYONE WOULD AGREE. IT LEAVES YOU FEELING EXTREMELY INADEQUATE WHEN SOMEONE YOU LOVE CHEATS ON YOU. IT JUST FILLS YOU WITH A MYRIAD OF EMOTIONS; RAGE, DEFEAT, REVENGE, AND A GENERAL LACK OF SELF-WORTH.

And all of us react differently to this notorious breach of trust. Wise ones vent out their frustration by crying over friends' shoulders, ever heard of group therapy? Some try binge drinking or binge eating. Research shows there's nothing a vodka gargle or a choclate brownie can't fix. While some wisened folks try the safer method, some others take the road less travelled. The path of revenge, the masochistic hell. Indeed it's a difficult feeling to fathom, to stop wanting what you cannot have. And yet we try, 'coz the moral science class in school drilled some garbage in our skulls like, 'Try and try till you succeed'.

The world of glamour is where there seems to be an eternal epidemic of relationship threads dealing with deceit. If the world outside is bad enough, Bollywood is an ocean of morally repugnant acts of deceit. Relationships here are fragile and lovers change faster than Friday releases, and they certainly don't come with moral clauses. "It's the struggle and the subsequent toughness that one learns from the hunger to make it that makes you less suseptible to guilt and hurt as opposed to lesser mortals," an actor said, offering a valid explanation to fickle love lives of his clan. Stories here could give Bollywood potboilers a run for their money. And the scandals worth their weight in gold.

The ones who take the cake are the young and the restless, the fresh stocks who are just learning to climb the ropes. Like the example I'm about to cite. So here's one from brand new Bollywood, the generation next, Deepika Padukone. The famous Bad-minton champ Prakash Padukone's gorgeous daughter who made a sweeping shift from modelling to films, lapping up nothing but the best. The picture perfect Deepika was signed by Shah Rukh Khan in his home production 'Om Shanti Om', to play his love interest.

With one swift move, Deepika suddenly catapulted from a popular model to the next big thing in filmdom. Everyone wanted a piece of her, but only one lucky man had the claims. Her richie rich boyfriend, Nahar. The affair was not one that was kept under wraps. She proudly paraded him in public, at parties, social events even as the shutterbugs went into a frenzy. Deepika's model friends however didn't think much of the alliance. They thought them to be the most oddball couple.

To them, it was merely a relationship of convinience, a well-worn plot device, in which a man and woman hook up for mutual gain rather than love. For Deepika, having a boyfriend would help her stay clear of link ups with co-stars, that were waiting to happen with her booming Bollywood career. But for Nahar, the world revolved around his doe-eyed girlfriend. Let's say he was the giver in the relationship. He introduced her to his family, and the relationship, to his knowledge, was one for keeps.

She even lived in his house whenever she travelled to Delhi and was well accepted by his family. But as they say, temptation is a sneaky bas***d; he makes an entry when things seem hunky dory. Another promising young star on the horizon caught Deepika's fancy. Rishi Kapoor's son Ranbeer, who's working on his debut film, 'Saawariya' with Sanjay Leela Bhansali, swept Deepika off her feet. The two met through common friends and hit it off from the word go. In the big league Bollywood coterie, how long does it take for attraction to happen anyways? Ranbeer is known to have every bit of the lineage he boasts of.

The blood of the legendary Raj Kapoor, the right mix of dad Rishi and mother Neetu's good looks and talent. Not to forget a persistent second-generation habit of making it big after cousins Karisma and Kareena. And from the one-off altercation he once had with Salman Khan at a nightclub, he seemed to posses the gumption to stand up for himself. Ranbeer was once linked with Dino Morea's ex Nandita Mahthani, but the rumour died its own death. Ever since, his life's been a clean slate. He was indeed a treat hard to resist. Deepika became increasingly fond of Ranbeer and the two were soon an item. They had much in common, what with coinciding debuts and promising film careers ahead of them.

It was as if destiny had brought them closer when the sets of both their debut vehicles were put up in the same vicinity, Film City. Having Deepika at a stone's throw tempted Ranbeer no end, who started making frequent visits to his ladylove. They were often spotted cuddling and canoodling without a care in the world. Bhansali's set meanwhile, was on high security alert and no one except the film's crew was allowed on the sets, so Deepika couldn't quite drop in on a whim. Ranbeer however, more than made up for the lack of her visits, informs a unit hand on the 'Om Shanti Om' sets, who often spotted the Kapoor junior.

And when Ranbeer couldn't meet Deepika, the two young lovebirds would chirp away on the cellular for hours on end. Unfortunately, a scandal can't be kept down for too long. Deepika's beau Nahar got a whiff of his baby's secret. And no sooner than he became aware of her alternative love life did he lose his cool demeanour. He couldn't quite swallow the fact that his girlfriend had cheated on him despite the bond they shared. It didn't take him time to pull out facts and put together pieces of the jigsaw puzzle. In his mind, he thought Ranbeer to be the master manipulator who schemed his way into Deepika's heart. That, coupled with a sense of losing control, made him obsessive, who in the days to come would behave like a modern day Salman Khan.

In a typical Hindi film scenario, the estranged ex-Nahar hunted down Ranbeer's phone number and started sending him intimidating messages. SMS's that started off threatening dire consequences if he didn't maintain a safe distance from Deepika, progressed to profanities. Ranbeer apparently did nothing but ignore the threats, continuing to speak to Deepika, which provoked Nahar even further. Ranbeer was aware of the repercussions of getting his hands dirty with this muck. He didn't want to risk even blotting a smidgen of ink on his reputation, what with his fledgingcareer at stake. In due time, he hoped Nahar would calm down and vanish into oblivion.

Little did he know that Nahar would strike back with a vengeance. This is a story of young blood, and a great romance is nothing without dollops of drama. When an unsuspecting Ranbeer went out clubbing to a hot spot discotheque at a suburban Mumbai five star with a bunch of friends, little did he know that he would be ambushed. As the debutant was boogeying into the night, he was tapped on the shoulder and he turned around to see a familiar face. It was Nahar who was paying him an unfriendly visit. Onlookers tout this as the most grippingly intense scene, reminiscent of our masala movies. "Nahar grabbed Ranbeer by his collar and asked him to stay away from Deepika. They would have come to blows if the mammoth sized bodyguards and hotel staff hadn't intervened," informs an eyewitness.

What transpired was a fistfight of sorts with no solution at hand. For fear of the media catching a whiff of the altercation, the two had to be calmed down and end the row. What great plans of avenging his betrayal Nahar might be hatching is anyone's guess. They say dormancy is more dangerous than action. Ever heard of a lull before the storm? Watch this space for more.