Khalid Mohamed:Why gossip will never die

Ranbir Kapoor declares that he could do anything for Katrina Kaif. They holiday in Ibiza, she flies over to be with him on a location shoot in Sri Lanka.
Now, is that good or bad publicity for Katrina Kaif, currently combating a downcurve in her career? Hang on, she's pencilled in for 'Jagga Jasoos' with RK Jr. Not so bad after all.

Is Deepika Padukone serious about Ranveer Singh? She has to be, she was there by his side when he was discharged from hospital after a severe dengue attack. Is this good or bad news for the upcoming 'Ram-Leela'?

Tattle is that director Sanjay Leela Bhansali wants them to play down the real-life romance. Ranveer talks too much. Shhh. Kareena Kapoor Khan is affronted on being asked if she insists on a no-kissing clause in her contracts. If kisses are relevant to the screenplay, why not? Quite an uncharacteristically professional statement on the eve of the release of 'Gori Tere Pyaar Mein'... and of course she adores her hero Imraan Khan! They make a cool pair, thinks she.

Plenty of careless whispers abound currently. Are the marriages of at least two mad-for-each-other star couples on the rocks? Can they reconcile their differences? Apparently, they're trying. Because cute quotes about the wife sweeten one of the hero's interviews. The other couple, meanwhile, return to Page 3, shaken but not stirred. stirred.😕

Between the gossip squad an the celebrities stands the jury comprising newspaper and magazine readers, satellite channel viewers and netizens. Today, they crave much more proof and authentication. Which is why the jury's still out, no clear-cut verdicts are possible.

Indeed, rumours are intrinsic to popular culture. Celebrities can get antsy but they don't want to be ignored either. Even conflagrations about a damaging piece, eventually lead to a compromised ending. Or a "patch-up" with the journos. As for Amitabh Bachchan's vintage ban on journos in the 1980s, he has claimed that it was the journalists who banned him, and not vice versa. Really? Once practically every journo's mission was to get him to break the ban.

Claim not acceptable. By the way, male actors have it relatively easy. Naturally. They are the stud muffins while the heroines are anointed as "loose, bad girls" By contrast, the heroines who don't go affair hopping become "behenjis" and "ice maidens" in the public imagination.

Fortuitously, once in a while, a behenji can cut across such preconceptions, like Vidya Balan did, following a few liplocks with Arshad Waris and Emraan Hashmi. Post-marriage, she's fetched up only in 'Ghanchakkar', which alas lived up to its title.

And believe this, journalists don't go all the way . They draw the line and don't speak in clear terms if a celebrity is into alternative sex. Such topics do become public knowledge -but are more in the nature of hearsay than established facts. Also, when a star's family member -unconnected to the film industry -faces trouble with his or her marital relationship, the press has chosen to keep mum. So, shouldn't B-town's stars count their blessings? Nope. Instead they crib. Moreover, it's no national secret that the most fertile sources of infotainment are the stars themselves, keen to bitch out a rival. In the event, gossip courses through popular culture's bloodline. It's endemic. As long as your next-door-neighbour and closest friends continue to ask, "So what's the goss?", you know that gossip will never ever kick the scandal bucket.