Read on to rate 2008 on Bollywood romance meter

Real-life Bollywood romances: 2008

The year has been extreme for Bollywood when it comes to romance.
Shocking splits, even more hasty couplings, and rumours about on-and-
off pairs. Here, we take a look at the sad splits, the new loves, the
in-betweens and the rock-solid relationships. Read on to rate 2008 on
the Bollywood romance meter…

Sad Splits

This young couple seemed the toast of Bollywood. Beautiful, successful,
ambitious-it only seemed natural for the brand new stars to pair up.
Deepika Padukone and Ranbir Kapoor dated for a year, but now reports
claim that the couple has split. Both Padukone and Kapoor are yet to
give statements to the press about their break-up. Padukone was dating
model Nihar Pandya and cricketer Yuvraj Singh, before Kapoor.

The newest Kapoor star too has had his share of relationships, notably
with Avantika Malik who is now dating newest heartthrob Imran Khan.
He was also said to be dating Saawariya co-star Sonam Kapoor.

Bheja Fry made Vinay Pathak a semi-star, but ironically his personal
life took a turn for the worse. Pathak filed for divorce from wife
Sonika Sahay in June this year. While reasons are unclear as both
refuse to talk about the split, it has surprised the industry. Pathak
and Sahay met at an ad film shoot and married a few months later.
The couple has two children.

Another couple that appeared rock-solid separated this year. Rumours
have been floating that Arshad Warsi, who became a household name after
playing the lovable rogue Circuit in Munnabhai, and Maria Goretti,
actress, former VJ and anchor have called off their 16-year-old
relationship. They dated for six years and were married for ten; the
couple also has two children. While both sides have yet to confirm the
split, it is said that it was Warsi’s obsession with work that led to the break-up.

Director of unconventional films like Black Friday and No Smoking,
Anurag Kashyap split with his wife Aarti, an established film editor
later last year. Friends and well-wishers were hoping for
reconciliation, but Kashyap has moved on and is dating Kalki Koechlin,
a theater actress who is also making her film debut with Dev D.
Truly, this has been the year of sad splits. Let’s hope the separated
pairs reunite or finds their soul-mates soon enough.

The In-Betweens:

They have been and in-between couple for the longest time. But Salman
Khan and Katrina Kaif`s relationship has suffered some jocks recently.
The first was the reported closeness that Kaif shared with her co-star
Akshay Kumar. Together, they gave several hits and the audience loved
them together. Some publications carried photographs of Kaif with Kumar
at a derby that fuelled this controversy. The couple weathered through
this storm only to be hit by another.

At Kaif`s birthday party in July, the who`s who of Bollywood was
invited. Salman misbehaved with guest Shah Rukh Khan leading to a
brawl. SRK walked out immediately with wife Gauri and friend Karan
Johar in tow. The tabloids had a field day building up on the story as
days went by.

Since Kaif was looking forward to celebrating the birthday with her
colleagues from the industry, also cementing her professional contacts,
this incident disappointed her. There are whispers that she is upset
with the brash ways of Salman Khan, but sources believe she`s unable to
leave him as she feels he supported her during her struggling days.

New Loves:

New love blossomed for Fashion star Kangana Ranaut this year. Earlier
involved with the much-married Aditya Panscholi who also misbehaved
with her last year, Ranuat has found new love. She is now dating
Shekhar Suman`s son Adhyayan who made his unspectacular debut in Haal-e-Dil.

Amisha Patel’s split with long-time boyfriend Vikram Bhatt was a
surprise. But the feisty lady has fallen in love again. She walked in
hand-in-hand with a handsome man for the India Fashion Week earlier
this year. The mysterious new man was Kanav Puri, a Delhi-based
businessman. The new couple, who keep enjoying holidays around the
world, is basking in their new romance.

ce was confirmed by 2007-end; and the couple is still going strong.
It’s not an ideal situation: Khan has a string of failed relationships
behind him. He’s also the father of two children. Kapoor’s family
earlier disapproved of Khan, as he is much older than Kareena and is
also a father.

But Saif’s love for Kareena bowled them over; he also got himself a
tattoo of her name. Not only are they fiercely loyal to each other,
but are also one in showing solidarity to Mumbai after the 26/11 terror
attacks on the city.

Both sent separate, heart-felt letters to newspapers conveying their
outrage at the attacks. So not only do their hearts beat together,
their minds think alike as well!

Rani Mukherjee and Aditya Chopra are said to be steady and news of
their impending wedding keeps cropping up on and off. Priyanka Chopra
and Harman Baweja were rumoured to go kaput after the massive flop of
Love Story 2050, but the couple has trailed passed this crisis quite neatly.

John Abraham and Bipasha Basu have enjoyed a good year professionally
and are going strong. Lara Dutta and Dino Morea are stronger than ever
and Dutta recently celebrated Morea`s birthday with his family.
Wedding bells on the anvil?