“Aishwarya is a very respectable professional. It hurts to see how her sheer hard work is ridiculed to build one spicy story by the media. She has been a soft target. And the sort of rumours rising now can damage my relationship with her. She has been my friend for a long time and I am afraid I will have a fallout with her,” Shah told IANS over phone from Mumbai.

“There are certain people who are making systematic attempts to destroy my relationship with Aishwarya. There are gossip mongers who are spreading baseless rumours that she has refused to dub for ‘Action Replay’ after seeing the rushes. But none of this is true,” he added.

Shah gives three reasons to prove that all the rumours are baseless.

“Firstly, when the shooting of the film has not been completed, where’s the question of the rushes and dubbing? Secondly, I haven’t even seen the ‘edit’ of the film. After the shoot completes, it will take at least two and a half months to put it in order for a final cut; so there is no need for dubbing at the moment.

“And lastly, ‘Action Replay’ is in sync sound, so dubbing is totally out of the question. Besides, I have been busy for ‘London Dreams’; Aishwarya has been busy shooting ‘Ravana’ and ‘Guzaarish’. She has been travelling a lot so we didn’t even have time to take ‘Action Replay’ forward. What is the logic behind these rumours then?” he added.

This apart, there were also rumours that Aishwarya had repeatedly rejected one of music composer Pritam Chakraborty’s song for the film. But Shah denies it.

“It was I who had rejected Pritam’s song thrice, not Aishwarya. The song was for her entry in the film and I wanted to crack a big song. I never allow my actors to my music recording studio – then from where have these rumours come out from?” he asked in an agitated tone.

Shah, who made hits like “Singh Is Kinng” and “Namastey London”, is yet to shoot the last leg of the movie, which also features actor Akshay Kumar and Neha Dhupia.

“The last schedule of the film is still pending. We have planned to shoot it in December or January. Currently I am doing the recce for the locations,” he said.

“This shot of me in a backless posture and Saif with a wound on his chest tell so much about the film’s theme,” Kareena told IANS.

“There is love, passion and violence – all combined in here and what better way than to show it through a single still? You too would agree that there is nothing sleazy or vulgar about it. Knowing the sensibilities of Karan Johar (producer) and Rensil D’Silva (director), that’s the least one could have expected,” she added.

Kareena said that after Geet in “Jab We Met”, her character of Avantika in “Kurbaan” will make people sit up and take notice.

“The girl’s role has a lot of edge in ‘Kurbaan’, something which starts becoming more and more visible as the film unfolds. In any case the film is not one of those cliched love stories. Every character has quite a few layers to it and Avantika, the character I play, is no exception. She is quite pivotal to ‘Kurbaan’,” she said.

Kareena plays a professor in “Kurbaan” who gets married to her colleague, played by Saif Ali Khan. They move to New York after marriage, but as a series of events unfold she finds herself into a vortex of danger and intrigue.

She further realises that she is a pawn in a huge game and no one could be trusted.

“What made this role special is the fact that I play this young beautiful professor who is quite normal. She reacts to terrorism for the first time and life is never the same again for her,” she said.

“Actually if you ask me, then technically ‘Kurbaan’ is the story of this girl. She is the light of the screen. I am sure people will cry with Avantika…so strong is her characterisation,” the actress said.

After “Jab We Met”, Kareena was seen in “Main Aurr Mrs Khanna”, “Kambakkth Ishq”, “Tashan” and “Golmaal Returns”. And except “Golmaal Returns”, none of the films did well at the box office.

Kareena is delighted about the prospects of audiences seeing her in a different light after the film and says it is not a frothy romance drama.

“‘Kurbaan’ has a deep-rooted love story to it, but it is not a frothy romantic film that we are time and again exposed to. The love story is much deeper here. There is a definite meaning, purpose and reason to it. Also, the film is quite powerful in its own way since it’s the voice of moderate Islam,” she said.

The film, which also stars Vivek Oberoi, Om Puri, Kirron Kher and Dia Mirza, is releasing Nov 20.

“Ranbir and I are of course competitors. But there’s no negative rivalry between us. Our respective fathers (Nitin Mukesh and Rishi Kapoor) would kill us if we behaved like two brats fighting for the same roles,” Neil told IANS.

“I’m proud that Ranbir’s and my grandfather (Raj Kapoor and Mukesh) were very close friends. My father and Ranbir’s father adore each other. Ranbir is like my younger brother,” he added

Neil’s “Jail” and Ranbir’s “Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani” releases on the same day.

“I’d want Ranbir’s film to do as well as mine,” Neil says. “Fortunately, ‘Jail’ and ‘Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani’ look like north and south poles.”