Have you heard? Hello, neighbour!

Sara Ali Khan and Kartik Aaryan

It looks like rumoured exes Kartik Aaryan and Sara Ali Khan will be bumping into each other a lot more often in the near future. And this is not merely because of director Anurag Basu's plan to cast them in his next, Aashiqui 3. After Sara bought an office space in a commercial highrise in Andheri West in July, news is that Kartik too has invested in one in the same premises. That's not all - reportedly, he has bought his space on the fourth floor of the building, just like she did. The only difference is that his acquisition is a few square feet more than hers, measuring about 2,100 sq ft, for which he paid R10.09 crore. He also paid a stamp duty of Rs 47.55 lakh for the transaction that was registered on September 4. This is Kartik's second real estate purchase in recent months. He previously bought a sprawling apartment in Juhu for about Rs 17.50 crore.

Testing for her debut

Even though she comes from a film family, it wasn't a cakewalk for Paloma Dhillon to bag her big debut movie. Actor Poonam Dhillon and producer Ashok Thakeria's daughter queued up among a pool of over 100 talented newcomers and gave a few rounds of auditions before she was confirmed to essay the leading lady in Avnish Barjatya's Dono, which also marks the debut of Sunny Deol's second son Rajveer. Paloma waited for seven months before bagging the lead role in Sooraj Barjatya's production venture, which arrives in cinemas on October 5.

The long and the short of it

Ayushmann Khurrana likes to experiment with his hairstyles as much as he likes to do with his roles and films. The Dream Girl 2 actor, who is now sporting a short-haired look, credits his new avatar to his followers. Conceding that he is particular about personal grooming, Ayushmann says, "I like to sport different looks, and love experimenting with my hairstyle constantly. For me, a good hairstyle adds confidence and that extra zing to a personality." Revealing that he has been styling his hair differently since his college days, he adds, "Thankfully, because I'm an actor, I get to sport different hairstyles in my films too. People are vocal to me about how they find my hairstyle or what I should be doing with it. I was getting repeated requests to cut my hair short and to style it sharp." It is not surprising that he has been receiving praise for his new hairdo on social media.

Doctor Javed saab now

Veteran writer and lyricist Javed Akhtar was conferred with the Honorary Doctorate of Literature by SOAS University, London, recently. "This came as a pleasant surprise and I am deeply honoured and humbled," said the wordsmith. He was accompanied by actor-wife Shabana Azmi and actor-filmmaker-son Farhan Akhtar. Talking about the felicitation, Shabana shared, "There was also a dinner given in Javed's honour by the President of SOAS, Zainab Badami, who, along with the director, paid glowing tributes to him. Javed also recited a few of his poems, while Farhan and I read out the English translations." She added, "There was also a reception in Javed's honour at the House of Commons by Members of Parliament of the UK, so it has been an amazing trip."

New player in the field

Babil Khan is the newest member of Bunty Walia's All Stars Football Club. Sharing a picture of his appointment, the late Irrfan Khan's son wrote, "Look mama, I made it." Babil has some interesting projects lined up, including YRF's The Railway Men, based on 1984's Bhopal Gas Tragedy.

Nothing personal, just business

Just last week, everyone was talking about how Sunny Deol has buried the hatchet with Shah Rukh Khan after the latter called the former to congratulate him for the success of Gadar 2: The Katha Continues and attended the celebrations over the weekend. With the release of SRK's Jawan, it appears that cut-throat competition thrives; individual interests come first and friendship later. Talk in the trade circuit is that despite decent footfall, the theatrical run of Sunny paaji's Gadar sequel is being cut short with the arrival of SRK's latest. Veteran trade analyst and distributor Amod Mehra posted a picture of Sunny, saying, "Gadar2 earned R500 crore. Now, will it cross R600 crore? Not likely. Gadar2's collections even [on Wednesday] were excellent. Still, the distributors of Jawan forced the single screen exhibitors to discontinue the film. [Thursday] being a big festive day [Gokulashtami], Gadar2 would have continued breaking new records. Dost dost na raha." Point toh hai!