However professional Bollywood stars are, they are yet to keep their real and reel lives separate.

Film-maker Apoorva Lakhia learnt this the hard way after Abhishek Bacchhan dropped his offer of a role in his forthcoming film Mission Istanbul, scheduled to be on the floor by October. Reason: Apoorva had also cast Vivek Oberoi in the film. After all, how could Abhishek work with his wife's ex-boyfriend?

Initially, it was heard that Vivek had agreed to do a small role in the film to keep alive his friendship with the film-maker. But now Sunil Shetty's name is cropping up for the same role. Vivek had earlier refused to do a supporting role in Guru because Abhishek was in the lead. The character was later played by Madhavan.

High time Abhishek and Vivek realized the futility of ego clashes. They are not yet on top of the star line-up, and if they continue giving good roles a miss, they are bound to slide down further.