Is it plain coincidence that Akshay Kumar's screen character shares the same nickname as his wife's ex-boyfriend?

Akshay Kumar's pet name in his next release Patiala House is Gattu a strange coincidence as that's the same nickname director Abhishek Kapoor is known by. Interestingly, he's also Akshay's wife Twinkle's ex-boyfriend.

Says a source close to Akki, "Akshay and Twinkle knew his character in Patiala House would be called Gattu and were perfectly comfortable with it.

The real-life Gattu himself is amused by it. When he read his name on the promos he had a hearty laugh and even joked about the publicity he was getting.

Akki, Tina and Gattu are all friends and even attend social events together. Very few people can maintain such cordial and comfortable relationships but the three have behaved maturely about it.

Akshay knew people would remark on the co-incidence but he was fine with it."

Director Nikhil Advani says, "Akshay's screen name in Patiala House is Pargat Singh Kahlon which gets abbreviated to Gattu.

It was our dialogue writer Amrita Dutt's idea to name him Gattu.

Gattu in PH is a Punjabi boy who is a passionate and promising bowler who has to sacrifice his dreams for his father as he doesn't him to play for England.

It's when the younger generation consisting of his nieces and nephews ask him to re-live his dream so that they can achieve their own that he takes up cricket again."