Bollywood circles are abuzz with speculation if it was a coincidence that an MMS clip featuring Ashmit Patel and Riya Sen was circulated just weeks before the release of his maiden film with the actress.

Last Friday, Ashmit and Riya were seen doing more than just saying their dialogues in Khalid Mohamed's "Silsiilay".

Ashmit's role in the film had been turned down by Tusshar Kapoor and Ritesh Deshmukh because they didn 't want to kiss on screen.

Ashmit had no such inhibitions.

Could "Silsiilay" have something to do with the timing of the lurid footage on the MMS? Apparently the footage was shot in a hotel room in between shots.

Youngsters today need all the publicity they can get, what with competition and the temperature heating up. But publicity at what cost?

Ashmit Patel was till the other day a struggler who got a few films because of his sister Amisha's friendship with Vikram Bhatt. In fact Bhatt once confided he had agreed to launch Ashmit "because of family pressures".

Now with the split with his sister, Ashmit has hit on other ways of staying in the news.

Besides doing steamy scenes with his co-stars ranging from Mallika Sherawat in "Murder " to Riya in "Silsiilay", Ashmit has become quite an expert at staying in the news.

Last week he was in the news for getting into a fracas with a man named Upen Patel.

After that, he got together with Sohail Khan and a model named Fardeen and thrashed Anupam and Kiron Kher's son Sikandar Kher in Mumbai.

Young Kher isn't talking about the harrowing incident but an eyewitness said: "Sikandar walked into the restaurant alone and sauntered up to Sohail. He said something to the hot-blooded Khan that blew Khan's fuse.

"Before any of us could react he started pummelling Sikandar. All of us were too shocked to react. And before we knew it, Ashmit and Fardeen joined Sohail in beating up Sikandar. It was a sight we'll never forget."

The Khers, especially Kiron, did not take kindly to this demonstration of temper and a formal complaint was lodged against Sohail and his friends.