by Subhash K Jha

Friendships in filmdom seem to be a passing fancy, if not a matter of convenience to be done away with whenever the friend is no longer useful.

Another close friendship in filmdom has been rudely and suddenly terminated.

Anupam Kher his wife Kirron, Anil Kapoor and his wife Sunita were inseparable. Until lately the foursome went together to almost every do worth going to.

I've been a personal witness to the Anupam-Anil friendship. While visiting Anil for breakfast, I saw Anupam suddenly appear at Anil's home demanding some breakfast He had just landed in Mumbai and his wife was not on town.

The two looked more like family than friends. "We're inseparable," Anil face had crinkled up warmly. "You could say he's my best friend in the film industry."

So what went wrong? Unlike Anil who denies any friction in their friendship Anupam who's basking in the critical success of Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara comes surprisingly clean.

"Yes it's true Anil and I are no longer friends...at least it appears that way from his behaviour. For the last three months he has stopped talking and communicating with me entirely. All my efforts to reach out to him have been stonewalled. I've given up now."

"I've realized friendships in this industry, no matter how strong they may seem are only about convenience. The day you stop being useful the frienship ends," Anupam sounded more sad than bitter as he prepared to leave for New York.

So what went wrong? According to a mutual friend of the twosome, "It all started when Anupam decided to produce Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara. Anil was already in the thick of making his film about the troubled relationship between Mahatma Gandhi and his son Harilal with Darshan Jariwala and Akshaye Khanna in the two roles."

"Anil clearly saw Anupam's production plans as an encroachment in his territory. He in fact wanted Anupam to play Gandhi. But Anupam declined, thereby triggering off a cold war between the two."

Anupam baulks at the suggestion that it was the Gandhian aspirations that destroyed the friendship.

"How could Anil feel threatened by Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara? My film isn't about Mahatma Gandhi. It's about a man who thinks he killed Gandhiji. If this is the reason for his anger then I'm sorry to say he's completely misinformed."

Whatever the reason, one of filmdom's most durable friendship has ended.