AFTER the premiere screening of Jaane Tu … Ya Jaane
Na drew to a close, an impressed Sonam walked up to
Imran and gushed, “I loved your performance.” In
response, Imran just kept staring at her, which led to some discomfort on her part. Finally he said, ‘You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen.’ Sonam was stupefied and said, “OK! OK!” before she took to her heels.

Later, the two stars came face to face when they shot
for a cover of a magazine. They found that they got
along like the proverbial house on fire but, simultaneously, the Tom and Jerry within the two actors also came to the fore. An ongoing battle of wits was set rolling. The poser while posing for the photo-session was: ‘Who’s the taller between the two?’ The outcome emerged that Imran was taller than Sonam but not before a lot of mutual ribbing. Sonam went on to claim, “Imran is the only actor I can have a conversation with”; and Imran retorted, “It is not much of a conversation; it is more of a monologue. I’m a very good listener.” Sonam had her retort ready: “Imran thinks that I talk a lot, but when Avantika (his fiancee), Imran and I went to Singapore, he babbled not-stop. He went on and on.
So I asked Avantika if Imran was really so talkative. She told me that he was comfortable with me and that was why he was talking a lot. Otherwise, he is very quiet.”

The salvos continue to be lobbed from both directions. Sonam described Imran as beautiful (!) in an interview. When we suggested that he call her handsome while interviewing him for I Hate Luv Storys, he chortled; but sportingly added, “The word handsome is referred to a woman of great character; and Sonam is a character.”

He elaborated, “Since she is a character, I call her
‘Aunty’. She is younger to me, but she behaves and talks to me as if she is far older to me — ‘Yeh mat karo, woh mat karo blah blah blah’. I call her aunty to her face but ironically she still hasn’t come up with any name to tease me with. So, thankfully, she sticks to calling me Imran or IK.”

If Sonam needs some suggestions, we’re here to help.