MUMBAI : Rani Mukerji is one of the most talented actresses we have in the industry. She started her career with the 1996 release Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat and her career got a boost with the 1998 release Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. She has established herself as an actor and as a star. Rani has a massive fan following and her screen presence is simply mesmerising. Rani has now opened up about a tragic loss she went through in 2020. 

Also Read-Must Read! Top 5 highest-grossing films of Rani Mukerji

As Rani celebrates her 46th birthday today, let us look at the time when she was allegedly having an affair with her Bunty Aur Babli co-star Abhishek Bachchan. Rani made her acting debut with her father’s film, Biyer Phool, but ventured into the HIndi film industry in 1996 with the social drama Raja Ki Aayegi Baaraat. Her first commercial hit was Ghulam and then came many hits like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Hum Tum, Veer-Zaara, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, Bunty Aur Babli, Black, No One Killed Jessica, Talaash, Mardaani and Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway, among many others.

While Rani is happily married to producer Aditya Chopra, heir to Yash Raj Films, she was once linked to many of her co-stars and one prominent name is Abhishek Bachchan.

While there were speculations that the duo was in love, there came reports later that they abruptly broke up. Here are the alleged reasons why this happened.

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Abhishek and Rani have worked together in many films like Bas Itna Sa Khwaab Hai, Bunty Aur Babli, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna and Yuva. The duo’s sizzling on-screen chemistry was often speculated to be carried on off-screen as well. Rani in fact was also fond of the Bachchan parivar and was very often seen with them and Abhishek. 

Priyanka Chopra who was very close to Abhishek once narrated a funny incident where she had sent a message to Rani from his phone. She said, “He (Abhishek Bachchan) stole my phone first. He sat on it. Eventually, he couldn’t sit any longer in the van because he had to get out. I abducted his phone and hid it. I sent a message to somebody from his phone…Just that ‘I miss you, where have you been? You wanna.”

Priyanka then revealed Rani’s reply to the message which was, “Hi AB, what is wrong with you?”

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Rani and Abhishek’s breakup

While fans of Abhishek and Rani were almost sure that the latter would be the Bachchan bahu, Abhsihek ended up marrying Aishwarya Rai in 2007, leaving everyone shocked. The duo’s fans were immensely heartbroken. Rani was reportedly not even invited for their wedding. 

On not being invited to Abhishek and Aishwarya’s wedding, Rani had once said, “Only Abhishek can throw light on that. The truth is that if a person chooses not to invite you to their wedding, you realise where you stand with the person. You may be deluded and think you are friends but maybe the friendship was only restricted to being co-stars on the sets. It doesn’t matter. It became very clear and evident that we were only co-actors and not friends. Poor guy has been married for many years, we should all move on. I will always have fond memories of working with him..”

[[{"fid":"17940619","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default","alignment":"","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"3":{"format":"default","alignment":"","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false}},"attributes":{"class":"media-element file-default","data-delta":"3"}}]]There are many rumours as to why Abhishek and Rani broke up but the main reason was reportedly Jaya Bachchan. She was reportedly never in favour of their alliance and thus Jr Bachchan called off the relationship. 

Reportedly things went downhill after Black released, where Rani had a lip lock scene with Amitabh Bachchan and it created a huge furor in the Bachchan household. 

Rani and Abhishek starred together years later in Laaga Chunari Mein Daag which also starred Jaya. Reportedly there was a lot of bitterness between the two actresses on set. 

As per a source, “Once in between shots, as Jaya and Konkona were sitting separately from Rani, the veteran actress looking and hinting at Rani, asked Konkona whether she would lend her infectious laughter to her for a day. To which, Konkona replied with a huge laugh. This pissed off Rani further. Since then a lot of tension is felt on the sets whenever they are around.”

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Over time, Jaya and Rani buried the hatchet and things went back to normal. The duo were seen recently at the Durga Puja celebrations.

Also Read-Every woman wanted to be Sridevi: Rani Mukerji

Rani got married to producer Aditya Chopra in 2014 and their daughter Adira was born a year later. Rani also once mentioned Adira was born 2 months prematurely and was kept in the ICU for sometime. 

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Credit-BollywoodShaadis