By Amrita Mukherjee
Originally published on AsiaTimes

Amrita Mukherjee

Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut’s ex-boyfriend Adhyayan Suman, gave an explosive interview to DNA saying how he was physically and emotionally abused by Kangana while they were in a relationship in 2008.

This came after Bollywood superstar Hrithik Roshan kicked off a legal battle with Kangana trying to prove that they were never in a relationship. It all started after Hrithik sent Kangana a legal notice asking her to apologize for hinting that he was her “silly ex” in an interview to a website.

Kangana retorted by sending him another legal notice.

Since then there have been leaked emails, allegations by friends, leaked photos, allegations of photoshop abuses and now Adhyayan’s entry into the scene has made things worse.

Adhyayan Suman, who is the son of Bollywood actor Shekhar Suman, who in turn is known for his comedy roles and witty twitter takes, was in a relationship with Kangana Ranaut after they starred together in his second film Raaz 2.

In the interview Adhyayan has given a detailed account of the violence that Kangana had perpetrated on him while they were in a relationship. According to him slapping, hitting and using abusive language came rather easily to her and she also used manipulative techniques like mind games, visits to tarot card readers and even black magic to keep him in the relationship.

Adhyayan says that finally when he broke up with her he was a mentally battered man who had lost out on opportunities in Bollywood, he moved to New York and kept staring at the ceiling for days. It took him five years to mentally heal which he did with the support of his parents.

While many people are lauding Adhyayan for the honesty with which he has spoken in the interview, sadly, the picture he paints of himself through his own words is not the best one.

Here is what I think:

What he says: In 2008 while shooting for the O Jaana song for Raaz 2, we started getting close. We used to go for drives and dinners. One day I took her for dinner at The Taj. I was immature as any 20-year-old and we got into an argument about our exes (hers was Aditya Pancholi) when she got angry and created a scene. She said she was going to the restroom. I waited for an hour then I called her. She told me she was at home. I didn’t understand at that time that there was something eccentric about her behavior. I was like chalo theek hai … 

The next morning when I went to her Lokhandwala home to say “sorry’ with flowers, she didn’t let me in. She told me, “F*** off! It’s over.” Dad called her and she said, “I won’t let him in, Sir. Please tell him to go.” She made me beg for a very long time. I waited for five hours on her steps. I was doing things I never thought I would do.

What I think: He clearly states that he was the one who went back with flowers and even got his father to call her (Gawd! which 20-year-old asks dad to call up his girlfriend and let him in?). And no one can make you beg for five hours if you don’t want to. It’s so clear he was the one dying to be with her and it was not the other way round.

What he says: She got me to shave my hair off while attending the Filmfare awards. I didn’t question it. My hair never looked uglier but she felt I needed a new style.

What I think: Darling! You were a star in the making and you shaved off your head because your girlfriend said so and you did it even when you thought you were looking ugly? You wouldn’t do this unless you desperately want to please her or there is something terribly wrong with your backbone.

What he says: A month into our relationship. We were shooting a song in South Africa, when I got a call from a journalist asking me if I was dating Kangana. I denied it saying she was just a friend, however clichéd it sounded. The journalist told me he had found out that I went to her room at night. I told him that it was wrong to talk about a woman like that. I hung up and she began screaming that, ‘You are trying to hide the fact that you are seeing me! “You think I am just your f*** buddy?”

She made me call back the journalist and tell him how much I loved her etc. I hung up and told her that I’d given him a quote from my side, what about a quote from her? I said tell him that you love me also because otherwise it will sound one-sided. She didn’t do that and I wasn’t able to figure out why. I came back to Mumbai and saw the story splashed across all the papers about how I was besotted by her. I said to her this isn’t how it is. It was mutual. My father was furious. He felt the story should not have been one-sided.

What I think: If a young actor is besotted with an actress, what is wrong with that? Why was papa dear so upset? It was publicity anyway and since he’s got so much Bollywood exposure he should have known Adhyayan wouldn’t have got half the publicity that he got because they were a couple. Even now if he’s got back to public memory it is because of this interview on Kangana.

What he says: Yes. I was with her in Bangkok when my father saw the first cut of Jashn on Dec. 31, 2008 and he called me at night and got emotional. He said that he was very proud of my performance. He said when I came back I would have a surprise waiting for me on my birthday — January 13. On my birthday eve, at my home, dad called me down and gave me the keys to my dream car — a BMW 7Series. I was thrilled and touched when my dad gifted it to me! It wasn’t about a father spoiling his son, but a father who had seen the work of his son and was proud of him. I cried and hugged him. Kangana had left earlier as she didn’t want to face the media. I wanted to share my happiness with her and called her to tell her about my dad’s gift. She said coldly, “Achcha? Really? They gifted you a one crore car? Aisa kya ukhada tumne life mein?” This was when she had won a National Award for Best Supporting Actress for Fashion and had no work. I remember her frustration of not getting any work for four-five months. In less than a week’s time, she went to Hyderabad and called me to say, she’d signed the Telugu film Ek Niranjan with Prabhas. She came back and booked the same car dad had gifted me! She had no money so she went all the way to Hyderabad to sign the film and buy the car. Kangana couldn’t take it that I had a car, she couldn’t afford. There were stories in newspapers about how she had bought the same car as me, etc. This was two months before our break-up. Later, I sold off my car because of the pressure of failure.

What I think: For once Kangana Ranaut was right. Star kids do get it easy in Bollywood. It does hurt to see when your boyfriend gets a BMW 7 Series for just doing three films and she might have been knocking doors for roles, taking into her stride casting couch proposals and struggling for a foothold in Bollywood despite having a National Award in her kitty. Being gifted a BMW and buying one with your own money are two different things. Would Adhyayan know that? Maybe Kangana wanted to give him an idea of what it takes to buy one.

What he says: Yes. I’d always see her eccentric behavior as a woman’s emotions. But it started getting worse. One day when I was at her house, time, Bhattsaab called me after seeing the rushes of Raaz 2 and told me he loved my work and he would direct me. He quit directing by then, so I was like ‘Wow, that’s amazing!’ I was talking on speakerphone and she was hearing everything. She told me, “Behen**** mujhe koi kyun nahi phone kar rahe yaar?” That was the first time I heard her abuse. I was made to feel guilty and like shit for no reason. I realised that she wasn’t happy that the Bhatts had started giving me so much attention. I made sure that Mukeshji and Bhattsaab called her told her how good she was too.

What I think: Adhyayan should know that it’s usually the competitive streak in them that make people stars. Bombastic egos and tantrums are also starry traits. I was reading an article that day about a big director shooting a multi-starrer in Bollywood and he had to can different endings giving each star equal importance. Later though the film had the ending that he wanted to have but he had to take the extra shots and give the extra time just to keep sanity on the sets. And by the way why where you talking to Bhatt saab on speaker phone? Flaunting the conversation to her? Are we missing the context here?

What he says: It was during the shooting of Kites. She got friendly with Hrithik and his wife. There were occasional dinners with them and I went for a few. Hrithik had invited Kangana for his birthday and he called me also. I brought flowers and an expensive champagne. We were sitting and talking when Hrithik walked in. She cut me abruptly, picked up my flowers and champagne and handed it to him saying, “Happy birthday! This is from me for you.” She didn’t even introduce me. She started networking and I was left alone with a drink in my hand. I was feeling really upset and left and I got a little high. One moment she made me feel loved and then in the next, it was like I was a nobody in her life!

What I think: If Adhyayan had been going out for occasional dinners with Hrithik then he knew him, if Hrithik invited him to his birthday then he knew him, then why did he say that Kangana didn’t introduce him to Hrithik at his birthday party? The statements are contradictory.

What he says: I was walking down the stairs with her, when she turned around and slapped me! She said, “Mother Fu***, behen****! Bh*sd*ke! You are f***** jealous of my success!” The intensity of the slap was so hard I was almost crying. That was the first time she got violent.

My only thought was: The entire media was outside. How am I going to get out and go? I was tearing up like a child and shivering at the violently abusive language. She told me to drop her home, and then in the car, she started hitting me. Eventually, I asked my driver to stop the car. I decided to take a rickshaw home. I was in the middle of the road crying and shouting at her, “You are crazy! F***** up!” And she was abusing me MC/BC gaalis. My family driver of 20 years came crying to me and said, mere liye thoda sa bhi pyar hai toh ghar chalo. I will never forget that night. I dropped her home and she picked up her stiletto and threw it at me! I picked up my phone and smashed it against the wall. I didn’t know how to vent my anger. That was the start of her physical violence with me.

The next day we had a press meet for Raaz 2 at my building. Kangana said she wouldn’t come. Our PR started panicking but then she turned up. I took held her hand and said, “Baby I am so sorry. I love you.” She slapped me hard, again. I was just zapped! I was crying like a kid… and then the entire rant and MC/BC gaalis began.

On Jan. 13, 2009, at my birthday party at home, after most people left, Mohit Suri, Kangana, Kunal Deshmukh, my parents and dad’s few close friends were talking about how actors sometimes tend to sell our souls for commercial films. Kangana started to get offended and said, ‘We don’t sell our souls.’ Dad said he was giving a generic example but she took it personally and she called my father a b****** in front of everyone. My father was furious. She left screaming started screaming abuses at him in Hindi. One thing I can’t still forgive myself for — I was a bad son to my parents during that time. This one moment changed my life forever— the way she spoke to my father. But at the time, she had manipulated my mind so beautifully that rather than breaking up with her that night, I screamed at my father. I smashed things because I was losing my mind.

What I think: Okay, even if we accept Kangana was being violent with Adhyayan but he himself says he smashed his own phone. And he smashed things again after an altercation with his father. Must say he is no less a smashing dude. And well, after being slapped and beaten — if someone can go and say “I love you the next day” there’s something wrong with the person’s sense of self worth I am sure.

What he says: People magazine wanted us on the cover. I learnt that she called the magazine editor and said she didn’t want to shoot with me, but with Imran Khan whose film Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na was a hit. I lost out on a couple of covers because of her. Rather than people talking about my successful film, media would write stories about me being besotted with her. My career suffered because of that.

What I think: Does being on the cover of a magazine ensure roles or acting abilities do? As far I know John Abraham always talked about being besotted by Bipasha Basu when they were in a relationship and Saif Ali Khan even now says that among the two of them Kareena Kapoor is more famous. Have their careers suffered for that? Sadly Adhyayan sounds so much like a loser.

What he said: She gave me her phone’s old chip to transfer to her new phone. While doing that I saw her inbox was all empty — which was okay as it was a new phone — but there were 50-70 messages to Hrithik Roshan. I knew she was eyeing him from back then, from the time she went to Las Vegas for Kites. Hrithik had hurt his arm and she had gone to see him. I knew her desperation to get to know him well. I asked her about these messages. She said that he was her co-star and she had to talk to him like that. She made me believe that all those texts to him were casual. And I could believe that because whenever I met Hrithik and her together, he always maintained his distance.

What I think: Dearie, is it a nice thing to look at your girlfriend’s texts when she has trusted you with the chip transfer? And this inbox empty and outbox full story needs a bit better packaging. You mean to say she never got any messages from anyone else and only sent out 50-70 texts to Hrithik?

What he says: One day, Kangana called me at home in the night to do some puja. I reached at 11.30 pm as the puja was to start at 12. She had a small guest room in her apartment and she had covered it in black, including black curtains. There were some random statues of God, fire all around, some scary things (kept) puja. She asked me to chant some mantras, and locked me in. I was terrified. I didn’t do it and I came out and told her that I had. Then she started taking me to Pallavi frequently. One day, Pallavi said go to the graveyard at 12 am and throw these certain things. I was chilled to the bone! I didn’t go.

What I think: Bollywood’s obsession with numerology, black magic, panditjis, puja, good luck charm and name changes is nothing new. Grapevine has it that one top star once had to be rushed to the hospital because he was unwell but he only entered at the time his astrologer told him too. The same happened while leaving the hospital. But for once Adhyayan showed some character though. He said no to going to the graveyard at midnight. Or, is he scared of ghosts?

What he said: She wasn’t even a star when I met and we started dating. It was me who came from a star background so who used who?

What I think: Sorry, this makes me laugh. So what’s Adhyayan’s source of income these days?

The story was originally published on Asia Times, HERE