Sushant-Kriti’s affair a publicity stunt for Raabta, reveals source

Over the last few weeks, speculations were rife about ‘Raabta’ co-actors Sushant Singh Rajput and Kriti Sanon being involved in a romantic relationship.

While the couple continued to categorically deny the allegations, the rumours refused to die. The link-up reports first appeared when the two flew off to Budapest a few month back to shoot for Dinesh Vijan’s ‘Raabta’.

The growing closeness between the two was also believed to be one of the pivotal reasons behind Rajput’s split with long-time girlfriend Ankita Lokhande. But, like most Bollywood couples, the lead pair refused to acknowledge their relationship.

However, according a report on SpotboyeE, the denials were a result of a ‘publicity stunt gone wrong’. The report claims that the ‘love story’ between the co-actors was cooked up as a part of a well-planned marketing strategy for the film, which is expected to release in February 2017.

A source close to the development told the portal, “Both Sushant and Kriti are very much single, but everyone knows that link-up rumours always benefit films. To top it all, Raabta is a romantic movie and the audience like to believe that the chemistry between the stars is for real. Such films become hot property when it comes to finding distributors as well.”

When asked if the lead actors were open to their personal lives being dragged into the film’s marketing, the source added, “This is not the first time such gimmicks have been used, so actors understand. The only difference is, the rumours started floating early so that a strong buzz is created by the time Raabta releases. But that ploy backfired when Kriti and Sushant started getting bombarded with questions about their affair almost every day. Now, they are tired of it.”

So, maybe this was one of those cases where there was ‘smoke without fire’.