MID-DAY (November 6, 2014)

Katrina Kaif and Ranbir Kapoor returned to Mumbai on Tuesday night after completing the Thailand schedule of their upcoming film, Jagga Jasoos. If sources are to be believed, Kat drove straight to Krishna Raj, her rumoured beau’s bungalow in Bandra, to meet Rishi Kapoor, who is down with malaria and dengue. Kapoor Sr had been hospitalised on October 30 and was discharged on Monday.

An insider says, “The two landed at the city airport around midnight and Katrina decided to head to the Kapoors’ to meet Ranbir’s dad. The actress stayed back at their place till early hours of Wednesday.” Since Ranbir was shooting abroad, he was constantly being updated by his family about his father’s health, says the source.

Katrina was not available for comment.

Rishi Kapoor jokes about his new ‘fan-following’, as he recovers from malaria and dengue
DNA (November 2, 2014)

There is a constant flow of visitors in Rishi Kapoor’s room at Lilavati hospital where the actor is recovering from a bout of malaria and dengue.

Contrary to ill-informed reports, that say Rishi is now home, the actor is expected to be discharged on Monday. The actor spoke to this paper from his hospital bed, “I am still under observation. I am feeling fine — no weakness, no nausea, no loss of appetite. Yes, I was attacked my malaria and dengue. Now friends who are dropping in joke, ‘You seem to have a fan-following among the female species of mosquitoes. The dengue and malaria spreading mosquitoes are fighting for your attention. The mosquitoes of Mumbai have decided to make me their brand ambassador.”

Rishi, we are told, is being kept in the hospital for now for practical reasons. Being a high-profile dengue patient, there is an inquiry by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) about mosquitoes breeding in his bungalow’s backyard. Says Rishi, “I am fine in the hospital. Dengue has a way of recurring on the 5th or 6th day after recovery. I am under observation right now. I’ll be home on Monday.”

Dengue and malaria, says Rishi, have become a way of life in Mumbai. “How does a Mumbaikar escape them? We learn to accept it as a part of your life. Television actors tell me they’re constantly under attack from mosquitoes while shooting in Film City and Goregaon. Every day, after 6 pm, they are attacked by mosquitoes. How can you be a part of Mumbai and expect to escape them. They’re part of the Mumbai’s lifestyle. I have been advised to use Odomos. I used that in boarding school. You want me to go back to my school days?”

Rishi is happy to take time off. “I get to sleep in the afternoon, which I don’t get to do when I am working. But then there is steady flow of friends of visitors, phone calls and messages. Even the hospital staff is constantly in and out of my room. Yash Chopra had been a victim of dengue. Naturally, there is some concern about my health. But I am fine now.”