All roads led to a suburban five star yesterday evening where Vishal Bhardawaj had organized a glitzy event to celebrate the launch and release of his three books Haider, Omkara and Maqbool. Most of Vishal’s friends and old associates who had professionally collaborated with him in past including Saif and Kareena were invited to be a part of the event which was largely designed to publicize Vishal’s upcoming movie, Haider. The press invite sent out to the media read ‘You are cordially invited for the book launch of Haider, Omkara and Maqbool with Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor….. Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan….’ Now this was certainly one photo-ops no one wanted to miss. Kareena and Saif sharing the podium with Shahid Kapoor to wish and cheer for his upcoming movie Haider was certainly a ‘once in a blue moon’ kind of an affair. The excitement was palpable as lens men and scribes arrived in dozens giving the entire event the look and feel of an awards ceremony. Alas! All those came to a naught when the star couple indulged in a complete no-show leaving media personnel fretting for a while. And no prizes for guessing why Saif and Kareena decided to skip this event. Their presence would have resulted in a huge bombardment of questions Shahid centric questions (Shahid previously dated Kareena before she married Saif) and that would have surely been an embarrassing moment for the power couple. Surprisingly, there was no official statement circulated on Saif and Kareena’s absence until we asked Shahid about his excitement at interacting with Saif and Kareena. “I don’t know who all are coming,” was Shahid’s blunt reply to our question. Vishal Bhardwaj was more forthcoming and said that he had invited them and would have been happy had they been present. Later, once it dawned that Saif and Kareena wouldn’t be attending the event, the organizers sent out a word stating that they were held up in Delhi owing to which they couldn’t make it. However a quick check with our sources revealed that Saif and Kareena were both in town and the former was in fact present at a store launch earlier in the day. It was at IIFA this year when Shahid and Kareena came face-to-face. Here both greeted each other cordially without exchanging any further pleasantries. Well, perhaps Kareena decided to play it ‘Saif’ this time around.