Mumbai, Aug 9 (IANS) Director Kunal Kohli and Farhan Akhtar are not only good friends but are relatives too - thanks to Kohli's dog!

'Farhan and I are now related,' declared Kohli happily. 'My Labrador Phoebe's puppies are now part of Farhan's household. Yes, he took two of the pups,' the 'Hum Tum' director told IANS.

'It all started when Farhan came on my sets and I told him my dog just had pups and would he like one? It so turned out that Farhan's daughter had been pleading with her dad for pups for some time now.'

Two days later Kohli got a call from Farhan.

'His daughter had come to visit a friend in my building. And she insisted on carrying the pup home. All the children of the building came and went as they pleased to play with the pups. So Farhan's daughter came up with her friend and insisted on taking it home there and then,' said Kohli.

Farhan's daughter took one puppy home.

'And then Farhan's wife called up my wife Raveena to ask for one more pup as a companion for the first pup. I'm very happy for my dogs because I know the Akhtars love pets.'

So much for filmmakers being cutthroat rivals!

Very few know that Kohli, who made hits like 'Hum Tum' and 'Fanaa', has a secret club of likeminded filmmakers with whom he meets up regularly.

'We do form a club together - me, Farhan, Madhur Bhandarkar, Rakeysh (Omprakash) Mehra, Ashutosh Gowariker, Raju Hirani and Vipul Shah. We meet regularly in one another's house. I remember at a recent awards ceremony, Raju and I partied, had our meals and did everything together. We're free to comment on one another's films.

'We're free to like each other personally and dislike our works. When Vipul Shah was releasing 'Namastey London', he showed me the film and asked for my honest opinion. I've very close friends in the industry like Aamir Khan and Prasoon Joshi.'

Kohli is making a political satire next.

'I got the idea a while back. It'd be nice to see present day politics with a smile on the face. It's a genre I haven't attempted.'

And Kohli will probably produce the film on his own, away from Yash Raj Films.

So is the political satire a stab at the awards?

'The year I got the golden Filmfare, Ramesh Sippy had got his life's first Filmfare award ever. Can you imagine the maker of 'Sholay' hadn't got a Filmfare award for 35 years?'

Asked about his link-up rumours, he said: 'If you're hinting at Amisha Patel, I thought she was happy with Mr Kanav. Where did I come into the picture? I haven't had a cup of coffee with her. I haven't even spent five minutes with her. Thankfully, my wife laughed off the rumour.'