Author Salman Rushdie, in famous pursuit by controversy and rumour consistently for years now, gave fresh juice to the grapevine in the past two days.

The novelist – hounded by religious fanatics across the world — is in the city to promote his film Midnight’s Children, based on his Booker-winning book and directed by Deepa Mehta. Late on Tuesday, there were whispers about him being admitted at the Masina Hospital in Byculla.