Star Wars

The fledgling truce between Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan over Shah Rukh’s joke about Aishwarya and Salman at Katrina Kaif’s birthday party on Wednesday, seems to have come all but undone. A source present at the party said that while Katrina turned teary-eyed at Salman’s behaviour, it was Aamir who told Salman it was ‘important for them to stick together’. Later that night, he accompanied Salman to Mannat where Salman reportedly apologised to Shah Rukh.

It was an uneasy alliance to begin with - Aamir was blogging about his dog called Shah Rukh, Shah Rukh had flatly refused Salman’s earnest request to do an item number in his home production Main Aur Mrs Khanna and Salman was sniggering that Aamir
wasn’t a Khan at all, but a Hussain. Isn’t he the son of Tahir Hussain?

While the spat may have stunned the industry, Amod Mehra says such differences won’t have any impact on the trade itself. “Whether they fall out or come together, it only makes a difference if there’s a film in question like Karan Arjun or Andaz Apna Apna,” he says.

Could the proximity between the Khans have been fuelled in part by their finding common cause against the Bachchans, especially after Amitabh recently revived the defunct ABCL with the active support of bahu Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and with the new entity, AB Corp, being bankrolled to the tune of Rs 1500 crore by friend Anil Ambani’s Reliance Big Entertainment?

“I don’t think ABCL’s revival is a cause for worry for any of the Khans. Reliance and Amitabh Bachchan have a big roadmap and they will play in their territory. Shah Rukh, Salman and Aamir have individual fan followings and operate as individual players,” says film distributor Rajesh Thadani.

But despite the niceties, there’s little to suggest that they’ve drawn up any common gameplan. Shah Rukh took his time to cool down after Salman earned his ire by creating a scene with Aishwarya on the sets of Chalte Chalte. Now twice bitten, it’s unlikely that the two stars will let down their guard with each other in the future. It’s back to square one.

Saumit Singh & Prithwish Ganguly, DNA