Shah Rukh being targeted again

Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek, Aishwarya, Preity Zinta and Ritiesh Deshmukh, part of the month-long, The Unforgettables Tour, running across US, Canada, UK and the West Indies, have just finished their first two shows in Toronto and Trinidad.

Yesterday, Amitabh Bachchan in his blog made a telling statement about the show. We quote verbatim: "I am shocked and covered in disbelief at being privy personally to a design by certain sections of the media and the fraternity to bring down this show.

To kill it, to malign and write it off. This is shameful and disgusting.

"I have on several occasions spoken of a bias that exists for no reason whatsoever, against us and on each occasion, you my readers, have pleaded that I ignore them for greater dignity and character. But I am compelled to talk about it, dignity can take a walk for a while, because it has already started," wrote Bachchan.

When this reporter spoke to Bachchan in Toronto and asked him to 'talk about it', he chose to sit on the fence. "SRK is a friend and a well-wisher, not just of my family and me, but also of the fraternity and the industry. Also the speculation on the list of names [SRK, Salman and Aamir] is a lot of rubbish. I do not have any issues with any of them."

Says a source in the film industry, "It's difficult to understand whom Amitabh Bachchan means by the 'fraternity'. He has issues with Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan. Is he trying to say that they are out to sabotage his show? Aamir had made nasty remarks about Big B on Black, which Bachchan hasn't forgotten or forgiven though he made pretence of making up at Aamir's Jaane Tu premiere.

Bachchan and his family don't like Salman because of his history with Aishwarya, while his rivalry and cold war with Shah Rukh is a well-known fact especially after Shah Rukh ousted Bachchan from KBC3. Bachchan hasn't forgotten or forgiven him."

An US promoter, on condition of anonymity, confirmed that there have been attempts by a 'big star' to pull down The Unforgettables tour, "A big event organiser in India, has tried in multiple ways, to sabotage our shows.

The attempt was made at the behest of a very big star. This star tried to schedule his shows in UK and the USA in same cities as the Unforgettables tour, just a month before the tour and at half the rates we were offering. But he couldn't do it as it wasn't financially viable. So now the star is spreading rumours of our show in Toronto being a flop with tickets being sold at high prices."

"Mr Bachchan is an experienced hand at shows and is involved at every stage. Nobody will try to mess with us again though they tried very hard. It's an expensive show with each show costing over a million dollars (Rs 4.2 crore), while a Shah Rukh Khan show costs just $4,50,000 (Rs 1.9 crore)."

Upala KBR, Mid-Day

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

Bollywood divided over Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan

The spat between the two Khans, Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan at Katrina Kaif’s birthday party has spilt over to the industry with two camps of supporters rooting for the two actors.

The ugly turn of events started at Katrina Kaif’s birthday party when an inebriated Salman Khan started passing sarcastic comments on poor ratings of his guest Shah Rukh Khan’s show on the television . As things heated up Shah Rukh Khan made an inappropriate comment on Aishwarya Rai, the ex-girlfriend of Salman Khan. Things now almost came up to blows.

Actor Aamir Khan intervened and tried to cool things between the two stars. Then Gauri Khan, SRK’s wife, insisted on leaving the party at once and thus prevented a physical fight between the two.

Now the entire industry is caught up in the spat between the two. Actors like Kareena Kapoor, Akshay Khanna, Zayed Khan, Fardeen Khan, and Ranbir Kapoor called up Salman Khan and expressed their sympathies.

On the other hand, directors like Yash Chopra, Karan Johar, Farhan Akthar , Kunal Kohli and others like Javed Akthar and Sajid Khan made enquiries with Shah Rukh Khan. Thus Salman Khan got sympathies mostly from the actors and Shah Rukh Khan from the directors!

Thus the entire industry is divided in its sympathies over the two king Khans.