MUMBAI: The Salman Khan – SRK hug last night at an Iftar party (Read Report here) has brought back memories of good times they spent in Bollywood. With Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan ending their cold vibes does it just mean that the stars will publicly stop taking digs at each other?
Bollywood is known to have stories about friendships gone sour and even tales about ‘temporary’ friendships. Even director Mahesh Bhatt had said several times, “There are no permanent enemies and there are no permanent friendships in Bollywood.”
Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan have always shared a healthy camaraderie when it came to the movies.
In Happy Times
It all began with their iconic pairing in Rakesh Roshan’s ‘Karan Arjun’, a film that till date connects deeply with Shah Rukh Khan and Salman’s friendship, both onscreen and off-screen. What followed was SRK and Salman making appearances in each other’s films. Be it Salman Khan as Aman in ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’, the special song in ‘Om Shanti Om’. Even SRK appearing in ‘Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega’ or their pairing with Madhuri Dixit in ‘Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam’, which was the last film, the two shared screen-space together many times. But what was it that triggered the sparks between two great buddies.
The ‘Chalte Chalte’ Incident
The cold vibes between SRK-Salman began when the latter stormed onto the sets of ‘Chalte Chalte’ and lambasted then-girlfriend Aishwarya Rai. This incident supposedly angered SRK so much that he replaced her with Rani Mukherji. But that was too small an issue.
Birthday Blows
The real vibes began post ‘Om Shanti Om’. Salman Khan (after making an appearance in SRK’s film) requested King Khan to do a cameo in ‘ Main Aur Mrs Khanna’ and the actor blatantly refused. This was enough to trigger sparks between the actors. It went to the extent that during Katrina Kaif’s birthday party, Salman Khan allegedly called SRK matlabi (selfish) and this ended up with the actors coming to blows.
Public Potshots
Post that, the actors never missed an opportunity to take potshots at each other in public. Even good friend Aamir Khan tried to reconcile the differences but no avail. Finally five years later, Baba Siddique has to be credited for miraculously (in the auspicious month of Ramzan) uniting the friend-turned-foes.
The Iconic Reunion
At the Iftar party, it was surprising to see Salman Khan who made the first move and extended the olive branch to Shah Rukh Khan. Fans and well wishers can have a relief and we can rest celebrate on Raakhee’s iconic dialogue from ‘Karan Arjun’ – “Mere ‘Karan Arjun’ aayenge.” Lo aa gaye!
The High Road
A lot has been speculated that the reunion, however awkward it was, could be for the camera. With Salman’s verdict on his cases to be out soon, looks like Salman wants to forgive and move on. Typically, Salman Khan has been quite unapologetic when it comes to forgiving (remember Vivek Oberoi’s public apology?) So it is rather surprising that he made the first move this time around. Shah Rukh Khan reciprocated by a hug. maybe he can just compensate by making a cameo in one of Salman’s films. After all, this was the subject of the initial fight.
Shah Rukh Khan also has tweeted:
Finally u realize turning the page is the best feeling in the world, becos there is so much more to the book than the page u were stuck on
— SHAH RUKH KHAN (@iamsrk) July 22, 2013
From this it clearly looks like that the hug was indeed a moment of good emotion and that Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan have burried the hatchet. For everyone else, who wishes to see the icons back on screen again, it’s worth the wait. Directors, it’s probably time to get the old scripts out from the attic, if you had plans of making a film with these two celebrities. Lest we see (not again) another fight emerging! (Pun intended)
