Two Great Bollywood Titans At Loggerheads?

Shah Rukh Khan is completely silent on the much-discussed issue about the undeclared war between the Bachchan father and son jodi and himself. Media reports say that the Bachchans caused the fall of SRK’s film Paheli by sandwiching it between their two successful films Bunty Aur Babli and Sarkar. But the Big B has jumped up to deny the allegation as ‘baseless’. “SRK is the king of Bollywood and anyone who does harm to him is foolish,” said the Big B, “We are just actors who do our work and go home to rest.”

Mumbai: Jul 21, 2005/Sawf News Service/ --Can you imagine a war of unspoken words between superstars Amitabh/Abhishek Bachchan and the Badshah of Bollywood Shah Rukh Khan? You will probably say this is disaster! However, rumours in India say that the father son pair did their best to ‘sandwich’ the release of SRK’s Paheli between their blockbusters Bunty Aur Babli and Sarkar, thus making sure that it did not have thumping success in its first week or its release weekend. Upon hearing this vicious rumour on the sets of two films, which the Big B is shooting in Bangkok, Amitabh Bachchan – who has given four hits in this year (Black, Waqt, Bunty Aur Babli and now Sarkar) – said he was shocked at the bad taste of such gossip. “We just do our jobs and go home. There is no room for meaningless gossip in our lives,” said Amitabh on behalf of the father-son duo. Abhishek’s flying success and upward-jumping career have caused such rumours, say insiders. Big B and his son have shown what magic they can bring to the big screen, so people are beginning to gossip about them, they said. But the Big B is an icon of grace. He typically said, “Shah Rukh Khan is the king of Bollywood. How can anyone challenge him? The producers fixed the release dates of our films long ago without consulting us. What have we to do with these formalities? We are only actors who have to report for work and do the best we can. Such gossip questions my integrity and my friendship with SRK. No one can guarantee the success of a film. Most actors are so busy that there is no time for such activities. Shah Rukh Khan is a close friend and he knows this.”

On the positive side, there is news that Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Salman Khan have made up and are rocking together at small parties and get-togethers. SRK and Salman had fallen out over Aishwarya Rai. SRK and Aamir were never close friends. But things have improved and the threesome is cozy together according to reports. Salman’s trend of showing off his disrobed torso is also catching up. In Paheli, SRK appears often without his shirt or kurta to offer eye candy to women viewers. Aamir did this in Lagaan but is not yet known to take off his shirt for female viewing.