★ Anatomy of an embrace !

Vickey Lalwani | Jul 23, 2013



Don't uncork that bubbly yet, 'the hug' may not change anything.

A day after Salman Khan embraced Shah Rukh Khan at an Iftar party, members of their respective cliques are still undecided if they should be on an emulative hugging spree as well.

A leading distributor (on request of anonymity) says, "I am not convinced that SRK and Salman have patched up. Let's not jump to conclusions. Only if they continue to remain civil to each other from here on, should we read more into it. It was a situation where Salman could not have avoided SRK. Ramzan is on, you have to be courteous to each other at an Iftar party."

For those who were witness to the Kodak moment, it was Salman who made the small but significant overture. "Look closely, you will see it is Sallu who reached out to SRK," says a guest. Papa Salim makes no bones about it. "I am glad my son broke the ice," he says, though dismissive about the brouhaha over the hug. "There's no problem in this world that cannot be solved with a dialogue. Colleagues, lovers and friends - they all fight- but don't they realise their mistake and reunite after sometime? Sensibility is always the winner," says the veteran writer, drawing analogies from his cordial relationship with former writing partner Javed Akhtar. "We parted as colleagues but continue to be civil to each other," he points out.

A source close to SRK says the actor was caught by surprise. And that the 'photo opportunity' was not preplanned. "SRK knew Salman was expected at the party, but he had no idea he would actually reach out for him. With a hundred cameras and eyes on them, he is too much of a gentleman to rebuff a polite gesture." Salman's friends claim he acted spontaneously. "Just as he does not hesitate to speak his mind, he often wears his heart on his sleeve as well. This can both be good and bad. People are not machines who can be switched on or off you know," said a well-wisher of the actor.

Salman loyalist Wajid (of Sajid-Wajid fame) concurred: "Salman bhai thinks with his heart. Moreover, it is Ramzan and the spirit was that of harmony and togetherness. All bad things come to an end one day, don't they?"

While those close to SRK insist there is no real rapprochement in the offing, there are those who are keen to see an end to the five-year acrimony that had no room for fence sitters. So if a Deepika or a Priyanka, both SRK-loyalists, have not had a chance to work with Sallu yet, Sajid-Wajid have had no luck with composing for SRK either. Things got more complicated when recent developments pushed sworn SRK loyalists such as Arjun Rampal into the 'other camp,' and even Abhishek Bachchan raised a toast to the future with his wife's former bete noire.

Trade analyst Taran Adarsh agrees: "The groupism should end. Also, Salman's fans ran down SRK's movies and SRK's fans badmouthed Salman's films. This too will not happen now. SRK and Salman were very close professionally and personally. Bitterness now gone, it's a big relief."

SRK's close friend Chunkey Pandey, who was present at the party welcomed the apparent camaraderie between the two most influential actors: "This was meant to happen one day. SRK and Salman belong to the same fraternity, they have several common friends, they stay in the same neighbourhood. I never thought that they won't make up," he says with conviction.

In fact, Arbaaz too was all praise for SRK in a recent interview. "SRK's work and fan following is enough to prove his worth in the industry. I would want to work with him," he had said.

But once again, it is the voice of experience that strikes a cautious note. Says Salim Khan: "Don't make a big deal of this moment. Don't expect the industry to suddenly become one cohesive unit either. Everyone is here for personal gain."

Mumbai Mirror