Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt's Off And On Rivalry Is Nothing Short Of A Film Script
Updated : July 02, 2018 01:49 PM IST
Star kids of popular Bollywood veterans, spoilt, have had a controversial journey as individuals and iconic in their own right, Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt are too similar not to be friends. They have worked together in Saajan and Chal Mere Bhai in which their chemistry was more talked about than their pairing with any female lead. The two actors have been thick though two long decades and have stayed rock solid through all of it, backing each other through failures and celebrating each other’s success.
But at one point it all seemed to be crumbling down after so many years between Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt or at least the awful lot written about them in the tabloids suggests so. Speculations of a rift between these Bollywood biggies did not, however, start with Sanjay Dutt calling Salman Khan arrogant.
Sanjay once played a Word Association game in New Delhi and in a rapid-fire the first word that came to his mind to describe Salman was ‘arrogant’! With that, the tabloids were abuzz speculating a feud between the two actors. But could one word just sum it up when there are no questions asked or clarifications sought?
Salman Khan invited trouble into their friendship back in 2011, Sanjay who has always seen a younger brother in him invited him to his wife Manyata’s birthday party. There are several versions to what happened at the party but the bottom line remained that Salman misbehaved and got into a fight first with Sanjay’s best friend Bunty Walia and later with Manyata Dutt. It was inevitable for Sanjay not to hold this against Salman.
Sanjay was also offered by Salman to play his father in his blockbuster Bodygaurd, but the actor politely refused saying he is not old enough for the role. Neither the request nor the response on the matter went down well with both stars and the rift became so evident.
Dutt surrendered before the court to serve his remaining punishment for illegal possession of arms in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts and Salman swore that he wouldn’t party till Sanjay was released from prison. Things seemed back on track and with his punishment due for competition, younger brother Salman was kind enough to offer Sanjay his manager Reshma Shetty’s aid to be able to manage his upcoming projects when he was out on a 30 day parole. Sanjay accepted the offer but matters again turned sour when Reshma hiked Sanjay’s pay for upcoming film clients and when Sanjay came out and was he was shocked to know the hiked fee that was being demanded on his behalf. Many producers keen on working with him post his release always went away hearing the fee.
This again became a matter of contention between them as Sanjay was deprived of some valuable work he was looking forward to post-prison time. Moreover, Salman’s name wasn’t amongst the lineup of celebrity visitors at Sanjay’s home post his release. It wasn't as if Salman and Sujju never crossed paths after. They were both in attendance at Kresha Bajaj's wedding reception but gave a royal ignore to each other at the function. That spoke volumes about their icing friendship.
Sanjay held a press conference in his Pali Hill residence and on being asked if all was well with Salman, the actor responded by saying, “Salman Mera Chota bhai hai aur humesha rahega. Main pray karta hoon wo isse bhi bada star baney.” He reinstated the statement again on his 57th birthday and even said that Salman had wished him over a phone call and they cannot meet up every day.
After shooting down all speculations of a fight, rumors were abuzz that Salman had even asked Sanjay to relieve Ranbir Kapoor from taking any part in his recently released biopic Sanju. Salman has a bitter history with Ranbir who was accounted responsible for Salman and Katrina Kaif breakup. With the film announced back in 2016, we know that Sanjay never paid heed to this request, as Ranbir will be playing Sanjay in the film.
Salman did get back on that statement when he recently said that Sanjay Dutt could have played himself in the later parts of his film.
A source quoted by a leading daily recently said “None of Sanju’s films are taking off. He announced three films but none have happened although he is in the best shape today and raring to go. He also owns a production house so he approached Salman to act in his home production, thinking his buddy would give the green signal. But Salman’s date diary is choc-a-bloc with his film, brand and Being Human commitments and he had to turn down Dutt. But he didn’t know how to refuse a friend so he asked his team to do it. Naturally, Sanju did not take this too well."
This was soon followed by Sanjay’s crisp arrogant remark and it sent the media speculating a feud between them.
Sanjay's career, however, did concern Salman who is said to have visited him in his suite when they were both present for the IIFA Awards in Madrid. Khan started rattling off giving advice to Sanjay on how to rejuvenate his career, as reported by Spotbye. This did not go down well with the Munna Bhai actor and they got into a huge tiff. Sanjay and family never attended the event even after arriving for it and instead took off for a vacation.
As far as their 25 years of friendship goes it seems that Salman feels entirely free to make his demands to his elder brother Sanjay no matter how irrational they might be. Bollywood’s temperamental Khan, after all, has a reputation of acting on his instincts. But has Salman crossed the line and gone too far this time for Sanju Baba’s acceptance? This the big question facing their friendship.
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