Om shanti om in B-town

Last week, two rather different sets of warring friends were reported to have buried their differences in the only way that means anything in Bollywood: they talked about doing a film together.

The first was a Khan vs. Khan confrontation that was finally resolved when Shah Rukh Khan is said to have green-lighted Farah Khan's Happy New Year . It's a film both of them were supposed to have worked on a couple of years ago, before Tees Maar Khan and Shirish Kunder's tweets queered the pitch.

Then, in a less publicised move, veteran director Subhash Ghai dropped in to visit Amitabh Bachchan at his residence, Jalsa, to discuss a film.

Ghai and Bachchan have had a cold war of sorts for some 25 years now after Ghai's film Devaa was scrapped because of differences between the two. They never worked together after that.

The rest of the media dutifully picked up the story angle; else, the visit might have gone unnoticed. Not only because the Ghai-Bachchan fallout happened all those years ago, but also because both the director and superstar belong to a generation that believes in presenting a stiff upper lip or at least a polite face in such matters.

Shah Rukh and Farah's generation has learnt to swim with the sharks — and feed them from time to time as well.

On the face of it, this seems like a more open, honest way of dealing with such confrontations. But don't be fooled; much of it is strategy as well. Going public with a visit or a private understanding is a way of establishing the power equation in unambiguous terms. Because the war is fought in the public eye, it is important for the victor and the vanquished to be acknowledged by the world as such.

When Farah Khan and her tweet-happy husband Shirish Kunder went on a peace mission to Shah Rukh's residence, Mannat, it was an act of submission, an admission of wrong-doing. Once that was established, Shah Rukh returned the gesture. The power lines were clearly drawn.

A rapprochement usually happens when both sides decide (reluctantly or gracefully) that they need each other. If one is riding far higher than the other, there are few chances of burying the hatchet. In this case, both Farah and Shah Rukh have tasted some degree of disappointment with their latest movies — Tees Maar Khan and Ra.One respectively, while their two outings together, Main Hoon Na and Om Shanti Om , have been huge commercial successes.

You could argue that Shah Rukh is in a far superior position as one of the kings of Bollywood, but then, even superstars need directors to give them hits.

In the other case, as things stand now, Subhash Ghai clearly needs Amitabh Bachchan more than the other way around. His last two movies, Yuvvraaj and Kisna , bombed and his production house has not been doing too well, either. Not surprisingly, Ghai proclaimed that he was entirely responsible for the Devaa snafu.

Contrast this with Bachchan's long-standing cold war with actor and BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha.

The two have never been friends even if they haven't declared open war. But there was a public outburst on the occasion of Abhishek Bachchan's wedding when the family invited very few people from the industry (causing much heartburn) and sent out mithai boxes with a note to the excluded lot. An enraged Sinha returned his mithai box.

Now that the second generation is in action, the question is: will Abhishek Bachchan work with Sonakshi Sinha? Unlikely, is my guess.

Ditto about his working with Kareena Kapoor — a combination that would have happened multiple times already if Abhishek's engagement to Kareena's sister Karisma had not broken off. Then there are Yash Chopra and Aamir Khan, who have never talked about their fallout of sorts, which happened when the director offered Aamir the role Shah Rukh went on to do in Darr (1993). Aamir demanded a joint story sitting with all the main actors, but did not get it and refused to do the movie. He didn't work with Yashraj for years after that; the ice was broken only 12 years later with Fanaa (2006). Director Kunal Kohli was the one who engineered a truce in which neither side had to bend. Incidentally, Sunny Deol, who went on to do the movie, ended up miffed because he felt Shah Rukh's role overshadowed his. Result: he has not worked with Yashraj again.

Then there's the third Khan, Salman, who has a long list of people he doesn't want to work with. He refuses to acknowledge, much less forgive, or work, with Vivek Oberoi after that infamous 2003 incident when he took on Salman to ‘protect' Aishwarya Rai.

Ranbir Kapoor is persona non grata too, after his alleged liaison with Salman's ex-girlfriend Katrina Kaif, though the hot-headed Khan is working with Katrina. Salman also keeps off Bipasha Basu and Priyanka Chopra after misunderstandings with both.

In fact, Priyanka is in some trouble now — gossip about her affair with Shah Rukh has resulted, rumour mills say, in Gauri Khan refusing to let her husband work with her. Akshay Kumar's wife Twinkle imposed a ban on her for pretty much the same reason. So that's two Khans and one Kumar out for Priyanka.

Meanwhile, Aishwarya Rai will most definitely not work with either Vivek Oberoi or Salman; she sees through them at all times.

Unlikely that she will work with the other two Khans either. She fell out with Shah Rukh after he dropped her from his production Chalte Chalte (2003) because of the ruckus Salman created on the sets. (Shah Rukh was not invited to her wedding, though Amitabh, Jaya and Abhishek have worked with him in numerous movies.) As for Aamir, there was some unpleasantness when she declined to do his Mangal Pandey (2005); the two have not been paired together ever: an amazing non-happening given the acute shortage of top heroes and heroines.

In fact, this is one of the big reasons we keep seeing pretty much the same screen pairings over and over again. And why the three Khans, all 47, are romancing 20-something heroines. Why stories are written for certain stars and not in their own right. Why directors, navigating the fault lines gingerly, have so few actors to choose from.

That's what happens when a restricted number of stars are working, fighting, sleeping with, and marrying, within their own charmed circle. In B-town, connections are made — and snapped — constantly.

COMMENT NOW