Pappu can fight saala

Bollywood scribes are already terming the recent spat between superstars Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan as the 8216;story of the year'

Bollywood scribes are already terming the recent spat between superstars Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan as the 8216;story of the year.8217; For the uninitiated though with 24X7 electronic media carpet-bombing, they8217;re a rarity, it all happened at Katrina Kaif8217;s birthday bash in a suburban Mumbai hotspot. Apparently banter between the two Khans turned ugly when professional comparisons regarding their television shows cropped up 8212; the numbers of SRK8217;s Kya Aap Paanchvi Paas Se Tez Hain have not met expectations, while Salman8217;s 10 Ka Dum has got a favourable response. Tabloids tell us that the heated discussion took a turn for the worse when SRK allegedly made an inappropriate comment about Salman8217;s ex-girlfriend, Aishwarya Rai.

But it8217;s not just the two warring Khans 8212; the normally reticent Amitabh Bachchan recently blogged about 8220;being privy personally to a design by certain sections of the media and the fraternity to bring down8221; his world tour, The Unforgettables. Meanwhile, in an unprecedented fiery tone, Akshay recently claimed to a Mumbai newspaper that negative stories about his personal life are being circulated by certain 8220;back-stabbing, insecure people that try and ruin me.8221; He goes on to say that he8217;d 8220;never knight them, but I8217;d definitely hire them for Friday night entertainment,8221; and that it amazes him to see how 8220;low some of those dogs will go when they feel I8217;m too hot for them professionally.8221; Ahem, please note the knight and the dog dig. If you recollect, Aamir Khan had kicked off a storm with his infamous dog blog post where he said that he owns a dog called Shah Rukh who among other things, also 8220;licks my feet.8221;

This is not the politically correct Bollywood that we8217;ve grown up on; where everyone was a 8216;bro8217;, 8216;friend8217;, or 8216;buddy8217; and where adding 8216;ji8217; as a suffix to every name was a must I8217;ve often wondered why we don8217;t term the fraternity as the 8216;ji spot!8217;. This is the new Bollywood. It8217;s bold, brazen and unapologetic about shattering all polite veneers. Nobody here wants to win any congeniality contests. It8217;s business, plain and simple, and the stakes are very high. Today it8217;s all about signing multiple deals, huge endorsements, opening weekend and profit shares. It8217;s all about landing maximum magazine covers and doing important media interviews. It8217;s all about being the star.

There8217;s one more reason behind this sudden outspokenness of the key players. And that is changing paradigm shift 8212; these days, almost every actor is doubling up as a producer SRK, Aamir, Akshay, Saif are producers while Salman, Hrithik and the Bachchans have family-owned production houses so now it8217;s no longer just a flop that an actor has to contend with, but loss of money and goodwill too.

Add to this, the audience8217;s warm welcome to new actors like Ranbir Kapoor, Imran Khan, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Harman Baweja, and the sudden flood of options. So there is a mad rush amongst the big guns to guard their territories more zealously than before. And thus the barbs, the fights and the open stalemate.

It8217;s refreshing to see a dash of real emotions in the fake world of Bollywood. Finally, these guys are talking, and that8217;s most welcome. That it also makes for good television and good copy, is just a sidelight. After all, isn8217;t it all about entertainment? Isn8217;t it?

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