Big B, SRK rivalry splits industry

The war is out in the open. The industry's two biggest stars, Big B and King Khan are no longer even pretending to project a show of camaraderie for the world at large. There can be no bigger proof of the fact Khan, who is holidaying in London managed to find the time to paint alongside Husain for a charity auction but gave the IIFA awards at Yorkshire a clear miss. Bachchan's the brand ambassador of IIFA.

With the battlelines drawn, the industry has been split into two camps — the pro-Bachchans and swear-by-SRK loyalists. Ever since SRK walked away with the KBC 3 contract right from under Bachchan's nose, Amitabh retaliated by saying he had not watched the new series. He also passed unsavoury comments on the new Don. And to add to all this, he chose not to invite SRK for his baby, AB junior's wedding. He stated that the wedding was a private affair and he expected his 'friends' to understand his decision for not inviting them. Amitabh's comment strained the relationship further.

This final rift has led to a clear cut division in the industry too with people either supporting Bachchan or opting to gang up with SRK. Amongst those close to the Bachchans are Ram Gopal Varma, Rohan Sippy, Apoorva Lakhia, Goldie Behl and Shaad Ali. His bahu Aishwarya's entry into his family has only strengthened the Bachchan brand value. But SRK's clique is pretty formidable too and comprises Farah Khan, Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukherjee and Karan Johar.

Karan who is close to both the superstars is finding it difficult to balance his loyalties. He had signed Abhishek and Ash for a film by his assistant Tarun Mansukhani, but is yet to sign a male lead after Saif walked out of the film citing dates hassles. The inside story is that Saif was treated shabbily by KJO during Kal Ho Na Ho and hasn't forgiven the director. When Karan approached Hrithik, he too turned it down because he is miffed with the Bachchans for having the temerity to say that Guru did better than Dhoom 2. And SRK, refuses to bail his best buddy out this time.

Trade analyst Taran Adarsh says. "First there was Raj Kapoor who had his own group, so did Dev Anand and then Dilip Kumar, but it wasn't out in the open. Media has become aggressive and everything is out in papers today." The superstars who made films together like Mohabbatein and Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham are no longer seen together on celluloid. Most of the insiders are vary about casting the two superstars together. Ram Gopal Varma had planned to make a film with Shah Rukh Khan. But then, there was a rift between them when RGV made comments about Karan Johar. Shah Rukh decided not to do the film and the film was shelved.

Another casualty is director Ravi Chopra who is making Bhootnath. The shooting of the film was initially delayed because of the Abhi-Ash wedding. It has almost been a month since then but there are still problems. The film's producers have been making excuses for constant postponement of the shoot. Viveik Sharma, director of Bhootnath says, "There are two main reasons for the delay. We had to lose three months because Mr Bachchan had been busy with Abhishek's marriage after which he started working on Sholay. We will be shooting with him from July."

Director Suneil Darshan of Shakalaka Boom Boom fame feels, "It's basically the stars who have their favourite set of producers. Their favouritism often changes as per their success and failure." Siddharth Anand, who recently made Ta Ra Rum Pum states, "For me, such groupism doesn't exist because artistes nowadays are taken on the basis of scripts and not vice versa." Producer Mukesh Bhatt adds, "I don't know whether it's a camp or a group but we love to work with our set of people and never force them to be part of our group exclusively. Many actors have left us for greener pastures, as well."

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