Salman Khan plays saviour to Katrina Kaif & Jacqueline Fernandez

If you need a godfather in the Hindi film industry, do try to contact Salman Khan. The superstar has mentored many successful (Himesh Reshammiya, Katrina Kaif, Sajid-Wajid) and unsuccessful (Indra Kumar, Daisy Shah, Zareen Khan, Sneha Ullal) careers.

Now he is busy giving an added fillip and boost to the successful careers of two female stars. A bit of tadka, if you will, to their careers. These lucky ladies are Salman's old friend Katrina Kaif and newer friend Jacqueline Fernandez.

Reliable sources tell us that the roles of the two ladies in their new films with bade dil wala Khan has been "substantially enhanced, thanks to his "timely intervention. First Katrina Kaif who is all set to make a comeback with Salman's Tiger Zinda Hai after a foiled love affair (with Ranbir Kapoor) and a slew of non-starters (Phantom, Fitoor, Baar Baar Dekho, Jagga Jasoos).

Informed sources from within the Tiger team say Salman Khan insisted that Katrina and only Katrina be signed for the film. Says the source, "There was talk of replacing Katrina Kaif in the sequel since her recent films had underperformed. But Salman Khan put his foot down, arguing only Katrina can play the lead in the sequel as she had done the same in the first film.

He also ensured that Katrina was given enough prominence in the script. Sources say some of the action scenes were written in especially for Katrina on Salman's "creative intervention.

As for Jacqueline Fernandez, she owes Salman big-time. Not only did Salman's Kick kick-start her journey to stardom, now in Race 3, Salman ensured she was given ample space in the cluttered multi-starrer. Says a source, "When Salman decided to do Race 3 with director Remo D'Souza instead of the dance film he was supposed to do with the choreographer-director, he made sure that Jacqueline who was to star with Salman in the dance film was also relocated into the new project. Then when Salman Khan got to know that Jacqueline's role was relatively meagre in Race 3, he insisted on it being increased. Jacqueline now has a far more substantial role in Race 3 than she did when she entered the project.

Bhai, Godfather Ho Toh Aisa.