Is salman khan losing control of his camp?

• Sneha May Francis

No one dares to lock horns with Salman Khan. Not even his family and friends; only because it's a lost battle.

The temperamental star is known to be fiercely unforgiving towards those who irk him.

Vivek Oberoi is a classic case of how a tiff with Salman over a weepy girlfriend Aishwarya Rai ruined his chances at stardom and landed him in a pit.

But, if you befriend him, you stand to benefit immensely from his loyalty and Bollywood clout. NUmerable examples like Katrina Kaif, Govinda, Ajay Devgn come to mind immediately.

Of late, however, his family and close friends are appearing to step out of his shadow, making it evident that cracks are emerging in what once used to be his loyal camp.

Sohail Khan

The younger Khan has always had a bone to pick with his eldest sibling. He has never benefitted from Salman's power and continues to live under his shadows.

When his acting career couldn't make an impact, Sohail shifted focus to production, but even there he failed to create a spark. And, this despite banking on his star-brother Salman for almost all of his movies.

Ironically, it was Arbaaz who stood to benefit from Salman, whose killer stunts in 'Dabangg' turned his production house into an overnight success.

And, with 'Dabangg2' unveiling Arbaaz as a director, Sohail stands sidelined.

Apparently, when their joint work in 'Main Aur Mrs Khanna' failed miserably, Salman was disappointed and had asked Sohail to explain the reason behind its debacle. It is rumoured that their dad Salim had to step in and sort out their differences.

Later, Sohail, had indirectly admitted to the tiff in the Indian media, with; "Films are a part of our lives... There will be some ups and downs but most of them have been ups! Thank God."

But, his recent decision to team up with Salman's enemy Anees Bazmee just makes the rift between the brothers even more evident.

Bazmee and Salman had fallen out during the filming of 'Ready' during which the director walked out without completing the project. "The two have never spoken to each other since," reported an Indian entertainment website.

Katrina Kaif

Although there's no questioning Katrina's closeness to Salman, industry insiders were taken aback when Katrina decided to do a movie with his rival Shah Rukh Khan.

Considering there's no love lost between Salman and Shah Rukh, it was surprising that he would take too kindly towards Katrina's decision to romance SRK on the big screen.

Katrina, in fact, has always distanced herself from Salman's enemies, even announcing once that she wouldn't work with Vivek. "I don't think I will ever work with Vivek," she had said.

And, with Salman playing her Godfather, the decision to step out of his control zone does appear rather risky.

Interestingly, it was at Katrina's birthday bash in 2008 that Salman and Shah Rukh had parted ways.

With Katrina and Shah Rukh gearing up to set the big screen on fire with their sizzling romance in 'Jab Tak Hai Jaan', it's likely it will leave Salman annoyed.

"Katrina knows how to play her cards with Salman. Even when they parted ways, she maintained a dignified silence and has won him back. And, now after they reunited on-screen with 'Ek Tha Tiger' Katrina appears confident of how to handle Salman," reveals a source.

Malaika Arora-Khan

Despite marrying his brother Arbaaz, Malaika and Salman have never really hit it off.

For an actor, who is extremely protective about the women in his life, it is strange that he doesn't object to her racy item girl image. Just recently Salman had instructed Farah to tone down the raunchiness of a dance video that featured newly-married Kareena Kapoor.

"Salman's extremely old-fashioned. And he isn't unafraid to speak his mind. Even with Katrina he is protective, so watching his own sister-in-law doing an item number might not be his decision," observes a blogger.

Rumour has it that Malaika's "link-up" with a much-younger; 'Ishqzaade' star Arjun Kapoor has only angered him more. In fact, Arjun had once dated his younger sister Arpita.

Arjun and Malaika even walked the ramp for fashion designer Manish Malhotra recently leading to a heart-broken Arbaaz.

The "lovers" had even recently attended SRK's private house party creating much unhappiness in Salman's house.