The Badshah and the Bhai: Why Indians love to watch their Karan and Arjun together
But the juiciest story came much later after Katrina Kaif happened to Bollywood.
Hrithik Roshan isn’t Rakesh Roshan’s greatest contribution to Bollywood, especially when we think of the senior Roshan’s 1995 blockbuster Karan Arjun.
It was not only a movie. It was a concept that Indians lapped up in awe and then, forgot to move on. The passion has been so intense that every time Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan appear together at any platform, they simply mesmerise their audience and the TRPs as well; the latest being the finale of Salman Khan’s Dus ka Dam.
And, the number of times they can be spotted together, both on screen and off screen, is quite impressive. But why do we love them together? Probably even more than SRK-Kajol or Salman-Katrina?
Obviously, there has been no research on this topic, but there is no dearth of gossip and inside stories to thicken people’s interest surrounding the delicious duo.
Both of them were born in 1965, if they have not, well, embroidered around the facts; but professionally, Salman Khan is senior to SRK, and in many interviews, SRK has expressed his gratitude to Salman’s family as he often stayed with them during his early years in the industry — when Salman Khan was already on the way to becoming a major star following Maine Pyar Kiya (1989).
Another story goes like this.
Salman Khan created a ruckus during the shooting of SRK’s Chalte Chalte (2003) over a fight with his then-girlfriend Aishwarya Rai. Later, Aishwarya was replaced by Rani Mukerji and both Salman and Aishwarya apologised to SRK.
Apparently, they extended olive branches to each other at Farah Khan’s wedding party.
But the juiciest story came much later — after Katrina Kaif happened to Bollywood. And that story is well-documented with a date, time and occasion in the history of India’s entertainment journalism. Not going into those red-letter details, here’s what happened in short.
It was Katrina Kaif’s birthday bash where SRK allegedly made some comment about Aishwarya, which expectedly soured the party and the duo got engaged in an ugly spat. Dramatic details of how Katrina and Gauri tried to calm them down (this is what happens when you watch too much Bollywood) are also available, if one is interested.
This episode created a wedge between the two Khans and they were not seen together for several years. But then, they must have ‘kissed and made up’ (Read, apologised on Koffee with Karan) as they started doing cameos in each other’s movies regularly.
Isn’t there any professional rivalry? Of course there is. Also because SRK didn’t shine as much on television as Salman did, but both being good actors (yes), they can easily transport their audience back to those Karan-Arjun days.
For them (also for the scriptwriters), it’s just a cakewalk.
The Khans have so many shared memories which their audience can relate to — they can just take a leaf out of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), Har Dil Jo Pyaar Karega (2000), Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam (2002), etc. And the list is only becoming lengthier as Salman has a cameo in SRK’s upcoming Zero.
Budget overrides love. SRK and Salman must have realised that (given their high fees) before settling with cameos in each other's films.
As they say, love will always find a way — or another.