Bollywood Flashback: When Salman Khan & Shahrukh Khan Fought At A Party In 2008

Salman Khan & Shahrukh Khan are close friends today. They have openly shared their admiration for each other & are even known to spend nights drinking along with Aamir Khan till the early hours in the morning. Salman Khan seen in Shahrukh Khan's son Aryan Khan's debut web series - The Bads Of Bollywood. But things weren't hunky dory a few decades back. They did not speak to each other for several years & it was a common friend who played a pivotal role in getting their friendship back on track.

Start Of Friendship

As per their interviews, Shahrukh Khan stayed at Salman Khan's house for a while upon coming to Mumbai. He wasn't the star he is today. They have been friends since then. Shahrukh Khan & Salman Khan were seen together in the cult action movie Karan Arjun. By the time their movie released, both were A-listers who were the biggest stars of Bollywood. Salman Khan's Hum Aapke Hai Kaun & Shahrukh Khan's Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge were blockbusters & industry hits. But there was no rivalry between them, unlike Shahrukh's equation with another contemporary, Aamir Khan. Salman Khan & Shahrukh Khan both made several cameo appearances in each other's movies. But it was Salman Khan who was seen more frequently in Shahrukh's movies. Shahrukh Khan was seen only in Har Dil Jo Pyaar Karega. While Salman Khan was seen in supporting roles in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai & Hum Tumhaare Hain Sanam (2003). This would become a bone of contention later on. To be fair to Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan was too generous with his cameos & supporting roles. Whereas Shahrukh Khan made limited cameo or guest appearances. Shah Rukh Khan was always more career-focused, while Salman Khan often lost focus while trying to be a generous friend. 

Their first fight was during the making of Chalte Chalte when Salman Khan barged onto the sets of the movie starring Shahrukh Khan & his ex-girlfriend Aishwarya Rai. Aishwarya refused to speak to Salman Khan back then after he had slapped her father after getting drunk. It is rumored that Salman Khan was banging on Aishwarya's door in the middle of the night. Aishwarya finally relented & opened the door & they were fighting on the streets. Aishwarya's father tried to intervene & a drunk Salman slapped him. While Aishwarya had earlier taken Salman back inspite of him assaulting her & cheating on her, this was the final straw. As per rumors, when Shahrukh tried to intervene in Salman-Ash's fight, he too was slapped by Salman. An irate Shahrukh sacked Aishwarya from the project not wanting anymore drama on the sets of his movie. The role was then passed on to Rani Mukherjee. 

But Salman Khan & Shahrukh Khan met & patched up at MLA Baba Siddiqui's iftar party.

The Infamous Fight

In the year 2008, Salman Khan was going through a mediocre phase in his career. On the other hand, Shahrukh Khan was the undisputed Bollywood Badshah. Post 2000, Salman Khan, Sunny Deol & Aamir Khan's careers took a dive while Shahrukh's career soared. His other competitor, Hrithik's movies weren't consistent performers at the box office. While Salman & Aamir managed to make a comeback, Shahrukh was still miles ahead of Salman, whose poor script choices & unprofessionalism led to most of his movies flopping. But while Salman Khan's movies were flopping, his fan following & stardom as still intact. His offscreen charm - thanks to his court cases, numerous linkups, coupled with news reports of his generosity led to a surge in his fan following. This was evident in the success of his TV show, Dus Ka Dum. Meanwhile, despite his immense popularity, Shahrukh Khan's TV show - Kya Aap Pachvi Paas Se Tezz Hai was a flop. Around this time, Salman Khan made a cameo appearance in Shah Rukh's Om Shanti Om & in turn had requested Shahrukh to make a cameo appearance on one of his home productions - Mr & Mrs Khanna, which Shahrukh refused. This irked Salman Khan, as by then Shahrukh Khan had refused several cameo requests, including an appearance on Salman Khan's game show - Dus Ka Dum.

Salman Khan was inviting all the bigwigs to a club in the suburbs of Mumbai for the birthday party of his girlfriend, Katrina Kaif, in 2008. Salman Khan invited Shahukh Khan & his wife Gauri Khan as well. At the party, Salman Khan kept needling Shahukh Khan about the failure of his TV show & reminded him that his own was a hit. It was Salman Khan's way of getting back at Shahrukh for not heeding to his requests for a cameo. Shahrukh is rumored to have had enough of Salman Khan's taunts & made an inappropriate comment on Salman Khan's ex-GF Aishwarya Rai. This is rumored to have irked Salman Khan no end & he threatened to beat up Shahrukh Khan at that very instant. Shahrukh Khan was aware of Salman's near-obsession with Aishwarya Rai, whom he briefly dated & with whom he had a torrid breakup. Salman Khan took quite some time to get over this breakup & it was well known that he was never really over her.

It was Gauri Khan who stopped the two superstars from coming to blows by informing Shahrukh Khan that she wanted to leave. As per some theories, it was Ranbir Kapoor who called the media waiting outside to enter the venue & stop the stars from fighting. It probably worked. As per some rumors, Salman Khan had slapped Shahrukh Khan by then & they both were holding each other's collars. Coincidentally, Ranbir Kapoor had come to the party with his then GF - Deepika Padukone & it was at this party that he first met Katrina Kaif! Who would have known that Ranbir would go on to cheat on Deepika with the hot-headed & influential Salman Khan's GF - Katrina Kaif. Katrina is rumored to have broken up with Salman to be with Ranbir. Ranbir would then go on to break up with Katrina & get married to Alia Bhatt before dating a bevvy of beautiful women.

The Aftermath

As per rumors, Bollywood was divided into two camps the very next day. Salman & Shahrukh were not on talking terms anymore. While most sided with Shahrukh Khan - owing to his box office Badshah status back then, Salman too had his share of loyalists supporting him. But what happened in the coming years was completely unexpected - starting from 2010, Shahrukh's movies couldn't match up to Salman's lineup of back-to-back superhits. By the end of 2011, it was clear that Salman Khan was the new box office king of Bollywood. But while the two superstars were not on talking terms, their families never stopped interacting with each other.

It was after several years during Eid that Bandra MLA Baba Siddiqui made the two superstars patch up at his iftar party. Thankfully, the two stars have been friends since then.