At the show John stated, "If you ask me today also what the problem is between us, honestly, I don't know, but it's unfortunate that there is a problem.. And if things get okay it will be nice."
Neither John nor Salman have spoken openly about the reasons behind their silent war but members of the ‘Rockstar' team say, "There was definitely a problem between the two on this show and a lot of it was in Salman's head. You see, Salman had appointed himself the unofficial rock star of the concerts.
But John kept getting as much frenzied applaud on stage as Salman did, if not more. This hurt Salman's ego. Also the fact that John kept to his own space, hung around with his best friend whom he had taken along on the tour, instead of joining Salman's coterie, really hurt Salman. He's basically like a child who wants and needs constant attention."
He made his dislike for John even more evident, when he recently blamed the second half of Baabul as responsible for the film's bad performance at the box-office. Incidentally, Salman is present only in the first half of the film and the second half revolves around John. And when asked if he had stopped talking to John, he retorted, "But when did we start talking?"
Salman also seems to be having second thoughts about doing Rituparno Ghosh's remake of the 1962 classic Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam for which Ghosh has finalised Salman, John and Priyanka Chopra.
Taking the rivalry a step further, Salman has reportedly instructed girlfriend Katrina Kaif not to work opposite John in any film. Kaif, caught between her beau and her career, had to apparently turn down two films opposite John. Katrina had to let go of the UTV produced film Rockstar and the T.Series produced film Chandramukhi.
Not only this, Salman even included John's girlfriend Bipasha Basu in the enmity. Salman snubbed old friend Bipasha when she greeted him at the GIFA awards in Malaysia. According to sources "Bipasha is irritated with Salman's childish attitude and has decided not to give a damn either."But commendable is the fact that John is still trying to make things fall in place. Perhaps because the last thing he prefers is to get into controversies.
On ‘Koffee with Karan', John tried to clear his stand, "I think I used to say hello... but he is kind of upset with me... He is a senior...so I don't get into the way of things... it's important that I understand that I have come here to work. I have not come here to make enemies. I don't want to get into the middle of any controversies."
It was interesting to see the modest John biting his tongue, when one of his fans said that he is the only actor who makes them forget the ultimate macho Salman Khan.
But he tried his best to appease Salman by grading Khan's physique better than his, in the rapid fire round later. And when Karan asked him which actor comes to his mind when he hears the tagline ‘Just Do It!' John mischievously replied "Salman Khan". We hope Salman is listening.
