Sniping in Bollywood: Plain Chemistry Or Professional Rivalry?

Undercurrent, chemistry or professional rivalry has existed in Bollywood from Day One. Is it ego or plain jealousy? Take the case of Salman Khan and singer Arijit Singh who have patched up nearly after 5-6 years and have sung songs for Tiger 3. The rivalry started rather innocuously when Arijit stepped onto the stage to receive an award, and Salman mockingly asked looking at his attire, “So gaye the (were you sleeping)?” To this the singer responded, “Aap logon ne sula diya (you all put me to sleep).” This answer seems to have angered Salman and he immediately removed Arijit’s song from his films, Sultan and Bajrangi Bhaijaan. It did affect his career. Bollywood has a history of star rivalry. For instance Khans are not comfortable working with each other. Similarly, Sunny Deol was angry with Shah Rukh for snipping his role in Darr. Recently, at the success party of Gadar 2 both patched up. Raaj Kumar and Dilip Kumar acted in Paigham and fell apart till Subhash Ghai brought them together in Saudagar. Similarly, Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand avoided working with each other. It is quite well known that Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan who worked together in Anand fell out after success of Namak Haram. Likewise Big B and Shatrughan Sinha did not get along well as the latter had a habit of making sarcastic comments. Well, it is not restricted to male stars. There has been a strong undercurrent between Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra, Rani Mukerji and Aishwaraya Rai, Katrina Kaif and Deepika Padukone.