When Salim Khan made an early entry, even before host Asha Parekh appeared, he told me quietly, come and sit with me. Celebrities with empty seats on either side normally like someone they know to avoid someone pesky from occupying that place and chewing their ears.

Salim is always great company and he wanted to know about Asha Parekh's autobiography, The Hit Gir, co-authored by Khalid Mohamed. When I mentioned a few revelations she'd made in it, including a first-time admission that filmmaker Nasir Hussain was the one big love of her life, Salim chuckled. That she and Nasir Hussain were a couple was one of those open secrets that the film industry knew and accepted, but neither of them ever made any declarations on record. Until now - when Nasir, his wife and Asha's own parents have all passed away and the re-opening of that chapter isn't going to affect anybody. But like the elegant Asha herself, there's restraint and dignity even in that brief admission.

Salim, of course, chuckled for a different reason. The octogenarian with a jumbo memory remembered a time when Asha, known for her social causes even in her heyday, tapped Salim to discuss a donation. Salim had met her at a coffee shop on two occasions to talk about it. "If you're spotted twice with the same person at the same place, the conclusion is that they meet every day," Salim said, sharply remarking on the way people's minds work. "So there was immediately a buzz that it's not a Hussain but a (Salim) Khan who's the new man in her life," he smiled. It was one of those rumours without substance, which is perhaps why Salim's second wife, Helen, remains one of Asha's closest friends to this day. Waheeda Rehman, Helen and Asha even travel the world together as a trio. It was evident at the launch of The Hit Girl, when both senior actresses registered their presence in the front row.

The minute Asha Parekh walked in and Salim had enough company, I hopped back to my seat in the second row. And Salim, who had come only to wish the actress, vanished soon after, long before his star son, Salman Khan, came in as chief guest for "Asha Aunty's" book.

The one big change in Salman's life today is that he has parted ways with his business manager, Reshma Shetty. Reshma was the person who turned a very saleable but emotionally-driven and professionally clueless Salman into the well-organised, reliable businessman of today. However, it's his sister Alvira who's been co-ordinating his moves for quite a while now. So those in the know saw the split coming, especially since Reshma continued to get a huge slice of the pie long after Salman was put on the right track. When Salman pays an advance tax of over Rs 44 crore today, you can calculate what his mindboggling personal income is; 15-20 per cent of that (which is what she was taking home) is an equally numbing figure. Ultimately, Reshma seems to have briefed her client too well - he knows his numbers now and would like to keep it all in the family.

Keeping it in the family is what Priyanka Chopra is doing with her mother, Dr Madhu Chopra, very efficiently managing and steering the films they're producing.

When PC woke up to the news that her Marathi film, Ventilator, had bagged three National Awards, that too in the pan-India category, which is huge, it was a fulfilment of her tribute to her late father, Dr Ashok Chopra. Priyanka once told me that whatever she does, she puts everything she has into it. "Like I'm giving you this interview, I'm all here, completely focused, giving you the best I can," she had said. She did that for Ventilator too, even taking time off from her Hollywood work to go through diction coaching before she sang that soulful Baba . She literally put her heart into it - the success mantra that's got her where she is today.

Bharathi S. Pradhan is a senior journalist and author