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| Salman Khan at the unveiling of the second edition of Dus Ka Dum in Mumbai on Thursday, (below) Claudia Ciesla in Cannes with Abhishek Bachchan |
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Mumbai, May 21: Enter Salman Khan with the scent of a new woman and the stink of an old rivalry.
The occasion was the re-launch of Sony Entertainment Television, in its 14th year, but all eyes — and ears — were on the born-yet-again Khan in his 20th year in the industry as he unveiled the second season of his television show Dus Ka Dum.
And how he obliged! By spilling a good word about his relationship with Claudia Ciesla and some bad blood between the Khans.
“Claudia is a very nice girl. I have introduced her to my family,” Salman said almost casually when asked about his friendship with German model-turned-Tollywood actress Claudia, first reported in t2, the lifestyle supplement of The Telegraph, on May 11.
When asked to spill some more — Salman moving on from Katrina Kaif to Claudia Ciesla is being seen in Bollywood as more spill than thrill — he kept quiet and just smiled.
But Claudia filled in the blanks from Cannes.
“I met his wonderful family —brothers, sister and his gorgeous father Salim. A very warm and friendly family, all very down to earth,” she told The Telegraph in an email.
And she did spill some more — more than what Somy Ali, Sangeeta Bijlani, Aishwarya Rai or Katrina Kaif had ever done. “Salman is a real man. He has a heart of gold. He is fearless. Salman is my hero.…”
The 43-year-old bad boy of Bollywood was quite the hero today in blue jeans, a white tee, white-rimmed glares and a ponytail as he laughed and joked for three hours.
“Main aisa hi hoon (this is how I am). I used to react to a lot of things in the past. Earlier I was a young boy, but now I am a grown man.”
The grown man let it rip when it came to friend-turned-foe Shah Rukh Khan. “I will consider it my good fortune if Shah Rukh comes on my show… (pause) but I will never invite him on Dus Ka Dum,” Salman shot off.
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| Shah Rukh: Showing off? |
The barbs only grew sharper. “I did campaign for a few friends in the elections, but I didn’t think it was necessary to fly down all the way from London where I was shooting to cast my vote and show my inked finger to thousands of cameras. Main aisa dikhawa nahin kar sakta (I can’t make such a show of things),” Salman said.
If there was any doubt about who was in the line of his fire, he spelt it out: “Shah Rukh (who had flown down from South Africa to vote) has time and money to do such things, I don’t,” he smiled.
So he did have a problem with SRK, right? “I have no problems with Shah Rukh Khan… (pause) and even if I do, I am not going to tell you about it!”
The re-launch, as it turned out, was of Salman Khan with a new girl but an old enemy.