A close encounter between the two warring Khans, Shah Rukh and Salman, seems to have been fortuitously averted. Esha Deol's June 29 wedding to fiancé Bharat Takhtani could have been the meeting ground for SRK and Salman who famously and violently fell out at Salman's ex-girlfriend Katrina Kaif's birthday party in 2008.
Salman, who skipped Esha's sangeet and mehendi ceremonies held on June 25 and June 27 respectively, is shooting for Dabangg 2 in Mumbai and is expected to attend the wedding and the reception next day.
SRK, on the other hand, is currently in London where he's on a working holiday, shooting for Yash Raj Films' Ye Kahan Aa Gaye Hum and putting in some family time with Gauri and the children.
Both Khans have old connections with Esha Deol's mother, actress Hema Malini. She's a longtime friend of Salman's family. Salman's father, Salim Khan, wrote Sholay, on the sets of which the Hema-Dharmendra romance blossomed.
Salman made up for his absence at Esha's pre-wedding ceremonies by assigning his trusted bodyguard Shera to oversee security and other arrangements.
And Shah Rukh? Way back when he was still best known as Abhimanyu Rai from TV serial Fauji, it was Hema Malini who gave the King his first break in Bollywood by casting him in her directorial debut Dil Aashna Hai.
If he'd been in town, SRK would almost certainly have put in appearance at Esha's wedding celebrations. And bumped into Salman.
And there's no knowing what would have followed.
By Gitanjali Roy
