Jaanam Samjha Karo

Why is Salman playing mediator between Farhan & Ranveer?

The latest news is that the Bollywood ‘Bhai’ 

has asked Farhan Akhtar and Ranveer Singh to end their fracas

Krishnan M

If the grapevine is to be believed, Salman Khan is the latest to play the mediator between Bollywood filmmaker-actor Farhan Akhtar and the Dhurandhar hottie, Ranveer Singh. What’s his connection? Why is he the trouble-shooter?

Farhan became close to Bhai during the pandemic Well, Farhan is Javed Akhtar’s son. And Javed saab is the erstwhile partner of Salman’s father, Salim. Salim and Javed ended their professional partnership in the early ’80s. Post that, there was a long period of acrimony. There was even a stage when Javed and Salim didn’t speak to or acknowledge each other. However, during the pandemic, equations changed. When Farhan and his sister Zoya were doing the OTT documentary miniseries, The Angry Young Men (2024), Salim Khan took a shine to Javed’s two children. An insider said, “Salim saab felt Farhan and Zoya were hardworking, and this bhai-behen jodi had made Javed proud with their career achievements. He took a shine to these two, and he even remarked that he wanted his younger sons — Arbaaz and Sohail — to be like them.”

Coming to Salim’s oldest son, the 60-year-old Salman, he has one rule: anyone whom his father likes, he will make an effort to include. Like Salim, Salman also interacted closely with Zoya and Farhan during the making of the three-part documentary celebrating the remarkable journey of India’s best screenwriters, Salim-Javed. It was a co-production between Salman, Zoya and Farhan’s film companies, and it brought Farhan and Salman closer to each other.

The Ranveer Singh angle plays out like this

That is one part of the story. Coming to Ranveer and why Salman feels so close and protective of him — well, here there’s another angle. Everyone in the industry knows that SK and RS are like “heartbeats” for a particular philanthropist-entrepreneur, who is currently the biggest daddy in Hindi cinema. It is rumoured that this kind-hearted businessman wants nothing to go wrong for either Salman or Ranveer.

Besides putting his full force behind Ranveer at this delicate stage in the superstar’s career, when out-of-work and nasty people are brutally attacking the Dhurandhar superstar, this businessman is also rumoured to have picked up the hotline to Salman, asking him to intervene and make sure that Ranveer and Farhan bury the hatchet.

“Bhai thinks of Ranveer and Farhan as his younger brothers. He therefore doesn’t want any infighting,” said an insider. “Bhai feels whatever differences people in the industry may have, they should be sorted out by the industry itself. Bringing in outside elements like lawyers, associations and trouble-makers is not needed. For the most part, educated people can sit across a table and resolve matters.”

Like they say, don’t wash dirty linen in public. Salman ko bhi kuch aise hi lagta hai.