Ever since the trailer of Ranbir Kapoor’s Besharam emerged on Tuesday, there’s been a virtual war between RK’s fans and those of actors Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan. Reason: The fans are peeved at RK’s digs at the Khans’ most loved scenes in their superhit flicks, SRK’s Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) and Salman’s Dabangg (2010).
The trailer of Besharam opens with Ranbir urinating in a mustard field as he sings ‘Tujhe Dekha Toh Yeh Jaana Sanam’. SRK’s fans have taken offence to this dig at the actor’s most romantic number, picturised in a mustard field. In another scene in the film, the actor mouths a dialogue which seems like a dig at Salman Khan’s character Chulbul Pandey in Dabangg: 'Naam Chulbul rakhne se koi dabangg nahi ban jaata.' This has apparently angered Sallu’s fans.
On YouTube, a fan, mnibk, wrote, 'Mocking DDLJ is mocking SRK. And mocking the King is mocking Bollywood. Ranbir doesn’t belong here.' @Angieraina tweeted, ‘RanbirKapoor mocking SRK in an iconic ‘Tujhe Dekha’ song while peeing in the #Besharam trailer proves that he still needs to grow up #CRAP.'
Ranbir’s fans, on the other hand, are defending him. Abhilash Nanda wrote on YouTube, 'The dislike buttons were hit by collection of khans (srk,salman) fans and akkians.....bt still the gross (numbers) was overcome by RANBIR KAPOOR fans........jai ho (sic).' The film’s director Abhinav Kashyap, who also directed Dabangg, says, 'There was no glimpse of Salman. Chulbul is a name, and it has come from me. I can make fun of myself.' The filmmaker adds that the DDLJ number opens the trailer so as to convey that the film is a romantic comedy. At the time of going to press, the trailer had 1.1 million hits.
Industry experts say that while one can’t stop the fan fight, the stars in question should not care too much. 'One can’t blame fans because when they are crazy about a star they will go to any length to support him. However, celebs should be mature and not take these things seriously. It will only create a rift,' says trade expert Atul Mohan.