When veterans like Amitabh Bachchan and Shatrughan Sinha start taking potshots at each other in print and on blogsites, dishing out verbal insults to each others’ families too, then you realise that warring stars could belong to any age group. Look at Pooja Bedi and Celina Jaitely involved in a war of words that’s even going to court, or Tanushree Dutta’s spat with Nana Patekar both became fodder for gossip magazines and news channels. And those weren’t the only feuding stars.

Viveik Oberoi for example is the most verbally battered man whose once spat with Salman Khan cost him allies in the industry. Shah Rukh Khan’s on-off relationship with Amitabh Bachchan is always in the news, while Aamir had to literally eat his words and apologise to the Big Bachchan after criticising the latter in a blogsite. The list of stars/filmmakers at loggerheads with each other Sanjay Dutt and Sanjay Gupta, Rani Mukerji-Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan-Kareena Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor-Ameesha Patel, Salman Khan-John Abraham, Bipasha-Basu-Katrina Kaif, SRK-Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Salman Khan Himesh Reshammiya is long and ever growing.

And considering the film industry is sharply divided in camps, with several power centres created, ego clashes are part of the game. Instances of ‘frenemies’ (friends turned enemies) is on the rise in Bollywood. What goes wrong between two individuals who used to get along amicably until small misunderstandings were blown out of proportion? Is it because film stars have fragile egos and can’t handle mutual criticism sportingly? Or is it also because big stars can’t take competition from younger stars who are a threat to them professionally?
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