I’ve never been a fan of Shahrukh Khan personally. I don’t buy into that OTT arms outstretched hamming through movie scenes acting. But where SRK may have not impressed me on-screen, off it, he is charm personified. Something I have to grudgingly admit. That and the fact that I respect him for breaking every glass ceiling worth breaking; coming from a non filmi background, starting out as a floppy haired anti hero in TV serials Fauji and Circus, marrying his childhood sweetheart, living that most filmi of dreams. His life could well be from the pages of a bound script. Come 2013 and King Khan shows no signs of slowing down with Chennai Express. Back on screen with his Om Shanti Om co-star Deepika Padukone, SRK is is Ready, Steady, Po!

It’s a first for SRK being directed by action-comedy spinner Rohit Shetty who has signed on the Khan for his first action southern spice machagiri film. But while there are many firsts in his career, sadly there are also lasts. SRK seems to be on the last leg of most of his filmi friendships.  Friendships formed in tinsel town come with their expiry dates… depending on the life cycle of a film at the box office and opening weekends. Alliances and dalliances quickly formed and broken. And when you’re at the top, it’s lonely up there.

Like moths to a flame they came…basking in his reflected glory. Priyanka Chopra sources say threw a hissy fit when she wasn’t allowed to share a room on the same floor as the superstar at the IIFAs in Macau. Nobody was buying their ‘just good buddies’ line, not least Gauri Khan who allegedly went ahead and forbade her gang of girls from hobnobbing with the dreaded husband stealer. That’s when Arjun and Mehr Rampal, ever the faithful sidekicks decided to reportedly land their own missiles at Pee Cee. Sources say Arjun even warned Shahrukh on his choice of company. Ironic isn’t it? Now that reports have surfaced of Arjun switching loyalties to Salman, SRK’s arch rival. That must have left its sting. Suddenly after latching on to SRK at every filmi party, air kissing star wife in tow, Arjun Rampal has allegedly decided to hook onto Salman. Is it because of Dabangg 2 success endorsing Salman’s saleability as a star? Once a sidekick always a sidekick, Arjun Rampal’s decided to switch tables and live off the crumbs from Salman’s table instead of SRK’s.

Meanwhile, pictures of Priyanka locked in conversation with Salman at 2 am outside Galaxy Apartments only sent rumour mongers in a tizzy. Had Priyanka ditched King Khan for Dabangg Khan? To make matters worse there were reports that Karan Johar, SRK and Gauri’s most faithful retainer had also decided to bury the hatchet with Pee Cee and air kissed away mutual grievances. Farah Khan and SRK’s sibling like love was severely dented when Farah went ahead with husband Shirish Kunder’s advice of signing on Akshay Kumar in her film Tees Maar Khan instead of old favourite SRK. That was when their friendship started crumbling under box office pressure. Things came to a head when SRK reportedly lost his temper with Shirish Kunder and hit him at Sanjay Dutt’s party. The usually suave Khan was living on the edge…losing his temper in public like at Wankhede stadium. Like an old lion, with many thorns in his side, SRK lashed out in wild fury.

Perhaps his words were prophetic when Shahrukh famously said he had no friends in the film industry. Karan Johar too endorsed that saying that the film industry now was largely an operational industry and not a fraternity. What then is the meaning of friendship in Bollywood? Is it a loosely held archipelago of people with similar agendas, open or covert? Is it a place where good looking people get instant gratification, sexual and platonic? Is it as housewives’ club where everyone gravitates towards the one with the most box office clout? Like the title of his upcoming film, Happy New Year, will it indeed be a happy new year for SRK? Happiness like most things is relative. And for SRK it seems relative to the number of hits he’ll churn out which in turn will govern the number of ‘friends’ in his little black book.