The reason for this was his prior engagement elsewhere, but the fact that rumours of a special friendship between the film's leading man Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif have been doing the rounds, did seem to make a difference to Salman's attitude towards Ranbir whom he had not so long 'mentored'.
Salman and Ranbir no more friends |
And while the nation heaved a collective sigh of relief on the Babri verdict, the loudest cheer came from Sajid Nadiadwala's office. After the verdict, Sajid said, "Ranbir and Priyanka were in my office the whole day. We were all frozen with fear and anxiety. We counted the moments until the verdict started coming in on TV". Apparently, Ranbir and Priyanka had made a secret "pact" - if all remained peaceful after the verdict, they would hold a special screening of the film for their close family and friends. If, God forbid, the verdict had created unrest the special screening would've been cancelled.
Before the screening, Sajid had said, " There's is a private screening for close friends and family.... Salu's family is coming for it. If something had gone wrong after the verdict I'd have ended up looking very stupid. Through it was Ranbir's idea to postpone the release of the film by a week, the final decision was mine. I'd have had to give a lot of answers to my distributors if the release had gone wrong this week."