After three back-to-back blockbusters with Salman Khan, Sooraj Barjatya opted for Shahid Kapoor in his supremely sanskari cinema Vivah.

When I asked Sooraj about this shocking change he smiled and brushed off all conspiracy theories saying, “The role required someone much younger than Salman. Vivah is the story of a young couple falling in love after their arranged marriage is fixed. Salman would not have looked suitable.”

To this, we say… baloney! Indian actors are renowned for playing characters much younger than their actual age. Salman himself has played the eternally youthful Prem in all of Sooraj Barjatya’s cinema.

In Prem Rattan Dhan Payo Salman played a 30-year-old when he was 50.

The real reason why Salman was missing from Vivah was something else. The shadow of the black buck incident hovered over the Salman-Sooraj friendship. Sooraj was immeasurably hurt after the incident marred the clean image of his illustrious family.

The inseparable friends didn’t speak for for fourteen years after that bitter experience. Sooraj Barjatya decided not to work with Salman. But Sooraj had to rekindle old ties to revive his banner’s glory with Prem Ratan Dhan Payo.

While speaking on Vivah Sooraj had become emotional. “Salman is not only my friend. He is my brother. Although I probably wake up at the time that he goes to sleep, we are inseparable.”

The character Prem that Salman plays in Sooraj’s films is actually the director’s alter ego. And when Hrithik Roshan tried to play him in Sooraj’s Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon, disaster struck. There is only one Prem in Sooraj Barjatya’s cinema.