The warmest rapports and thickest bonds unravel from Friday to Friday in filmland. And unfortunately, the Salman Khan-Kabir Khan association, which appeared very close at one point, has come apart at the seams.

The two had combined resources for three big films - Tiger Zinda Hai, Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Tubelight. It was apparently the debacle of Tubelight that drove the nails into their otherwise close rapport, to the extent that the megastar and filmmaker are not even on talking terms any longer!

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B-town insiders insist that the cracks had been developing for a while now. While it took the failure of their third film together to rip their friendship apart, apparently the two had serious differences with each other even during its filming. There would be heated arguments between Kabir and Salman during the shooting of Tubelight in Ladakh, as they clashed over the treatment of the film and the characters. The two would not care that the entire unit would be watching, as they vehemently argued their points of view. And what was surprising, even commendable, was that Kabir would not give in to Salman’s suggestions, despite his superstar status.

All this would have been brushed under the carpet had Tubelight worked. It didn’t and now it is apparently curtains for this director-star association. Even though Kabir had tried dismissing rumours of their differences, eyebrows were raised when Ali Abbas Zafar was signed on to direct the sequel, Tiger Zinda Hai – after all, Kabir had directed the original, Ek Tha Tiger which was a massive hit.

Now he finds himself replaced in the hierarchy of Salman’s affections with Ali Abbas Zafar. Ali and Salman already have two blockbusters together – Sultan and the biggest Hindi film hit so far, Tiger Zinda Hai. They will combine forces again for the upcoming Bharat. Ali is also supposedly a lot more open to taking Salman’s suggestions and this suits the star very well. Meanwhile, Salman has allegedly refused Kabir’s recent film offer. Tiger has made his preferences all too clear…