Salman Khan avoids Aishwarya again

Salman Khan was missing at the premier of Sanjay Gupta's Woodstock Villa, starring his brother Arbaaz Khan. Except Malaika Arora and Amrita Arora (who was seen with Arbaaz), no Khan member was present. The buzz is that it was the presence of the Bachchans (especially Aishwarya's) that was the cause of Salman's no-show.

Says a source, "Arbaaz held a trial on Thursday for the Khan family at 12.30 in the afternoon at Ketnav theatre in Bandra where everyone from Alvira and Atul Agnihotri, Salim and Salma Khan to Salman was present. After the trial, Salman drove off to his Panvel farmhouse in the evening. But the real reason that Salman and Salim Khan didn't go for the premier, which was such an important event for Arbaaz was because Salim Khan and Salman wanted to avoid the Bachchan family. Recently, Salim Khan had made certain disparaging remarks against Amitabh Bachchan and it would have made an awkward moment for both if they had come face-to-face."

Apparently, Salman also wasn't keen on coming. The source clarifies, "Though Salman shares a cordial relationship with Abhishek and a warm and affectionate relationship with the Big B, it would have made for another awkward moment if Aishwarya, the Bachchan bahu and he bumped into each other at the premier. Rather than have so many uncomfortable moments the Khan family decided to skip the premier."

Arbaaz, however, says, "Salman has just returned from a long and hectic schedule of Main Aur Mrs Khanna in Australia so he couldn't make it to the premier. But dad and him and the rest of the family saw it at the trial at Ketnav. Also he's currently very busy preparing for his TV show, 10 Ka Dum, which airs next week on June 6. We have seen the first episode and Salman is simply brilliant!"

Arbaaz is thrilled with the response he's got for his performance in Woodstock Villa, where he plays Neha Uberoi's husband. Arbaaz's "biggest critic", his father, Salim Khan has also liked his performance. "Dad never gets over-enthusiastic in his praise so when he says it's good it means a lot. He's liked the film and my performance. It was a challenging role to play where I had to convey a lot silently through my expressions. Many have said that it's one of my best performances in recent times."