Salman skips Zee Cine Awards

Salman Khan was to perform on Saturday at the Zee Cine Awards in London. However, the actor did a no-show following differences with the organisers Cineyug (the Morani brothers) over his act.

Says a source, "Salman was to take the 1.40 am Jet Airways flight to London on Friday night but did a no-show. But he was not unprofessional as he returned the agreement and cheque the same night the moment he decided he wouldn't be going. He has never done something like this before, so obviously, he must have had a very strong reason for backing out at the last moment."

The source explains about Salman's no-show. "Ganesh Hegde was to originally choreograph Salman's act but since the actor has a problem with him, the Moranis replaced Ganesh with a choreographer called Rajesh. Things were fine till Salman saw the act choreographed by Rajesh on Friday afternoon. He was shocked at how shoddily it was conceived. The second-hand treatment had deeply upset Salman.

The Moranis are known to be very close to Shahrukh Khan and they would never have dared to so such a thing with SRK." Adds the source, "Salman felt insulted at the treatment being meted out to a big star like him. He called up Pradeep Guha of Zee, who is one of his close friends and explained the situation to him.

Pradeep understood the situation and told the Moranis that under such circumstances it wasn't possible for Salman to attend the event. Finally Zee had to perform with Shahrukh, Upen Patel, Vidya Balan, Saif Ali Khan, Kareena, and Jay Sean. Salman's girlfriend Katrina who was already in London on Thursday performed solo."

However, the official reason given out is that Salman was down with high fever and an injury. While Pradeep Guha remained unavailable for comment, Ali Morani says, "It had nothing to do with the act. Pradeep (Guha) told us that Salman was injured and couldn't dance. Salman loved the act when he saw it."

Salman Khan's secretary, Vikas Kapoor maintains that there was no problem with the act. Vikas says, "Yes it's true that Salman didn't go for the awards but injury was the only reason. Salman had a hamstring pull in his left leg. He got it when he was shooting for Boney Kapoor's Wanted."