Vickey Lalwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; January 9, 2014)

He played everyone’s favourite love guru in Partner and now Salman Khan is reprising the role in real life. On New Year’s Eve, Hrithik Roshan surprised Salman by walking in to his Panvel farmhouse while he was partying with a group of friends, including Sonakshi Sinha and Elli Avram. Four days ago, he visited again and this time spent some ten hours pouring his heart out to Salman. A source told Mirror: “Hrithik came in late evening and he stayed all night. He looked very crestfallen. The subject of discussion was his broken marriage and his estranged wife Sussanne.” Though a chronic bachelor himself, Salman was soon explaining the intricacies of marriage to Hrithik and the two chatted through the night. The source added, “On New Year’s Eve, Hrithik left at around 8.30 pm. So he didn’t bring in the New Year with Salman. It was quite surprising to see him return for a heart-to-heart chat. Salman spoke to him in a very mature and sombre manner.”

The camaraderie is surprising as the two actors have never shared a rapport in the past. News of a tiff between them surfaced when Salman allegedly made a derogatory comment about Hrithik’s film, Guzaarish (2010). Hrithik had shot back saying, “Salman is like a baby.” Then, a few weeks ago, rumour had it that Hrithik didn’t appear on Bigg Boss to promote his film Krrish 3 because their rocky equation persisted. “But now everything is fine between them. They have connected with each other in an unexpected way. You can even call it the new dosti in town,” concluded the source.

Clearly, Salman is Bollywood’s agony uncle of choice. A few days ago, Aamir Khan had revealed on the chat show Koffee With Karan that Salman lent him an ear when he too hit a low in his personal life, after his split from wife Reena in 2002.