Bachchan, Khan in a still from Mohabbatein Bachchan, Khan in a still from Mohabbatein

FOR almost a year, it has made tabloid headlines, kept glossies in business, generated speculative news channel specials, and divided Bollywood. Call it the clash of titans or the confrontation of generations, but it is a stealth war that is being fought with iron wills, velvet gloves, and steel-edged smiles. In the Jalsa corner is the once and forever Shahenshah.

In the Mannat corner is the Badshah. In the audience, split down the middle, are some of the most influential people in the country, from the Gandhis to the Ambanis. At stake is not only the Hindi movie industry with its expanding global reach, but also the celebrity endorsement pie and now, television's biggest game show.

Rs 3.49 crore Average monthly spend on Bachchan's TV ads in 2006

If Bachchan at 64 is experimenting with his career, playing a 60-year-old in love with an 18-year-old in the soon-to-be-released Nishabd, Khan at 41 is also in change mode, playing a downhill coach of an all-girls' hockey team in the forthcoming Chak De India. If Bachchan is endorsing 10 brands, Khan is endorsing the same number, including two which used Bachchan earlier, prompting media planning giant MindShare to commission a 110-celebrity study of brand value across six cities recently and devoting a specific section to Bachchan versus Khan.

And if Bachchan, in a bid to renegotiate his Rs 40-lakh-per-episode fee, wrote to Star Plus in July that he would not be able to honour his commitment to Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC), it is Khan who has stepped in to save the day for a channel under siege from a resurgent Zee TV, with a heftier pay cheque, Rs 70 lakh per episode.

Shah Ruhk Khan with Mr & Mrs Bachchan Shah Ruhk Khan with Mr & Mrs Bachchan

It's a rivalry that is coercing people to choose sides or if not, at least walk the tightrope very carefully. Its genesis may well be in an awards show in Dubai in 2004, when Khan tried to resolve an ugly spat between Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh and the event organisers over Bachchan's seating.

It doesn't stop Khan from speaking to Singh even now but he says, shaking his head, "I still don't know the truth of what happened but I would like to give the benefit of doubt to everyone involved. I accepted that situation because I know I'm not that powerful." Within days, Khan went to the Bachchan home for Holi amidst much popping of flashbulbs, and all was supposed to be well.

But stories from the war front continue to keep groupies and gob-smacked hacks engaged. Bachchan, an old buddy of Yash Johar and Yash Chopra (the former had produced some of his films and the latter directed him in several legendary roles), managed to convince Generation Next of son Abhishek's potential.

While Aditya Chopra, the man who invented the romantic Raj in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and now the most prolific filmmaker in Bollywood, took on Bachchan Junior in Dhoom and Bunty Aur Babli, Karan Johar also quickly signed him on in Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna. Khan laboured manfully as Veer in Yash Chopra's Veer-Zaara but then had to suffer a two-year drought-despite showing an interest in Bunty Aur Babli as well as in the villain's role in Dhoom 2-before Aditya Chopra gave him Chak De India, a role first offered to Salman Khan.

Rs 3.15 crore Average monthly spend on Khan's TV ads in 2006

During this time, Khan also had to tolerate the return of Aamir Khan to YashRaj Films, a place he still considers home, and Abhishek Bachchan doing Dhoom 2, as well as the forthcoming Jhoom Barabar Jhoom and Pradeep Sarkar's as-yet-untitled movie.

What attracts filmmakers is the package deal of Bachchan and Bachchan, sometimes with Aishwarya Rai thrown in-a combination which will now be milked for all its worth in a three-month world tour organised by Wizcraft in August 2007.

What's more, Abhishek has even hired a UK agent to look after his publicity in the West. It's a significant move for the Bachchans, because the overseas territory is seen as Khan's turf, which he has assiduously cultivated over the years with concerts organised by his friends, the Moranis.

Shah Ruhk Khan, Amitabh Bachchan in Mohabbatien Click here to Enlarge Shah Ruhk Khan, Amitabh Bachchan in Mohabbatien

Instead of nursing grudges, though, Khan, the outsider who came to Mumbai with nothing and built his career with courage and conviction, has not only kept up appearances but also struck new alliances. One with Ram Gopal Varma, a Bachchan loyalist, got nixed at the last minute and their project, Time Machine, was called off. But Khan has established other equations.

With Sunil Doshi, Bachchan's brand manager, who brought Bachchan brands Emami and ICICI Bank to Khan's door. With Farhan Akhtar, who had a dust-up with Bachchan on the sets of Lakshya and suggested to Khan that he do Don, a 1978 Bachchan classic. And with Star TV CEO Sameer Nair, who had managed to persuade Khan to do KBC as early as October.

Hosts on KBC Click here to Enlarge Hosts on KBC

Neither decision, says Khan, is in any way intended to undercut Bachchan. "I asked Farhan whether I could say one of my all-time five favourite lines (yes that one, Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahin na-mumkin hai). He said I could say it thrice. I told him I'm in," he says.

On KBC, he says, "I told my son I would be doing KBC. He said only if Amitabh Uncle was not doing it. I like the idea that he loves me but he respects a good thing." He dismisses talk of rivalry with the Bachchans (see interview), even as the latter maintains a stoic silence-a quality Khan admires. "I like the fact that Mr Bachchan speaks so little. It's a sign of an intelligent man," he dimples, adding, "Which automatically excludes me."

Shah Rukh Khan rehearsing with Farah Khan at his home office for KBC Shah Rukh Khan rehearsing with Farah Khan at his home office for KBC

So why was he so unhappy on the sets of Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (KANK), where he had to share screen space not only with Bachchan Senior but also with Junior? "My character in KANK is unhappy. That's his state of mind. I may not be a method actor, but I do make some preparations to get into character," he says.

Bachchan and Khan may have professionalism in common as well as their roots in Delhi, but they could not be more different personalities. Synergy CEO Siddhartha Basu, who is working closely with Khan, practising on the Rs 1.5-crore KBC equipment they've installed in his home office, says, "If Amitabh Bachchan was Bhishma Pitamah, then Shah Rukh will be the playful Krishna."

Amir Khan Amir Khan

They are not in the same boat as far as the history of Indian cinema is concerned-Bachchan's legacy is that of an angry young man embodying the violent 1970s and Khan's is likely to be the urbane lover symbolising the consumerist 1990s-yet they have managed to almost monopolise mind space, despite Aamir Khan and Hrithik Roshan dazzling movie audiences this year.

Ironically, neither employs a publicist. While Bachchan deals with media requests through his secretary (whom he shares with his son), the surprisingly accessible Khan deals with journalists himself, through his communicator. There are as many symmetries in their lives right now as there are contradictions.

Bachchan, scion of a family once closely associated with the Gandhis, finds himself rudely rejected by 10 Janpath, which lost no time in giving its blessings to Khan. In a much-publicised visit to 10 Janpath in 2004, Khan not only disbursed quotable quotes ("I am mesmerised by Sonia Gandhi's grace as a lady and mother") but also began a public association with Priyanka Gandhi and Robert Vadra.

Not only did they visit them on the sets of Paheli in Mumbai in 2005 and subsequently had dinner at his Mumbai home but they also drop into his in-laws' home for dinner when he is in Delhi-forgotten in this is the closeness he had once established with Atal Bihari Vajpayee's family. Bachchan, meanwhile, has only deepened his association with Amar Singh, even recording a tribute to Uttar Pradesh which is currently being aired as an advertisement.

Hritik Roshan Hritik Roshan

His son recently won the state's Yash Bharti award, prompting some protests but an avowal of faith from Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav. For Khan, newly vulnerable in Bollywood, the political establishment has lent support, while for Bachchan, edged into the anti-Congress camp, any questioning by the Government is immediately portrayed as a witch-hunt.

The split is mirrored in industry as well. Mukesh Ambani sits firmly in Khan's corner, with the latter even ringing in his birthday at his home. Mukesh's wife Nita happens to run the school Khan's children, nineyear-old Aryan and six-year-old Suhana, study in. The common link is Khan's friend Juhi Chawla, who is married to industrialist Jai Mehta. "Even now Juhi was calling to organise a dinner with them at home," says Khan, indicating the light flashing on his communicator.

Anil Ambani remains securely tied to Bachchan, with Amitabh presenting the vision of the new ADAG and Abhishek being the brand ambassador of Adlabs radio, Big 92.7 FM. That the brothers are perceived to be on opposite sides of the political spectrum adds piquancy to the situation.

Salman Khan Salman Khan

Ironically though, Synergy, which is producing KBC, has just recently become part of Adlabs' entertainment empire, and Adlabs has signed a Rs 32-crore three-year deal with Roshan, considered Abhishek's greatest competitor. A sideshow in this spat is the wooing of peripheral players-so while Roshan (or Duggu, as Khan calls him) is a regular at Mannat, he is also Abhishek's childhood buddy, and will be part of the Bachchans' world tour.

For now, the mahayudh is being fought on the KBC hot seat. When Khan takes on KBC, is he just living out his fantasy like every other man of his generation who grew up on Bachchan, as Nair thinks? Or does he feel going into people's living rooms is vital to renewing his big screen career?

There are questions: an analysis of KBC 1 and KBC 2 shows that the latter had a skew towards SEC D and E, which is not such good news for Khan, considered an essentially upmarket, star (or as Khan puts it: "Mr Bachchan thinks in English, and does in Hindi, I think in English and do in English"). What may work for Khan is the following: KBC 2 had a greater skew towards his core constituencies, women (53 per cent compared to 49 per cent for KBC 1) and the 4-14 age group (21 per cent compared with 19 per cent for KBC 1).

The competition is fierce: Zee TV's performance in the 9 p.m.-10 p.m. slot has consistently been better than Star Plus this year, money has already been committed by advertisers to the forthcoming India-Sri Lanka-West Indies tri-series as well as the ICC World Cup, and February-March is exam time across the country, during which viewership typically takes a dip. Which is why, says Lakshmi Narasimhan, national director, Central Trading Group, Group M, Star TV's ad sales strategy for KBC has been to sell a bulk of the commercial time through sponsorships, raising an estimated Rs 40 crore. Says Narasimhan: "While this route can help secure revenues, the bigger challenge will be to deliver ratings."

But everyone involved is working flat out. Khan has given Basu the unfinished manuscript of autobiography (typed neatly in capital letters), the twin documentaries by Nasreen Munni Kabir and his own personal tapes of stand up comics like Richard Pyror and Russel Peters. Says Johar, "If they can bottle Shah Rukh's off-screen charm, that's fantastic." Kabir agrees: "Only NRI audiences have seen Shah Rukh's persona at concerts so far. Now Indian audiences will see it for themselves."

Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bacchan: Friends and enemies in bollywood Click here to Enlarge Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bacchan: Friends and enemies in bollywood

When KBC opens again in mid-January with Prasenjit Sarkar, a rollover candidate from Kolkata, the Bachchans will be watching closely. The new first family of Bollywood-a title once reserved for the Kapoors-is on its way to becoming a dynasty as much as it is a company.

If Rai, who has never forgiven Khan for dropping her unceremoniously from Chalte Chalte, is added to it, it becomes a triple-decker brand. Equally, a lot is at stake for Khan, the boy who lost his father at 16, mother at 26, married a Hindu girl against her parents' wishes, and then became a superstar in 1993, never to look back. Both Bachchan and Khan are men who are conscious of their place in history books, however much they deny playing for posterity.

While Bachchan would like to see Abhishek's star ever on the ascendant, Khan is not averse to his children joining the film industry in the future. By attaching himself so obviously to Bachchan, Khan is aiming for the same iconhood. And though time and work separates the two-Bachchan has acted in over 150 films in a 37-year career while Khan has done 47 films in 17 years-Khan may well be the true inheritor of the national treasure mantle.

There may be finer actors in his generation but no one symbolises the aspirations of an urban, middle class India better. Even now, despite the isolating trappings of stardom, he revels in his middle class ethos, calling himself an employee of the people who can neither quit nor shout at his boss. Both men know better than most that the film industry is just another name for a few all-powerful families. And being one of them is crucial for survival.