T here’s a story going around about two of the big Khans in Bollywood — Salman and Shah Rukh. As everyone knows, Salman is the most bankable star in the Hindi film industry today with the most number of films that have crossed the `100 crore mark and also that the two stars are no longer on talking terms.

But now, it looks like there’s even competition in their pay scales. The rumour is that Salman called Aditya Chopra to his farmhouse when they approached him for his latest film and when the subject of remuneration came up, he allegedly said he wanted `1 more than what SRK gets!

Since the days of Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, and then Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan, there has always been competition between actors on-screen and off screen. The ‘one rupee more, please’ salary issue supposedly existed even then and the south film industries are no different.

Actors who are seen as arch rivals on-screen apparently want to score higher than their competitors even in terms of money. And it’s not large amounts but just a single rupee that can make a difference to their happiness.

At the same time, actors constantly try to woo the favourite producers of other actors. For instance, the Chopras always favoured Shah Rukh but signing on the successful Salman might have rankled the former’s equation, say some industry insiders. And if Salman actually asked for a rupee more, then it looks like entertainment is all just a game of one-upmanship.