For those who presume Salman Khan Films is run in easy-going fashion and working here is a piece of cake, meet Amar Butala, ex-CEO at Salman Khan Films. The man, who had been involved in executing projects at UTV Motion Pictures and Balaji Motion Pictures, went on to be associated with Salman, with projects like Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Hero and Tubelight.
However, all was not rosy for him at Salman Khan Films. Apparently, he and his main associate at SKF, Garima, were not functioning up to the desired mark at SKF. This obviously became a major concern for Salman and his sister Alvira. When not a single project was finalized by Butala post-Tubelight, Alvira, who plays a key role at SKF looking after her brother’s interests, supposedly raised the red flag. However, despite constant follow-ups and repeated reminders, there was no concrete response forthcoming from the SKF CEO.
The tension between Alvira and Butala, more than evident at the SKF board meetings, kept mounting till it reached a head last weekend. It was curtains for Butala at SKF, who has since moved on to Fox Star Studios as Chief Acquisition Officer.
Whether the Khans admit it or not, they are clearly feeling the vacuum created by Salman and his ex-manager, Reshma Shetty parting ways. For 9 whole years, Salman had been managed by Matrix, the company run by Reshma Shetty. She had been the one to successfully transform Salman’s image from Bollywood bad boy to ‘Being Human’ superstar, besides bagging for him the ‘Bigg Boss’ deal in 2010, big-ticket films, and even advising him to launch his own production house Salman Khan Films.
However, it was family issues that eventually spelt the death of this mutually beneficial association between Salman and Shetty. While Salman was working on Sultan, the Khan family convinced him to schedule his next film with Alvira’s husband, Atul Agnihotri. The film would star Salman Khan opposite Katrina Kaif. Reshma Shetty, however, working in Salman’s best interests, intervened and ensured that YRF’s film Tiger Zinda Hai was given top priority by Salman, leading to the film with Atul being pushed to the backburner.
This drove a wedge between him and his manager, as family comes first for Salman Khan.
Time now to patch up with Reshma Shetty, perhaps?
