A friend of Suraj Pancholi narrated an incident to us from the sets of Ek Tha Tiger where he assisted Kabir Khan on the film. (As you know, Suraj had earlier assisted Sanjay Leela Bhansali on the Hrithik Roshan starrer Guzaarish.)
Commenting on his closeness to Salman, my spy says there were many times Salman was smoking a cigarette and would always pass it on to Suraj (who was his Man Friday during the shoot), “Salman has this habit of giving his half-smoked cigarette to one person in particular on set before he goes into a shot. He would always give it to Suraj who would quietly hold on to it. Sometimes it would burn out in his hand and people on set would often joke about Suraj being Salman’s cigarette holder!”
As of now Suraj has been remanded to police custody for abetment of suicide in the Jiah Khan suicide case till June 27th.