Ali, who is based in the United States, arrived in Bangkok end of February and stayed on till the star’s return to Mumbai. “She and Salman spent a lot of time together after the day’s shoot would get over. They were seen shopping in various places in Bangkok and looked happy and comfortable like two people who have been with each other for many years,” a source from Bangkok confirmed. “All through her stay Salman was very protective of Somy. She did not come on the sets but he was with her all the time after the shoot. They were quiet discreet, he didn’t want to be in the public eye,” he added.

The thirty-something Somy Ali shares a unique relationship with the ‘Dabangg’ star. Though they split up after a couple of years back in the Nineties, and Salman once famously poured cola over her head, the two have remained firm friends. Whenever Salman goes to US, he meets Somy. He spent some time with her during his world tour in 2008 as well.

They were seeing each other in the ’90s. She had her brief entanglements then with stars like Saif Ali Khan and Gulshan Grover and Salman accepted her despite that. “Somy is probably the only woman in his life who has managed to remain friends and someone Salman looks up to. She is Salman’s friend and confidante. He would never hear anything against her,” revealed the same source, who refused to go on-record.

Ali, after her brief and unremarkable film career returned to the US where she got involved in charity endeavors and launched a campaign called Human Being in 2007. Few years later when Sallu launched his own NGO, he decided to take a cue from her and called it ‘Being Human’. Somy also runs a clothing line So-Me Designs that funds her non-profit-organization, No More Tears Inc.

With so much in common between them and old embers stirring to life again, could it be that India’s best-known bachelor boy is thinking of settling down?