Plagued by charges of plagiarism, Pritam Chakraborty who often finds it tough to defend himself stoutly at public places when under verbal attack, found an unlikely but formidable support-system in Salman Khan on Friday evening at a press conference for Ready at a suburban hotel.

It happened when someone from the press corps asked Pritam why he had again copied a song 'Character Dheela Hai' in Ready. Says an eyewitness, "Before Pritam could gather his thoughts together and think of a proper response, Salman jumped out of his seat and said, 'Which song has Pritam copied? Aren't you talking about the lyrics being similar? Don't you know Pritam hasn't written the lyrics? Ask the lyricist for the lyrics, not the guy who composed the song."

Pritam was deeply moved by Salman's defence. He told a friend that in all these years no one had defended him publicly although he had been accused of plagiarism so many times.

After the press conference he went quietly towards Salman to thank him. Says the eyewitness, "Salman brushed aside Pritam's gratitude and asked, 'Kyon, achcha bola na? Did I give a suitable reply?' Salman then went on to give Pritam an impromptu pep-talk about how he must never take sh*t lying down. That he must stand up for what he feels and knows to be right"

The story of Salman's morale-boosting technique doesn't end there. Pritam has taken Salman's advice very seriously. He has decided to take strong legal action against anyone who accuses him of plagiarism without substantiating the charges.

While Pritam remained unavailable for comment, a source close to him confirmed, "Yes the incident with Salman really happened. And yes he is going to take legal action against people including fellow-composers who accuse him of copying."