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28 March 2024

Salman Khan friendly with former girlfriends... except Aishwarya Rai

Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai (AFP)

Published

The fact that Bollywood heartthrob and eligible bachelor Salman Khan has a soft heart is an open secret. But what is more astounding is that he manages to keep almost all his old flames in good humour.

Every time the old flames are in the limelight, it has something to do with Salman Khan. Recently, Somy Ali claimed Salman never abused her physcially. Sangeeta Bijlani was snapped catching a special screening of a film with Sallu and family.

And where Katrina Kaif is concerned, nobody really knows if she falls in the category of ex-flame or current flame or 'present continuous' girlfriend considering that they spend more time together now than when they were officially a couple.

Even though, Salman has given Katrina a few back-handed compliments and there were rumours of him slapping Katrina on the sets of a film shoot recently, there were also news reports of the duo spending quality time together on Kat's birthday.

However, Aishwarya has always proved to be the exception in Salman's rules of life.

The duo fell in love during the shooting of 'Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam' which proved to be the hit of the year. They were in 'love' for two years. However, misunderstandings cropped up between the couple and the relationship didn't last long and neither did it end quietly. The duo continued to fill gossip columns for years together.

The couple made news for the wrong reasons. Once Salman stormed onto the sets of Aishwarya’s upcoming film “Kuch Na Kaho” with Abhishek Bachchan, her future husband. The beefy actor pushed Aishwarya and she fell down. Others working with her had to intervene while Salman stormed off.

A few months later, a similar thing happened when Aishwarya was shooting with Shah Rukh Khan. Shah Rukh Khan eeven tried to intervene and cool down the couple but Salman attacked him verbally and their relationship was tarred by it. After this, other actors were wary of working with Aishwarya.

Aishwarya even accused Salman of harassing her. He allegedly broke window panes and furniture in her house. Her parents had to file a polie complaint and she had a lot of security around her while she went about her daily life.

Finally it came to a point where Aishwarya was forced to announce in the media that she would never work professionally with Salman Khan again in her life.

She said: “The Salman Khan chapter was a nightmare in my life and I am thankful to god that it is over.”

“I have maintained a dignified silence about him and his wrong doings but he has repeatedly attacked the respect, dignity and pride of me and my family with irresponsible rumour mongering”.

“I stood by him enduring his alcoholic misbehaviour in worst phases and in turn I was at the receiving end of his abuse, infidelity and indignity. That is why like any other self-respecting woman I had ended my relationship with him almost two years ago”

“After we broke up, he would call me and talk rubbish. He also suspected me of having affairs with my co-stars. I was linked up with everyone, from Abhishekh Bachchan to Shah Rukh Khan. There were times when Salman got physical with me, luckily without leaving any marks. And I would go to work as if nothing had happened.”

Salman Khan told Hindustan Times in 2002: “I love Aishwarya. I am not hounding her. It’s not a teenage obsession that I feel for her — it’s pure love. She’s such a traditional Hindustani girl at the bottom of her heart. The fact that she respects her parents so much makes me admire her more.”

He further added:  “Call me arrogant or whatever you like. I am like this. I try and put forward myself very clearly. I am not scared of speaking the truth. I have been labelled arrogant by a section of the film press, especially those magazines which want me to run around them and accept whatever they write about me. If I call you names, if I write rubbish about your family, will you like it? It can spoil your relationships with your colleagues and family and also land you in a soup.

Just because somebody wants to sell his magazine, does it mean I should allow them to make use of me?”

It will certainly take a long time for Aishwarya to think of Salman Khan as a friend since it was such an unhappy chapter of her life.