Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai’s love story started and blossomed on the sets of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Ham Dil De Chuke Sanam. The Dabaang star was so besotted with Aishwarya that he became highly possessive of her.
According to the film’s actor, Smita Jayakar, aka Amrita, who played Aishwarya’s mother in the movie, Salman once gave director Sanjay Leela Bhansali a dressing down for touching Aishwarya while explaining to her a song sequence in the film.
While speaking to Rajshri Unplugged once, Smita revealed she witnessed the incident when Salman scolded Bhansali. “I remembered one scene from the song Aankhon Ki Gustakhiya, where Salman had to go around as Ash stood next to me. So Sanjay goes and touches her (Ash) like this, and he (Salman) goes and says, ‘Sanjay, Sir, why did you touch her? You are not supposed to do that,’” she said.
She stated that Salman and Aishwarya had an intense relationship at that time, and it worked well for Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who used their real-life chemistry for the movie.
Their split was also a setback for Sanjay Leela Bhansali because his project had stopped. Aishwarya Rai had left the movie as she no longer wanted to work with Salman.
However, Salman Khan wanted Bhansali to continue with the project, and it was reported that he wished Bhansali to take Katrina Kaif for the role of Mastani in the movie. Subhash K.Jha Salman once took Katrina Kaif to Bhansali’s house and told him she was his ‘Mastani.’
However, it didn’t ring the bell for Bhansali, and he showed no interest in casting her. It was also said that Salman Khan had recommended his Tere Naam co-star Bhumika Chawla for the role, but Bhansali rejected her after the audition. And that was the end of it.
Salman didn’t approach Sanjay, and the two never worked again. Salman appeared in Sanjay’s Saawariya (2007), but that was for a cameo role. The two had recently started collaborating on the movie Inshallah, where Alia Bhatt was also supposed to star alongside Salman. The project, however, was shelved after creative differences between Salman and Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
