‘Neelam got irritated with me after I fell on her, Salman Khan started ragging her’, Mahesh Thakur recalls Hum Saath-Saath Hain shoot

Actor Mahesh Thakur, who starred in Sooraj Barjatya’s iconic film Hum Saath-Saath Hain, recently recounted an incident from the film’s shoot that momentarily irritated his co-star Neelam Kothari. In the multi-starrer, Mahesh and Neelam played a married couple. He recalled how co-stars Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan, and Tabu’s playful jokes helped diffuse the tension.

Speaking on Radio Nasha Official, Mahesh shared, “We started shooting the ‘ABCD’ song. So when the song started I wasn’t very comfortable with the dance steps. We had to shake our bodies and the bus was also shaking depending on the road, so I missed my step and fell on Neelam ji. She got a little irritated. She told me, ‘What are you doing?’ After that point Salman, Saif and Tabu, all of them started ragging her. They said, ‘If he falls for you, he isn’t going to fall for you like this.’ Their jokes lightened the whole situation. Neelam didn’t hold anything against me; it was just a quick reaction. Those jokes broke the ice, and from then on, we became friendly.” Mahesh emphasised that all the actors enjoyed a strong camaraderie on set.

Previously, on the dance reality show India’s Best Dancer 3, Karisma Kapoor also shared her memories from Hum Saath-Saath Hain, recalling the friendly atmosphere on set. She described how she and Tabu would often coax a quiet Sonali Bendre to put down her book and join their conversations.

Karisma said, “We really miss the days of Hum Saath Saath Hain. There are so many good memories associated with it. So, Sonali was very quiet, and I was the talkative one on set. Sonali elegantly used to sit quietly with her book, while Tabu and I always used to wonder ‘What is she reading? Why is she not talking to us? What is there in that book?’. While Tabu and I used to discuss films and which song we were about to shoot, Sonali used to be in the corner lost in her books. We used to go and ask her to come have lunch with us and she used to say, ‘I’m vegetarian so I only have a salad and I used to be like fine but ‘Aa jao salad lekar (come with your salad)’.”

Also read | What makes Juhi Chawla one of the richest Bollywood stars with a net worth of Rs 4,600 crore?

Hum Saath-Saath Hain received critical acclaim and became the highest-grossing film of 1999.