Salim Khan opens up about his love story with first wife Salma Khan: ‘Mere father-in-law ne kaha religion acceptable nahi’

After a few secret meetings, Salim recalled that he wanted to meet her parents and said, “Chhup ke milte the idhar udhar kahin. Maine kaha ki nahi, I would like to meet your parents. Jab main gaya, sab mere ko dekhne ke liye aa gaye the jaise zoo mein koi janwar aaya hai naya ki dekhne chalte hain (We would meet secretly. I said I want to meet your parents. When I went there, everyone came to see me like I was an attraction at a zoo).” He said that he was quite nervous when he met the family.

But as expected, religion became a point of contention here. He shared, “Mere father-in-law ne kaha ‘beta, humne tumhare baare mein maloomat ki hai. Ache khandan ke ladke ho, padhe likhe ho, sab kuch ho, humein koi aitraaz nahi, aajkal ache ladke milte nahi. Magar religion acceptable nahi hai. Maine kaha, mere aur aapki beti ke 1760, aisa mooh se nikla, 1760 problems ho sakte hain magar religion will never be one of them (My father-in-law said, ‘son, I have enquired about you. You are from a good family, educated, we have no problems. We won’t find such a good boy. But the religion is not acceptable. I said, your daughter and I can have 1760 problems, I just said 1760, but religion will never be one of them).”

Sushila Charak changed her name to Salma Khan and got married to Salim. The veteran writer recalled that Salma’s maternal grandmother would often call him Shankar out of love.

Salim Khan got married to Helen in 1981 and admitted that he told Salma about it voluntarily. “I told her, yeh relationship hai mera. Unhone yeh toh nahi kaha ki bahut acha kia, iske liye aapko award milna chahiye. This is an emotional accident, yeh kisi ke sath bhi ho sakta hai (I told her that this is my relationship. She did not say that well done, you should get an award for it. This is an emotional accident, can happen with anyone.)”

Salim Khan and his two wives were brought up following different faiths and in one of the questions Arbaaz Khan said that “religion is the last reason for any kind of discord” in the family. To this, Salim Khan said that people are still surprised when they see his name in the credits of Mahabharat.

He said, “Ramayan ko aur Mahabharat ko ek ilm ki kitaab samajh ke padha hai aur mere kaam mein, meri writing ke andar itna kaam aya hai ki voh pucho mat. Agar main phas jata hun kahin, toh dekhta hun ki Mahabharat mein kya hua tha. Mahabharat is the greatest screenplay and Ramayan is one of the greatest stories (I have read Ramayan and Mahabharat as books of knowledge and in my work, my writing, they have benefitted me greatly. If I get stuck anywhere, I go back and see how Mahabharat handled it. Mahabharat is the greatest screenplay and Ramayan is one of the greatest stories).”