Salman Khan refused to hug me in front of Aishwarya Rai: Actress recalls tense moment on Bhansali set

Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai worked together on Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. Sheeba Chaddha didn't have a pleasant experience working with Salman, who refused to hug her in one scene.

Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai worked together on Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.

Actor Sheeba Chaddha recalled an anecdote about Salman Khan storming off the Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam set in a huff, leaving her to wonder if all stars behave this way. It was her first film role, and she decided to mind her own business. In an interview, Sheeba admitted that Salman was temperamental, and that he once refused to hug her in a scene that also included Aishwarya Rai. They were said to be dating at the time, although neither has ever spoken publicly about it. Sheeba said that the shoot came to a standstill, as director Sanjay Leela Bhansali took Salman aside.

Chatting with Siddharth Kannan, Sheeba said, “There was a scene between Aishwarya, him and I, and he had to hug me in that scene. And he said he wouldn’t. I just remembered this. It was a scene in the climax, and I was supposed to be running away. Aishwarya has to hug me, and then Salman has to hug me. Salman said, ‘I won’t hug’. The shoot briefly came to a halt, and Sanjay had to have a chat with him.”

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Sheeba said that she never quite understood why Salman did this, but definitely thought that they should get on with it and not keep the entire unit waiting. “Why would I ask him? I was new; I thought I should keep to myself and let the director handle it. I’m sure he must’ve had his own reasons, but I’m not interested in what those reasons were. It’s not like I was asking my co-actor to hug me, the director was asking two characters to hug each other. If he has a problem, it should be sorted out between the two of them. I was like, ‘At least finish the work’.”

Explaining what happened when Salman stormed off set during the shoot, Sheeba said, “So, something happened that made Salman trip. It was a track or something. Either Salman tripped or fell, or something happened, and I remember him storming out of the set. He just stormed out of the set… He slammed the door, and there was a poor old lightman who got hit I think. But yes, he stormed off. I remember thinking, ‘Baap re, is this how stars behave?’”

Salman and Bhansali nearly reunited some years ago on a film that would’ve also featured Alia Bhatt. But they decided to stall the project because of creative differences and a rumoured incompatibility. Bhansali is now directing Love & War, starring Alia, Ranbir Kapoor, and Vicky Kaushal.

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