Vivek Oberoi was ‘thrown out of films, boycotted’ after speaking out against Salman Khan: ‘Threatening calls to me, my sister, parents’

Vivek Oberoi recalled how speaking up against Salman Khan made his journey in the Hindi film industry quite difficult.

New Delhi | Updated: September 28, 2025 02:31 AM IST

3 min read

Vivek Oberoi recalls the 2003 incident and being put out of work. (Express photo by Prakash Yeram)

Actor Vivek Oberoi was hyped to be the next big Bollywood star in the early 2000s after films like Company and Saathiya. But his fall from grace came soon after when in 2003, he held a press conference accusing Salman Khan of threatening him. Vivek was allegedly in a relationship with Aishwarya Rai at the time. The accusation sent shockwaves through the industry, and soon Vivek saw himself being pushed towards the sidelines. In a recent interview, the actor reflected on all that transpired with him after the incident.

While talking to Prakhar Gupta on his YouTube channel, Vivek recalled what happened afterwards and shared that now when he looks back at it, he “laughs.” “But you find that perspective much later,” he said and added, “I don’t remember or care about the things that happened to me. The things which are difficult to let go are your mother’s expressions and your father’s reaction to the whole incident. I find it difficult to let go of those tears in her eyes. Eventually, the goal is to let that go as well, because all those memories will give rise to more negative feelings.”

Vivek shared that he was fired from films that he had signed, and no one was ready to work with him. It has been suggested that this happened because Vivek spoke up against one of the biggest stars of Bollywood at the time, who had way more influence that Vivek. He shared that him and his family were getting a lot of threatening calls in the aftermath. “A point came during that time where everyone was boycotting me left and right. No one was ready to work with me, and I was thrown out of the films I had already signed. Moreover, I used to get a lot of calls threatening me. These calls were made to my sister, father and mother as well,” he said.

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While Vivek was cagey about his alleged break-up with Aishwarya, he said that his personal life also went through turbulent times during this phase. “Apart from that, my personal life was completely in a mess. I went into depression, and just like any ‘mama’s boy’, I went to my mother and cried a lot. I asked the ‘Why me?’ question a lot. All she said was, ‘Did you ever ask yourself that question when you were winning awards, making films, and getting followed by fans?'”

Now a successful businessman, Vivek continued to work in films after the incident, but he never came back to being called the ‘next big star’. His later roles included films like Prince (2010), Shootout at Lokhandwala (2007), and Krrish 3 (2013), among others.

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