‘We were all sad to hear about Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai’s fights; Sanjay Leela Bhansali betrayed him by signing Shah Rukh Khan for Devdas’: Ismail Darbar

According to Ismail Darbar, Salman Khan did Sanjay Leela Bhansali a favour by working with him on Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, but was replaced by Shah Rukh Khan in Devdas.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | October 8, 2025 04:23 PM IST

5 min read

Aishwarya Rai suffered professionally after her break-up with Salman Khan. (Express Archive)

Music director Ismail Darbar opened up about his fallout with director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and said in a new interview that he wouldn’t work with him again even if he was offered Rs 100 crore. He said that their already volatile working relationship finally snapped when he was working on the show Heeramandi. In an interview with Vickey Lalwani, the music composer said that he’d been working on the big-budget Netflix series for over a year when a misunderstanding forced him to bow out. He’d previously worked with Bhansali on the Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai-starrer Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, and the film Devdas, which featured Shah Rukh Khan alongside Aishwarya.

Ismail suggested that Bhansali betrayed Salman by hiring his direct competitor, Shah Rukh, to star in Devdas. He said, “When I needed work, he gave me Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, and when he needed me, I gave up all the work I had for him. He was my godfather in the industry, after all… My heart tells me that his equation with Salman soured because he hired Shah Rukh for Devdas. Isn’t it obvious? If I help you out twice, and the third time, you go and hire my competitor, I would be upset? Salman worked with him on Khamoshi, and then worked with him again even though Khamoshi flopped.” When it was suggested that Salman wasn’t hired for the film because it featured his rumoured former partner Aishwarya Rai, Ismail said, “The news of their fights were all over the media. We used to feel bad; they were so close, they shouldn’t have been fighting. But these are all things of the past; even Salman is smart enough to never speak about it.”

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In a recent interview, also with Vickey Lalwani, ad guru Prahlad Kakkar claimed to have witnessed Salman and Aishwarya’s fights, as he lived in the same building as her. He also spoke about Aishwarya’s disappointment in her fraternity for siding with Salman after the break-up. “Her greatest hurt was being abandoned by the industry for Salman. That was her greatest hurt. She really felt bad,” he said, adding, “That’s where her commitment to the industry actually cracked. Otherwise she was very committed. She didn’t trust the industry anymore. They weren’t being fair. I could understand if she was wrong and the other party was right, or if they were equally responsible. Nothing! It was so one-sided. She felt very, very betrayed by the industry.”

Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai were said to be in a relationship. (Express Archive)

In an interview with Simi Garewal, Aishwarya was asked about being removed from as many as five films with Shah Rukh, and she said, “Yes, at the time, it was written that we would be working on a couple of films together, and then suddenly, they weren’t happening, with no explanations whatsoever.” Making it clear that it wasn’t her decision to back out, she added, “You obviously are taken aback, confused and of course hurt. You wonder about it…You become more aware of what you have heard about, so, what became obvious was that it could happen to me too, with all your apparent box office success, and secure position in the industry.”

Shah Rukh had later expressed regret for his decisions. He told India Today in an interview in 2003, “To start a project with someone and then change her for no fault of hers is very difficult. It is very sad as Ash is a good friend. Personally I think I did wrong. But as a producer it made sense. I apologised to Ash.” Aishwarya’s mother-in-law, Jaya Bachchan, was quite upset on her behalf as well. She told People magazine in an interview, “I haven’t had the opportunity to discuss it with him and I am going to speak to him about it. If he was at my home, I would have slapped him, just as I would my own son. But I have connected with him in my soul, and that’s it,” adding, “I have a weakness for Shah Rukh.”

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