It’s star war: Oberoi takes on ‘alcoholic’ Salman Khan

‘‘When he said he wanted to kill me, I asked him to come to my house,’’ recalled Oberoi, who later waited outside his house in the dead of night.

‘‘Salman later called me back and told me he was tired and sleepy and didn’t want to come over to my house,’’ added the actor, who was completely taken aback. ‘‘I was completely disgusted with his Salman’s drunken behaviour. I mean, there’s a limit to what a man can take,’’ he said.

The outraged, young actor was emphatic that someone should put an end to Khan’s ‘‘brattish behaviour’’. ‘‘He may not be a completely bad person, he may have some good qualities, but when will this stop? He’s run over someone because of his alcoholism, he’s hurt everyone who has loved him, has made everyone cry. Why should people accept that he does these things because he is an alcoholic? His family should seek psychiatric help for this problem,’’ emphasised Oberoi.

Though Oberoi is yet to file a criminal complaint, he said the police had visited him at his house. ‘‘They were first wary whether this was an April Fool’s prank but later congratulated me because they had received calls about Salman’s misbehaviour earlier but weren’t in a position to do anything. The police also offered to provide security,’’ he added.

Why, then, has he not yet filed a First Information Report (FIR)? Oberoi says his father, Suresh Oberoi, wasn’t in Mumbai and that he himself had been shooting in Chennai. ‘‘But on the evening of March 31, my friend Shitij Mehta called me up in Chennai to say that he had been receiving threatening calls on his cellphone from Salman’s bodyguards, who asked Mehta why I was messing around with bhai and wanted to ‘set me right’. So Mehta advised me not to return to Mumbai immediately,’’ revealed Oberoi, who returned to the city on the very evening of March 31.

Oberoi said that Khan’s family has been very supportive. ‘‘I’ve always had a great relationship with Salim uncle, and Salman’s brothers Sohail and Arbaaz and both of them have washed their hands of Salman.’’

Quoting Sohail Khan, Oberoi said he was urged to ‘‘consider these calls as a nightmare. Salman is now pushing 40 and no one can control him. All that he’s done is under the influence of alcohol.’’

Police Inspector Sunil Deshmukh with the D N Nagar police station confirmed that Vivek Oberoi had indeed complained against Khan but the complaint was oral. ‘‘He said Salman had been threatening him since the last few days. He confirmed that Khan had called Oberoi 41 times in a single night and threatened him with dire consequences. Deshmukh added that khan had apparently told Oberoi to ‘‘keep away from Aishwarya Rai or else…’’ Deshmukh said that unless Oberoi filed a written complaint, no action can be taken against the truant Khan.