It was a hot‑day in 1999, the Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam set buzzing with lights and a full table. Salman Khan, the king of Bollywood swagger, was swirling around, arm brushing Aishwarya Rai’s shoulder—an unspoken rule broken. Bhansali, the maestro, threw a sharp, cinematic rebuke that echoed through the corridor.
Smita Jayakar, who played the mother of the lead, remembers the moment like a punchline. "It was the song sequence of Aankhon Ki Gustaakhiyan. Salman goes all around the table and touches Aishwarya’s arm that he was not supposed to do. Then Sanjay shouted at him, ‘Salman, why did you touch her?’" she says, eyes flicking to the old set photos. The director’s voice, usually smooth, snapped like a cracked camera lens.
Aishwarya’s silence on the incident resurfaced in a 2012 Simi Garewal chat, where she admitted she’d shut it out on stage. "I’ve exorcised my demons. It’s a thing of the past," she told the host, but later clarified she avoided it because she didn’t want it to become a solo headline. The star’s guardedness reflects a career built on privacy amid relentless curiosity.
The episode is more than an anecdote; it’s a reminder of how on‑screen chemistry can bleed into off‑screen drama. The same touch that sparked Bhansali’s outburst also fueled the romance that led to a 2002 breakup and a flurry of industry gossip. For fans, it’s a behind‑the‑scenes story that adds texture to the myth of Bollywood’s biggest couples.