By: Entertainment DeskNew Delhi | September 17, 2025 11:11 AM IST 4 min readSalman Khan and Aishwarya Rai were said to be in a relationship. (Express Archive)Ad guru Prahlad Kakkar lives in the same building as Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s mother; this was the house that Aishwarya herself used to live in before she married Abhishek Bachchan. Owing to his close proximity to the star, whom he mentored in the early stages of her career, Prahlad was also privy to the ups and downs that she experienced in her life. One of the most traumatic phases that Aishwarya experienced was her rumoured relationship with actor Salman Khan. In a new interview, Prahlad described Salman as ‘possessive’, and recalled memories of hearing his arguments with Aishwarya. He also addressed long-standing rumours of him being physically violent towards her.Chatting with journalist Vickey Lalwani, Prahlad was asked about witnessing Aishwarya’s career from close quarters, as she rose up the ranks through beauty pageants and became a leading heroine. “Her greatest hurt was being abandoned by the industry for Salman. That was her greatest hurt. She really felt bad.” Prahlad said that she wasn’t as upset about the break-up itself, because it was a long time coming.Also read – Vivek Oberoi makes rare comment about Aishwarya Rai, is relieved he’s no longer around people with ‘plastic smiles’“She was relieved about it. The break-up was a huge relief. He was very physical with her. He was very obsessive. How do you deal with somebody who is very obsessive?” Prahlad said. Asked if Aishwarya shared some of the details of her altercations with Salman, Prahlad said, “No. But I know. I was living in the same building! He would make scenes in the foyer. He would bang his head at the wall. The relationship had ended long before it ended. It was a relief for everybody; her parents, her, everybody. She wasn’t upset about the break-up. She was upset about being completely… Everybody took Salman’s side and not hers.” Aishwarya Rai and Salman Khan’s Hum Dil Chuke Sanam released in 2000.Prahlad suggested that Aishwarya still carries some of this hurt, which is why she doesn’t work as often as she used to. “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,” he said.In a recent interview with FilmyMantra, Aishwarya and Salman’s Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam co-star Smita Jaykar said that their romance translated onto the screen. “Their affair flourished there. And it helped the film a lot. Both of them had those moony-moony eyes, and romance was showing on their faces. That worked very well for the film,” she said. But Sheeba Chaddha, who also worked on the movie, recalled how temperamental Salman was on the sets. She said in an interview with Siddharth Kannan, “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?’”Sheeba also shared an anecdote that could indicate how possessive Salman was. “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,” she said.Click here to follow Screen Digital on YouTube and stay updated with the latest from the world of cinema.© IE Online Media Services Pvt LtdTags:aishwarya rai bachchansalman khan