Why was Salman Khan offended by Sanjay Leela Bhansali?

Salman Khan was the first actor to whom Sanjay Leela Bhansali signed for his directorial debut movie ‘ Khamoshi: The Musical ’, which released in 1996. The movie was critically acclaimed and Bhansali received his first Filmfare Award. The duo then collaborated after 3 years and gave the epic romantic love saga, ‘ Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam ’, which won a total of 9 Filmfare awards and 4 National Film Awards. Things went wrong after that. After giving two major hits with Salman, Bhansali then cast Shah Rukh Khan in his next and made Salman upset and offended. We know ‘ Devdas ’ turned to be a game changer for Bhansali, but choosing SRK over Salman for the then magnum opus hurt Salman’s sentiments.

Yesterday, at a summit, when asked about the ‘ Padmavati ’ controversy, Salman said, “I think the censor board and the Supreme Court should be the ones to take a call on that.” When asked if Bhansali has offended people, he was quick to retort in jest, “I don’t know about other people, but he definitely offended me. I gave him two hit films, and then he took Shah Rukh Khan in the next one.”

About the fallout, Bhansali had opened up in an interview and had said, “Maybe I could not make a film with him. If I felt or I am willing to make a certain kind of cinema and I feel he is not right for the film, I can't cast him. I understand he will be upset for that because he expects that out of me. He expects a certain kind of love and loyalty. But sometimes, it's important to do the film that you want to. However ruthless I may sound, but as a filmmaker, I love that film I'm making. I am not disregarding him as an actor. Today, it doesn't matter whether I am making a film with him or not because he is a cult. He stands there and the film does 300 crores.”