Salim Khan opened up about his love story with his first wife Salma Khan, who was Sushila Charak before she tied the knot with him.
Salma Khan was Sushila Charak before she got married to Salim Khan. (Photo: Arpita Khan/Instagram)
Screenwriter Salim Khan was yet to make a name for himself when he married Sushila Charak in 1954. Known as Salma Khan now, Salman Khan’s mother maintains a low profile but in a recent interview, Salim Khan opened up about his love story with Salma. He recalled that they lived in apartments that were right opposite to each other and fell in love.
Talking to his son Arbaaz Khan on his new show on Bollywood Bubble, Salim recalled that he was well known in the neighbourhood as the man who could lift a jeep and was a pro at arm wrestling. “Vahan se mohalle popularity badhti chali gayi aur inse dosti bhi ho gayi (From there, I started becoming popular in the neighbourhood and got close to her),” he said.
After a few secret meetings, Salim recalled that he wanted to meet her parents and said, “Chhup ke milte the idhar udhar kahin. Maine kaha ki nahi, I would like to meet your parents. Jab main gaya, sab mere ko dekhne ke liye aa gaye the jaise zoo mein koi janwar aaya hai naya ki dekhne chalte hain (We would meet secretly. I said I want to meet your parents. When I went there, everyone came to see me like I was an attraction at a zoo).” He said that he was quite nervous when he met the family.
But as expected, religion became a point of contention here. He shared, “Mere father-in-law ne kaha ‘beta, humne tumhare baare mein maloomat ki hai. Ache khandan ke ladke ho, padhe likhe ho, sab kuch ho, humein koi aitraaz nahi, aajkal ache ladke milte nahi. Magar religion acceptable nahi hai. Maine kaha, mere aur aapki beti ke 1760, aisa mooh se nikla, 1760 problems ho sakte hain magar religion will never be one of them (My father-in-law said, ‘son, I have enquired about you. You are from a good family, educated, we have no problems. We won’t find such a good boy. But the religion is not acceptable. I said, your daughter and I can have 1760 problems, I just said 1760, but religion will never be one of them).”
Sushila Charak changed her name to Salma Khan and got married to Salim. The veteran writer recalled that Salma’s maternal grandmother would often call him Shankar out of love
Salim Khan got married to Helen in 1981 and admitted that he told Salma about it voluntarily. “I told her, yeh relationship hai mera. Unhone yeh toh nahi kaha ki bahut acha kia, iske liye aapko award milna chahiye. This is an emotional accident, yeh kisi ke sath bhi ho sakta hai (I told her that this is my relationship. She did not say that well done, you should get an award for it. This is an emotional accident, can happen with anyone.)”
Salim Khan and his two wives were brought up following different faiths and in one of the questions Arbaaz Khan said that “religion is the last reason for any kind of discord” in the family. To this, Salim Khan said that people are still surprised when they see his name in the credits of Mahabharat.
