Vivek Oberoi at a night club in Mumbai.
Vivek Oberoi at a night club in Mumbai.
Vivek Oberoi at a night club in Mumbai. Photo Credit: Maxx Media
June 15, 2008 (Sawf News) – In a press conference five years back, Vivek Oberoi accused Salman Khan of harassing and threatening him over his relationship with Aishwarya Rai, who was then dating Vivek after having broken off with Salman.
Following the accusations, which evoked no public response from Salman, Vivek’s Bollywood career suffered, as he was ostracized by Salman backers in the film industry.
Vivek has since apologized for his intemperate accusations but his efforts to make amends have evoked no response from Salman.
Vivek is a talented actor with a string of intense performances to his credit, in films like Saathiya, Yuva and Company. Ironically he is still struggling to find projects, with no films on hand following Mission Istanbu.
A lot of filmmakers would be ready to sign him up provided they could find an A-list actress to work with him. It is not entirely a coincidence that Vivek was not romantically paired in Shootout at Lokhandwala (2007) and yet to be released Mission Istanbul.
Most top actresses, and even some actors, excuse themselves out of the Vivek projects for fear of antagonizing Salman.
An industry source explained to us why Vivek is out of work,
“When Tushar Hiranandani, who scripted Vivek starrers Masti and Pyaare Mohan, turned director with Ram, Rahim Aur Romeo he signed up Vivek to play one of the three lead roles in the film. Fardeen Khan was attached to play the second lead. For the third and most important lead role, Vivek recommended Govinda, who stays in the same Juhu locality as Vivek and is well known to him. Vivek was confident Govinda would not turn him down.
Salman Khan on the set of 10 Ka Dum. Photo Credit: Maxx Media
“The producers asked Vivek to speak to Govinda, which Vivek did, and Govinda agreed to meet up with the producers. However, Govinda is known to be close to Salman. When the producers met up with Govinda, the actor turned politician stumped them by asking for an outrageous paycheck of Rs 7 crore. Shocked the producers left without signing him on.”
“Govinda tactfully managed to keep both Vivek and Salman happy. He knew well that no producer would get ready to pay him such a fee. The makers then approached Javed Jaffrey who immediately gave his nod for the same part at a throwaway price.” added the source.
“But the problems were far from over for the makers. When they set out to sing up an A-list actress opposite Vivek, they met with no success. Vidya Balan flatly refused to do the film, on hearing she would be paired opposite Vivek. She gave the age old excuse of dates being the problem. The hunt is still on!” the source laments.
Another industry insider revealed to us, “When K.S. Adhiyaman (Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam) decided to remake his Tamil super-hit Thoondil in Hindi, he finalized Vivek for the main lead. However, he too is facing difficulty in getting a top actress to play Vivek’s love interest. Actresses like Priyanka and Bipasha have declined the film, despite the script having a powerful role for the female lead. Adhiyaman is still searching for a lead actress opposite Vivek for his romantic film.”
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