Over twenty years ago, an unexpected encounter between Bollywood icon Salman Khan and Hotmail co-founder Sabeer Bhatia became a tabloid sensation, all because of Aishwarya Rai. What started as innocent admiration from the tech mogul soon turned into a tense face-off with one of Bollywood’s most fiery personalities.
Sabeer Bhatia’s admiration for Aishwarya Rai
At the height of Aishwarya Rai’s fame in the late 1990s, Sabeer Bhatia, the Indian-born Silicon Valley entrepreneur who created Hotmail and became a global icon of the dot-com boom was reportedly quite open about his admiration for the actress. According to old media reports, Bhatia once expressed his desire to marry her, calling her beauty “captivating” and saying she was “the kind of woman any man would be lucky to have.”
That statement, while casual, was enough to spark link-up rumours between Bhatia and Aishwarya Rai. The gossip mill went into overdrive, and the unlikely connection between the tech visionary and the reigning Bollywood queen quickly became the talk of the town.
The run-in with Salman Khan
As fate would have it, Bhatia’s name soon came up in front of someone who didn’t take those rumours lightly, Salman Khan, who was then dating Aishwarya Rai. According to a throwback report by the Times of India, the incident took place at a high-profile party in 2001, where both Bhatia and Khan were present.
Salman reportedly approached the businessman and, in his typical blunt style, said, “So you’re the guy who wants to marry Ash?” Caught off guard, Bhatia, who was accompanied by television host Simi Garewal quickly clarified that the rumours had been exaggerated by the media. Trying to keep the mood light, he dismissed the link-up talk, but Salman continued the conversation, adding, “She’s a very nice girl.”
The infamous “Ash” quip
Things took a cheeky turn soon after. As they posed for photographs, Salman allegedly stepped between Bhatia and a woman, wrapping his arm around her. In the process, he accidentally stubbed his cigarette against Bhatia’s hand.
Bhatia immediately brushed off the ash, to which Salman reportedly joked, “Oops. Finally, you’ve got ‘ash’ on your hands.” The wordplay, referencing Aishwarya’s nickname, raised eyebrows and laughter in equal measure, but it also revealed the simmering tension beneath the surface.
The following year, Salman and Aishwarya’s relationship ended on a sour note. 2002 also marked their final collaboration on screen in Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam. Years later, Aishwarya married actor Abhishek Bachchan, and the two are now parents to daughter Aaradhya. As for Bhatia, he continued to build his career as one of India’s pioneering tech entrepreneurs — but the “Ash” incident remains one of Bollywood’s more bizarre crossovers between technology and tinsel town.
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