When 'plastic heart' Aishwarya Rai called Vivek Oberoi 'immature' for holding a press conference against Salman Khan
Without naming Aishwarya, Vivek Oberoi had said in a 2009 interview that it hurt him when people whom he trusted didn't stand by him during his hour of crisis
Finally when Vivek Oberoi's Bollywood career was on the verge of getting back on track, the 'PM Narendra Modi' actor invited trouble by cracking a 'joke' on his alleged ex girlfriend Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. On Monday Oberoi, who reportedly dated the former Miss World in early 2000s, shared a bizarre meme on Twitter that referred to Salman Khan and Aishwarya's relationship as the 'opinion poll,' Vivek and Aishwarya's affair as the 'exit poll' and her current family with husband Abhishek Bachchan and daughter Aaradhya Bachchan as the 'final result.'
"Haha! creative! No politics here... just life," Oberoi captioned the photo and credited the Twitter account that shared it. While the actor might have posted the exit poll meme, a take on the 2019 Lok Sabha election thinking it is funny, others did not share the same feeling. Many including his fellow actors called it "crass", "classless", "misogynistic" and "distasteful".
Later on Tuesday, Vivek apologised for sharing the meme and deleted the controversial tweet after being severely criticised on social media and receiving a notice from the National Commission for Women.
Actors like Sonam Kapoor, Anupam Kher and Esha Gupta openly criticized the actor for making fun of Aishwarya's relationships. The entire episode took us back to 2003 when Vivek's promising career saw an abrubt halt because of his infamous press conference. During his interaction to the media, Vivek made a lot of allegations against Salman which included a drunk Bhai harassing Vivek over the phone.
Strangely enough, Bollywood sided with Salman accusing Oberoi of washing dirty linen in public. "He is immature,'' chortled Salman's cronies and Vivek's father, senior actor, Suresh Oberoi, had to intervene. It was then that Ash decided to go public. She issued a press statement, blaming Salman for causing her mental anguish and torture. Everything between them was finished, Ash asserted.
However, Rai never went on record about her reported affair with Vivek and shortly after, there were reports that the two had broken up. Six years later in 2009, Vivek opened up about the entire controversy in a revealing interview to Farah Khan on her show Tere Mere Beech Mein.
Here are some excerpts from the interview: