Vivek Oberoi talks of ‘dark side’ of Bollywood, 20 years after press conference against Salman Khan

Days after Priyanka Chopra spoke about how she faced opposition in Bollywood, actor Vivek Oberoi opened up about his journey in the industry and said that he went through a lot of ‘unnecessary stuff’ which completely exhausted him, and crushed his morale, but he ‘survived’.

For the unversed, on April 1, 2003, Vivek called a press conference in which he claimed that superstar Salman Khan threatened him over phone calls. At that time, he was reportedly in a relationship with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Salman’s former girlfriend.

Speaking with Hindustan Times, Vivek, ‘I’m glad that I emerged from that. I kind of came up through the trial by fire and survived it. But not everybody’s going be that lucky.’

‘In hindsight, I went through a lot of stuff that was unnecessary. A lot of lobbies, a lot of repressive stories – kind of what Priyanka has been alluding to also. That’s been a hallmark of our industry, unfortunately. It’s been one of the dark sides of our industry. And I’ve been on the receiving end of it. I know how frustrating it is, it can make one feel extremely, exhausted and tired. You feel like, I’ve just delivered an award-winning, commercially successful performance in Shoot out Lokhandwala and after that, I’m sitting at home for 14 months, not getting any work,’ he said.

Calling Priyanka’s statement ‘inspirational’, he praised the ‘Citadel’ actor for exploring something new, which led to something ‘magical’ happening to her personally and professionally.

‘Back in the day when I voiced against it, every ‘well wisher’ would call me up and say, ‘Don’t talk about it. It is like a family secret’. But if you have abuse going on in the family and you don’t speak up about it because it’s a family secret? That’s stupid. How will the abuse get fixed? So, it’s a systemic issue in the industry which is getting better. People are being more vocal,’ he said.

‘There is more decentralization of power. Less and less people can play God and the fans are now aware. Sushant (Singh Rajput, late actor) should have never lost his life no matter what. It’s just so sad. What a talented young guy and he should have had a better network of friends. You call the industry, a family, then the family should be there for each other,’ he added.

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