Vivek Oberoi said he was doing well in his career before his infamous 2003 press conference, in which he called out Salman Khan for threatening him.

Vivek Oberoi’s career hit a slump after his public feud with Bollywood superstar Salman Khan. A new video of Vivek’s interaction at ‪India Global Forum,‬ London, was shared by Brut India, wherein the actor spoke about becoming a ‘victim’. He recalled people ‘who had a lot of power in Bollywood’ said they would make sure he does not get any work.

Vivek Oberoi and Salman Khan were involved in a public spat over Aishwarya Rai many years ago.

‘I experienced a lot of frustration, pain and anger’

Vivek said, without taking names, “I got a lot of success, I was winning a lot of awards in my career and suddenly it evaporated because a bunch of people, who had a lot of power in Bollywood, decided ‘You are not going to work here anymore, we will make sure that happens’. I experienced a lot of frustration and pain and anger and felt like a victim; and I didn’t know how to deal with it.”

The actor added, “My mom is somebody I really look up to. She’s my hero. And she said ‘Put your attention into being a hero to someone else and you will feel like a hero, you will feel like a winner’… the only way you can transition from being a victim to being hero is by being a hero to someone. So you start finding that someone that you can be a hero to.”

Vivek and Salman’s spat

During a press conference in 2003, Vivek had accused Salman of threatening him, because of his relationship with Aishwarya Rai, who had a messy breakup with Salman.

Aishwarya, who reportedly dated Vivek for a few years, tied the knot with Abhishek Bachchan in April 2007. They welcomed their daughter, Aaradhya, in 2011. Vivek is married to Priyanka Alva. The couple has a son and a daughter.

When Vivek spoke about lobbying in Bollywood

In 2023, Vivek Oberoi spoke his heart out during an interview with Hindustan Times about the lobbying and bullying he faced, 20 years after his infamous press conference. He said, “In hindsight, I went through a lot of stuff that was unnecessary. A lot of lobbies, a lot of repressive stories.”

He added, “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. When I went through that, I kept thinking, I want to do something beyond, I wanna do something empowering, something that takes me beyond that.”