Apart from being one of the most loved on-screen couples, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Salman Khan were also one of the most adored alleged jodis of tinsel town once. But as fate had it, the duo apparently parted ways on a bitter note and today, Aishwarya is happily married to actor Abhishek Bachchan and Salman is rumoured to be in a relationship with Iulia Vantur. But did you know there was a time when Aishwarya named Salman as “sexiest and the most gorgeous man”? 

Back in 1999, Aishwarya made an appearance on Simi Garewal’s popular television chat show, Rendezvous with Simi Garewal. During the same, when Simi asked her, “Who would you say is the sexiest and most gorgeous man,” a young Aishwarya took her own sweet time to give the answer. 

The actress even asked if she could replace the word with charming, but the host said that they should stick to sexiest and gorgeous. After giving much thought, Aishwarya said, “Someone who’s obviously selected among the list of Indian men internationally recently… Salman, if we are talking about his physical appearance.” 

Meanwhile, Salman and Aishwarya’s most-loved film Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam completed 22 years today. To mark the occasion, Salman took to social media and shared a throwback photo with the film’s director Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Along with it, he wrote, “Baees saal ho Gaye #HumDilDeChukeSanam ko….. @ajaydevgn #SanjayLeelaBhansali @bhansaliproductions.”

While fans loved taking a trip down memory lane, some netizens also questioned Salman for not tagging Aishwarya in her post. 

On the movie front, Salman was last seen in Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai, which was directed by Prabhu Deva. The movie featured Disha Patani as the female lead. Salman has many interesting projects in the pipeline. He will be soon seen sharing screen space with Katrina Kaif in the third instalment of the Tiger franchise. He also has films like Kabhi Eid Kabhi Diwali, Kick 2 and Bhaijaan (tentative title) in works. 

Aishwarya, on the other hand, was last seen in the 2018 movie Fanney Khan alongside Anil Kapoor and Rajkumar Rao. The actress has now teamed up with Mani Ratnam for her next, Ponniyin Selvan. The movie also stars Vikram, Jayam Ravi, Karthi, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Trisha and Jayaram in key roles. The film’s music is being composed by A. R. Rahman. Ponniyin Selvan is an adaptation of Kalki Krishnamurthy’s 1955 novel by the same name.