Now it can be told. If Sooraj Barjatya’s Prem Ratan Dhan Payo resembled Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Hum… Dil De Chuke Sanam and Devdas in visuals, it is because the two filmmakers go back a long way.
Way back in 1998, when Sanjay Leela Bhansali was making Hum… Dil De Chuke Sanam with Salman, Ajay Devgn and Aishwarya Rai playing the lover, the husband and the woman torn between passion and duty, Salman had objected to the finale in which Aishwarya chooses to remain with her husband Ajay Devgn rather than go back to her lover Salman. Salman wanted the ending changed to show the wife leaving her husband, and choosing to be with her lover instead.
It’s interesting to note that this was during the same time Salman and Aishwarya were in a relationship in real life as well.
To convince Bhansali, who was very close to the star at that time, Salman took his director-friend to Sooraj Barjatya. Sooraj spent a good 90 minutes convincing Bhansali as to why “prem” (love) should win over “kartavya” (duty).
Sanjay Bhansali, then a novice, politely and bravely declined the suggestion from Barjatya, the director of one of Indian cinema’s greatest hits.
The incident was not forgotten by any of the dramatis personae. It somehow returned to haunt the look, feel, texture and rhythm of Prem Ratan Dhan Payo.
