Salim Khan was told Helen treated people ‘like furniture’, she says she did not notice him on their first film together

Helen and actor-turned-screenwriter Salim Khan married in 1980. They worked together in many films in the 1960s and 1970s. In a new interview with Salim’s son, actor-producer Arbaaz Khan, Helen recalled the first time she thought Salim was ‘good looking’. She also said she had not noticed him, while they worked together on their first film in the 1960s. Helen added she had a reputation of treating people that she worked with ‘like furniture’ and not interacting with them on sets. Also read: Helen recalls when her relationship with Salim Khan began his wife Salma had went ‘through a lot’

Helen said in the recent interview that she met Salim Khan while working on a film (the 1963 film Kabli Khan) that she was the lead ‘heroine’ in, Ajit was the hero and and Salim was the villain. She said it was many years later that she noticed him, while watching their film Teesri Manzil (1966), where he was seen playing the drums in one of the scenes.

In the latest episode of his chat show The Invincibles, which was released on Friday, Arbaaz Khan asked Helen if she noticed Salim Khan during the filming of their first movie, or was she too ‘big a star’ to do that. Helen replied, “I didn’t (notice Salim Khan), not because of being a star, but because I was very to myself. One day, he asked Ajit saab ‘yeh madam kisi ko dekhte bhi nahi, wish bhi nahi karte (this madam does not look at anyone or even wishes anyone on set)’. So he said ‘pucho mat, yeh sab logo ko furniture ke jaise dikhti hain (don’t ask, she looks at everyone like they are furniture)’.

Arbaaz then asked Helen if during Teesri Manzil she still thought of Salim Khan ‘as furniture’ because she was ‘Helen, the superstar’ and he was ‘just a struggling actor’. Correcting Arbaaz and saying Salim had a ‘nice supporting role’ in the film, Helen said, “That drum scene was taken separately, I wasn’t even on the set when it was taken. So when I saw it (on the big screen), I saw him. And he was looking very good then.”

Helen and Salim married in 1980, when he was 45 and she was 42. He had married his first wife Sushila Charak, now known as Salma Khan, in 1964. Together they have three sons, actor Salman Khan, actor-producer Arbaaz Khan and actor-director Sohail Khan; Salim and Salma also have two daughters Alvira Khan and Arpita Khan.