Sangeeta Bijlani was set to marry Salman Khan; what led her to call off the ceremony?

For a brief, glittering moment in the early ’90s, Bollywood’s golden boy Salman Khan and model-turned-actress Sangeeta Bijlani were the industry’s favourite power couple. The story had all the right beats — the rising star, the beauty queen, the long courtship.

The wedding that never was: Why Sangeeta Bijlani said no to Salman Khan

This wasn’t a casual fling. Salman and Sangeeta dated for nearly eight years. Families were in the loop. The wedding cards were printed. The date was set for May 27, 1994. And then, poof. No wedding, no explanation, just a spectacular silence that Bollywood has never stopped whispering about.

The whispers, of course, grew into something juicier. Somy Ali, Salman’s next girlfriend, claimed Sangeeta called it off after catching him “red-handed” at her apartment. Even Salman didn’t deny it years later. He laughed about it and said he gets caught because he’s “stupid.” Not the best advertisement for husband material, but at least he owned it.

Sangeeta, on her part, didn’t rant or spill dirty details. When asked, she just said, “Haan, woh jhooth toh nahi tha,” about the wedding cards. Recently she hinted at another reason — control. He controlled her wardrobe choices, she said. It sounds small until you remember that’s how control starts - with a hemline.

Whatever the final straw was, she walked. She later married cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin, but that relationship also ended. While Salman went on to date several other famous women.

And now decades later, when they bump into each other, there’s no bad blood, just easy smiles. Salman and Sangeeta both know that they dodged a public marriage that could’ve ended messily like most Bollywood ones.

So what was it — betrayal, incompatibility, or just bad timing? Bollywood won’t tell you. But if the cards were printed and the bride backed out, it’s safe to say someone read the fine print just in time.

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