On 1 April, 2003, Vivek Oberoi alleged that Salman Khan had called him over 41 times in one night and asked him to keep away from Aishwarya Rai, Rani Mukherji and Somy Ali. The infamous press conference had cause quite a stir, with many B-town stars also sharing their thoughts on it.
Kareena Kapoor had angrily said, "If he had a problem with Salman, why could he not solve it instead of going to the press? I have worked briefly with Salman for a film I finally did not do. He was thoroughly gentlemanly with me. My sister Karisma and Salman are very good friends. In fact, she contacted him immediately after this incident."
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Meanwhile, director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who was a close friend of Salman back then, had described the star as "the best human being I have met in my life." The filmmaker took a sly jibe at Vivek, saying, "I am very scared of Vivek. I will never be able to work with him now. I may shout at him on the sets and he may call a press conference against me. All the heroines should touch his feet for protecting their dignity," before adding, "The film industry functions on fraternal feelings. If there is a problem, we solve it in-house. Vivek has no business talking about Salman's mental state. He should not have talked about his Coca-Cola campaign or Rani Mukherji, Diya Mirza and Aishwarya Rai at a time when he was supposed to be so distraught."
"Salman's problem," continued Bhansali, "is he thinks with his heart. He gives his life to people he loves. That is why his friends have always stood by him. He is perfectly sane and there is no need to send him to a shrink, as some self-styled psychoanalysts think. As for him getting professionally insecure, Salman will be around for a long time. He has given three of the biggest hits ever [in Bollywood] — Maine Pyaar Kiya, Hum Aapke Hain Koun…! and Karan Arjun. Those who think Salman is getting insecure should examine their career closely.”
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Abhishek Bachchan, who was not dating Aishwarya Rai at the time, had the final word, "In the film industry, there is a code of honour whereby all problems are sorted out internally."