Sonali Bendre and Salman Khan may have shared the screen in the 1999 family drama ‘Hum Saath-Saath Hain’, but their real-life bond wasn’t always as warm as their onscreen camaraderie.

In a recent conversation, Sonali opened up about how her relationship with Salman has evolved, especially after her battle with cancer, and it’s a journey full of surprising turns.

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Their professional journey started on a slightly rocky note. Sonali Bendre admits that she didn’t exactly get along with Salman Khan during the filming of ‘Hum Saath-Saath Hain’.

In fact, she candidly shared that they were far from being close.

“I grew to like Salman later. It was a process,” Sonali told ANI. “At the time of ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’, let me put it mildly, we were not best of friends.”

She recalled that Salman’s playful, often mischievous behavior used to annoy her on set. He was the classic prankster, always up to something, even during her serious close-up shots.

“I have had close-ups where he’s behind the camera making faces at me,” she said, laughing at the memory. “At that point of time, I was most offended. I thought, ‘What is this behaviour?’ I didn’t even want to talk to him.”

But things changed, drastically and unexpectedly, years later when Sonali was diagnosed with stage four metastatic cancer in 2018. It was during this incredibly difficult chapter of her life that Salman showed a side she hadn’t seen before.

Behind the prankster mask, Sonali discovered a deeply empathetic and caring Salman Khan, someone who went out of his way to check on her well-being while she was undergoing treatment in New York.

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“Suddenly, this same person who used to make faces behind the camera made two trips to New York to see if I was okay,” she shared. “He would call my husband, Goldie, and ask, ‘Are you sure you’ve got the right doctors? Let me send you a few more names.’”

Salman’s concern was not just emotional, it was practical. He connected Goldie with medical professionals, offered advice, and wanted to ensure that Sonali had explored every possible option.

According to her, he took it upon himself as a senior in the film fraternity to make sure all bases were covered.

“It was like he suddenly turned into this elder, responsible person from the industry. He just wanted to be sure we were doing the right thing,” she said.

And once he was assured that Sonali was receiving the best care possible, he backed off, but not before showing how deeply invested he had been.

“It showed me how sensitive and caring he is. It really changed how I looked at him,” she said.

In 2021, Sonali was declared cancer-free. Since then, she’s been an active voice in raising awareness about the disease and offering hope to others going through similar struggles.