After Bhagyashree objected to onscreen kiss with Salman Khan in Maine Pyar Kiya, Sooraj Barjatya reveals how he found a solution

When Sooraj Barjatya made Maine Pyar Kiya in 1989, he gave the youth an iconic love story. The film had a scene where Salman Khan and Bhagyashree’s characters share a kiss through a glass door but that’s not how it was supposed to be. In a recent interview, Barjatya shared that characters were meant to share a kiss onscreen but because of Bhagyashree’s reservations, the director had to look for another way to shoot it.
Talking to Pinkvilla, the Hum Aapke Hain Koun director recalled that at first “it was to be a kiss.” He shared, “I think there was a reservation, if I clearly remember from Bhagyashree and her family… because they came from a very conservative family.”
Barjatya recalled that even though he had written his script a long time ago, with Bhagyashree’s objections, they decided to abide it. But the question remained as to how they would shoot this pivotal moment in Prem and Suman’s relationship. “My issue was how do I shoot it? Aur uss samay toh shoot vaise hote the kissing scenes ki phool aa jata tha saamne (In those days, kissing scenes would be shot showing two flowers on screen). But I did not want to do that,” he said.

Finding a glass door on the set was a happy accident that was not written in the script. “On the set, fortunately, was this glass. Script mein nahi tha. I came one day kaise karein, kaise karein? The door was closed and I remember I was entering aur door mere saamne aa gaya and I didn’t realise that the door was there. So I just stood there ki agar beech mein aa jaye, toh how will we know? (It was not in the script. I came one day wondering how do we do it? The door was closed and I remember I was entering and the door was right in front of me and I didn’t realise that the door was there. So I just stood there thinking that if the door comes in between, how will we know?) So two people (the characters) came (closer) and chance the glass is there. And that’s how we did that,” he remembered.
Bhagyashree had earlier spoken about her reservations in doing hugging and kissing scenes in the film.  “I was just 18 years old and thought I was in love at that time and going to get married, I had never even hugged a guy till then. So, I got worried, and I started crying after hearing that I will have to hug Salman during a song sequence in Maine Pyaar Kiya. In fact, for half an hour, Salman Khan and Sooraj Sir were scratching their heads to figure out a solution because they had to showcase Suman and Prem’s love in some way. After half an hour, Salman came up to me, I was teary-eyed and he innocently requested me and said, ‘Please do it.’ I couldn’t say no and that’s how I finally got convinced to do that hug-sequence,” she had told Spotboye in an earlier interview. She had also mentioned the glass pane fix for the kissing scene.
Maine Pyar Kiya marked Bhagyashree and Salman Khan’s debut as lead actors. This was also the first film of Sooraj Barjatya. The character of Prem was associated with Salman throughout the 1990s as he played similar characters in Rajshri’s other films like Hum Aapke Hain Koun, Hum Saath Saath Hain and decades later in Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo.