Helen about marrying Salim Khan: I did feel guilty in the beginning (Throwback)

Bollywood would forever remain indebted to scriptwriter Salim Khan's immense contribution in changing the face of the Indian cinema back in the 70s and the 80s. The man who gave us many larger-than-life and memorable characters on reel, had an equal larger-than-life presence in real life too. Not only was he one of the most prolific script writers of his time but also a handsome hunk, from whom people could not take their eyes off.

Salim Khan met his first wife Sushila Charak when his career had not even taken off. The duo fell in love and tied-the-knot after five years of dating. The couple was blessed with four children – Salman Khan, Arbaaz Khan, Sohail Khan and Alvira Khan. However, as Salim got busy in scriptwriting and Sushila got busy with her kids; somewhere distance crept in. It was at the same time that Helen was gaining momentum in the industry. Work brought Helen and Salim Khan closer and soon, cupid struck.

While many would have thought of this as a passing affair, Salim Khan decided to honour his relationship with Helen and tied-the-knot with her in 1980. "I won't be able to say when exactly I fell in love with her or decided to marry her. After seeing her for quite a long time we decided to honour our relationship. We got married in 1980," Pinkvilla quoted him as saying.

Helen had said, "The fact that Salim was a married man did disturb me and I did felt guilty in the beginning. Something about Salim set him apart from rest of the industry men. I respected him tremendously as he tried to help me out without trying to exploit me," reports Pinkvilla. Talking about the children not willing to accept Helen into their life and Sushila aka Salma's not-so-cordial equation with her, Salim Khan had said, "As kids they had their hostility. But they reacted the way their mother did. As I told you very honestly, it wasn't as if Salma accepted the relationship happily straightaway and thanked me for it or said, you deserve an Oscar for it. So at that time there was hostility from the children."

However, with time, both Salma and the children understood that Helen was a really affectionate person and slowly accepted her into the family. Today, Salim Khan lives with both his wife and all the children like a big, happy family.