Salman Khan slams Sikandar director AR Murugadoss for accusing him of reaching late on set: 'Meri pasaliyan tooti thi'

During Bigg Boss 19’s Weekend Ka Vaar episode, Salman Khan spoke about Sikandar & poked fun at AR Murugadoss for comments on his late arrival on the film’s set.

Superstar Salman Khan’s Sikandar may not have performed well at the box office and was even labelled his “weakest” film by many critics. However, Salman has no regrets about doing the film. In fact, he has slammed film’s director AR Murugadoss for accusing him of showing up on set late at night.

Salman hits back at AR Murugadoss

AR Murugadoss with Salman Khan on the sets of Sikandar.

During Bigg Boss 19’s Weekend Ka Vaar episode, Salman spoke about his last release Sikandar, and poked fun at AR Murugadoss for his comments on Salman’s late arrival on the film’s set.

Comedian Ravi Gupta attended the show, and asked Salman to name the movies that he regrets doing. Looking back at his career, Salman took the names of Suryavanshi (1992) and Nishchay (1992).

When Ravi wondered if there were any in recent times, Salman mentioned, “Nayi mein se koi nahi hai… log kehte hain Sikandar par main nahi manta, uska plot bahut acha tha (I don’t regret doing any film in the recent times. People do say it can be Sikandar, but I don’t believe that. The plot of the film was good).”

Salman said in a sarcastic tone, “Lekin kya hai na mein main set pe raat ke 9 baje pahuchta tha, toh usme gadbad ho gayi. Meri pasaliyan tooti thi, isne jo hamare director (AR Murugadoss) sahab hain unhone ye kaha. Lekin unki picture (Madharaasi) abhi ek release hui hai jisme actor 6 baje pahuchta tha (I used to arrive on sets by 9 PM and that created issues. This is what the director said but my rib was broken. Recently, another picture of his was released, and the actor of the film used to reach the set by 6).”

Salman also spoke about producer Sajid Nadiadwala and Murugadoss trying to escape the criticism for the film.

“Toh pahle toh ye picture thi Murugadoss aur Sajid Nadiadwala ki. Uske baad Sajid pahle kalti, Murugadoss wapas se hat gaya wahan se seedha South mein picture ki (Initially the film belonged to Murugadoss and Sajid Nadiadwala but later Sajid escaped. Then, Murugadoss also left and made a film in South),” added Salman.

The Tiger 3 actor went on to take an indirect jibe at Madharaasi's box office failure, saying,“Madharaasi karke picture unhone direct ki hai jo ki release hui, bahut badi film hai aur utni hi badi….(smiles), Sikandar se badi blockbuster (He has directed a film called Madharaasi. It is a very big and a bigger blockbuster than Sikandar).”

What did Murugadoss say about Salman

In an interview with Valaipechu Voice after the release of Sikandar, Murugadoss spoke about the reasons why the film failed to work at the box office.

“It’s not easy to shoot with a star. Even day scenes, we have to shoot at night because he turns up on set only by 8 PM. We are used to shooting right from early mornings, but that’s not how things work there,” he said, adding that it also affected the other actors on set, adding, “If there were four kids in a scene, we would have to shoot with them at 2 AM, even if it’s the shot of them returning from school! They would become tired by that time and usually dozed off.”

“The story was emotional, but I couldn’t execute it well,” he added.

Sikandar narrated story of Rajkot’s king, Sanjay Rajkot (Salman), also known as Sikandar. After the death of his wife, Saishri (Rashmika Mandanna), he embarks on a mission to protect three individuals in Mumbai who have received organ donations from his late wife, while also facing threats from a vengeful politician. Sikandar failed to click with the audience. Made on a reported budget of ₹200 crore, the film earned only ₹185 crore worldwide, as per Sacnilk.