Salman Khan told Sikandar director AR Murugadoss: ‘I work from 2 pm to 2 am’

As Sikandar gears up for its mega release on the festive occasion of Eid, filmmaker AR Murugadoss gets candid on how he got Bollywood superstar Salman Khan on board for the action entertainer. As a storyteller, Murugadoss has also worked with the biggest superstars from South cinema including Rajinikanth, Vijay, Suriya, and Mahesh Babu. He asserts that while working with a superstar you can’t be a hundred percent true to the script. 

Salman Khan’s nod to Sikandar 

In an interview with PTI, Murugadoss shared that he met Salman Khan while shooting for Holiday at Madh Island. “I went and said hello. Then I said, `I want to make a film with you.` He replied, `Even I want to do a film with you`. A few years later, he called me as he wanted to do a Korean film remake, and I said, `I don`t want to do it. If I want to do a film with you, it has to be something which I want to write myself.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, producer Sajid Nadiadwala reached out to Murugadoss for a “good” script to collaborate on. Months of development followed, leading to a meeting with Salman at his Galaxy apartment in Mumbai.

“Within 30 minutes of the narration, he walked away a bit, smoked, and then asked, `Do you know how I work`, I said, `No.` He replied, `I work from 2 pm to 2 am and are you okay with it?` I was like, `This means he liked the script`,” the director added.

Murugadoss said they often had different interpretations of how a scene should unfold. “When we couldn`t come to a conclusion, we would shoot both ways and then decide during the edit.”

Working with superstars 

There is no option of making a regular film with a superstar, said Murugadoss, as one has to ensure that the movie has all the elements that would appeal to fans. “When you are working with superstars, you cannot be 100 percent true to the script. We`ve to compromise for the audience, for the fan base, for the opening. We cannot go with being 100 percent genuine as a director. We`ve to satisfy the fans and think about them. It is difficult to be in that zone,” he asserted. 

Sikandar is scheduled to be released in theatres on March 30.