Salman Khan gave this advice to Veda director Nikkhil Advani during the shooting of Salaam-E-Ishq song; ‘If you have to direct big actors…’

Filmmaker Nikkhil Advani, who recently directed the John Abraham starrer Veda, has been contributing to the Hindi film industry for many years. Nikkhil has worked with stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan in his career. The filmmaker recently recalled Salman’s advice on directing stars and how it became his “first big lesson” in the industry.

During a new interview with PTI, director Nikkhil Advani shared his experience of working with Salman Khan during the filming of Salaam-E-Ishq in 2007. Nikkhil recalled how Salman was not able to get the steps right while shooting for a song in the film.

The director of Salaam-E-Ishq kept asking for more takes, but Salman called him and told him that he should have changed the steps. The superstar believed that only a dancer could do the steps that the filmmaker was expecting.

Citing Salman’s advice, Nikhil said, “If you have to direct big actors and stars, you have to understand when they are going to be uncomfortable.”

The Kal Ho Naa Ho director said that sometimes choreographers teach stars steps that only actors like Vicky Kaushal and Hrithik Roshan can do. He realised that not every actor can do steps like him and that was his “first big lesson”.

Talking about directing John Abraham in his recently released film Veda, Nikkhil further revealed that now he asks him about the dance performances if anything goes wrong.

Veda stars John Abraham and Sharvari Wagh in the lead roles. Veda also stars Tamannaah Bhatia and Abhishek Banerjee. The film was released in theatres on 15 August on the occasion of Independence Day.

It clashed with Khel Khel Mein and Stree 2 at the box office.

Nikkhil Advani has directed films like Kal Ho Naa Ho, Chandni Chowk To China, Hero, D-Day, Patiala House, Katti Batti, etc. His production ventures include Satyameva Jayate, Airlift, Marjaavaan, Indoo Ki Jawani, Bell Bottom, Mrs Chatterjee VS Norway, and others.

Apart from Salman Khan, Salaam-E-Ishq featured a star cast including Priyanka Chopra, Anil Kapoor, Juhi Chawla, Akshaye Khanna, Ayesha Takia, Govinda, John Abraham, Vidya Balan, Sohail Khan and Isha Koppikar.