The making of ‘Sikandar’ coincided with one of the most difficult periods in Salman Khan’s personal and professional life. In October 2024, the star was devastated after his close friend and veteran politician Baba Siddiq was murdered.
At the same time, he was also dealing with growing security concerns and a painful rib injury that affected his movement while filming the film.While Salman had previously admitted to suffering a rib injury during the shoot, discussions over the delay on the sets of ‘Sikandar’ have also made headlines. Director AR Murugadoss spoke about the scheduling challenges faced by the production. Now, actor Vishal Vashishta, who shared screen space with Salman in the film, has given his perspective on what was happening behind the scenes.Vishal defended the star and praised his determination to continue working despite the physical and emotional burden he was carrying.Reflecting on those days, Vishal said that Salman was going through a very difficult phase. “We were shooting Sikandar under very difficult circumstances, especially for Mr. Salman. This is not a hidden fact. He was mentally and emotionally drained, and physically as well. He was going through a lot,” he said in an interview with Free Press Journal.
We’ve seen it ourselves. It wasn’t a made up story, it was real. He walked slowly and finished the scene somehow.
The moment the manager calls for a cut, he comes back and performs physical therapy. He needed to stay moving because he had to execute all those action sequences. The one thing I took away from him was that even after so many years in the industry, he was still there for his job. I can’t even imagine what was going on in the background of his life, but he continued to shoot.
What stayed with me was this: despite everything that was happening around him, after so many years, he was still doing it. He was in pain, yet he kept going. There was a life-threatening problem outside but he still showed up. “It was difficult.”Vishal’s comments come months after AR Murugadoss revealed that shooting for the project often became complicated as Salman would reach the sets later than expected, forcing the team to make adjustments and shoot daytime scenes at night sometimes.Addressing the allegations, Vishal said that the delay was not without reason and was related to the actor’s health and surrounding circumstances.“We waited too – sometimes in the make-up truck and sometimes on set. But I was sure something was wrong. He wasn’t just sitting in his truck doing nothing. By the last day, he had improved a little physically. There was a reason the action sequence was scheduled for later because he needed time to recover.
Before that, during home scenes, he was suffering. And by struggling, I mean that getting up from the chair and sitting down was very difficult for him.
“The actor also urged people to look at the situation with empathy, noting that Salman was dealing with a lot more than what was visible to the public.“You have to give him the benefit of the doubt because it was clearly a struggle. With everything that was going on in the background, it couldn’t have been easy.
Just dealing with the amount of security personnel around you all the time is stifling. “It was very difficult.”Vishal’s narration provides a glimpse into the difficult circumstances under which Sikandar was shot, highlighting the challenges Salman faced as he continued to fulfill his professional obligations despite personal losses, physical pain and persistent security concerns.
