Nikkhil Advani’s tiff with Karan Johar post Kal Ho Naa Ho had created a lot of buzz in the gossip mills. The filmmaker recently spoke about how Salman Khan played ‘messiah’ by offering to work with him soon after he walked out of Dharma Productions. In an interview with Galatta Plus, Nikkhil expressed his gratitude towards Salman with whom he further collaborated in other projects as well. (Also read: Nikkhil Advani on his ‘very public fallout’ with with Karan Johar: ‘I didn’t have work for 3 years’)
Nikkhil Advani on partnership with Salman Khan
Nikkhil, while speaking about the reasons for quitting Dharma Productions told, “Salaam-e-Ishq was an outcome of arrogance that, ‘Okay, people feel that I have not directed Kal Ho Naa Ho, I’ll direct six love stories. One will be a Mani Ratnam type love story, one will be a Gulzar type, one will be Karan Johar type, one will be a Kundan Shah type’. So, I said I will direct six love stories. Sunil Manchanda (producer) gave me the option. He said, ‘Let’s make something like Love Actually’.”
He further said, “Salman Khan prides himself on being the messiah of the industry, so the minute I walked out of the doors of Dharma Productions, I got a call from Salman saying, ‘Come and meet me’. (He then said) ‘Now you will work for me, you will make a film for me’. And I appreciate that. I did Hero because Salman called me up, even after I started D-Day. After D-Day, the next film I did was Hero. Hero and Katti Batti were two big flops, one week after another.”
Nikkhil Advani’s Bollywood career
Nikkhil made his debut as a director with Kal Ho Naa Ho, which also starred Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Saif Ali Khan, Jaya Bachchan, Sonali Bendre, and others in pivotal roles. His second directorial Salaam- E-Ishq featured Salman Khan, Priyanka Chopra, John Abraham, Vidya Balan, Govinda, Anil Kapoor, Juhi Chawla, Sohail Khan, Isha Koppikar and Akshaye Khanna in crucial characters.
Nikkhil’s upcoming theatrical release is John Abraham-Sharvari starrer Vedaa. The promo of his epic-drama series – Freedom At Midnight has also been released recently.
