Why AR Murugadoss struggled to film Sikandar with Salman Khan’s unusual schedule

Highlights:

• Director AR Murugadoss said it was “not easy” working with Salman Khan due to his late working hours.
  
• The filmmaker revealed that even daytime scenes had to be shot at night as Salman arrived on set only by 8 pm.
  
• Sikandar, starring Salman Khan, failed at the box office, earning less than its reported ₹200 crore budget.
  
• Salman will next be seen in Apoorva Lakhia’s Battle of Galwan, based on the 2020 India-China conflict.
  

Filmmaker AR Murugadoss has spoken about the difficulties of working with Bollywood star Salman Khan on his latest film Sikandar. In a recent interview, the director admitted that Salman’s working style made shooting particularly challenging, especially for scenes involving child actors.

AR Murugadoss on Salman Khan’s schedule

Murugadoss revealed that Salman typically arrived on set only by 8 pm, which meant that even daytime sequences had to be filmed at night.

“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,” the filmmaker said.

He added that this routine often left younger cast members struggling. “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.”

AR Murugadoss’s return to Bollywood

Sikandar marked Murugadoss’s return to Hindi cinema after a nine-year break. His last Hindi directorial, Akira (2016), starring Sonakshi Sinha, Anurag Kashyap and Konkona Sen Sharma, underperformed at the box office, collecting ₹43.90 crore against a budget of ₹30 crore.

About Sikandar

Released earlier this year, Sikandar stars Salman Khan as Sanjay “Sikandar” Rajkot, a man driven by personal tragedy to protect three people whose lives were changed by his late wife’s actions. This puts him at odds with a powerful politician seeking revenge.

The film also features Rashmika Mandanna, Kajal Aggarwal, Sathyaraj, Sharman Joshi and Prateik Babbar. Despite its star cast and a budget reportedly set at ₹200 crore, Sikandar collected only ₹184.6 crore worldwide and was declared a box-office failure.

Salman Khan’s next project

Salman Khan will next appear in Apoorva Lakhia’s Battle of Galwan, based on the 2020 Galwan Valley conflict between India and China. Speaking about the physically demanding role, Salman admitted:

“Every year, every month, every day it gets more and more difficult. I have to give more time now (for training). Earlier, I would do it in one or two weeks; now I’m running, kicking, punching, and all that stuff. This film demands that.”