Salman Khan is all set to create a blast at the box office with his film Sikandar. The film directed by Murugadoss is releasing on 30 March 2025 as Eid special. He is promoting the film in a big way and speaking to scribes,he shared his thoughts on south stars and movie lovers.
On South stars wishing him ahead of Sikandar release ,He said "That's really sweet of them. I've known Charan (Ram Charan) and Tarak (Jr NTR). They grew up in front of me. Most of them started doing films a year or two after I began my journey as an actor. I know Venky [Daggubati Venkatesh] really well. We've worked together and have been friends for 30-35 years now. I know Chiru Garu [Chiranjeevi] because I did a Thumps Up commercial with him. I have worked with K. Murali Mohana Rao. I also did Love (1991) and Jaagruti (1992) with Suresh Krissna.”
He added "I've worked with a lot of South actors. In fact, I was the first Hindi film actor from my generation to start working with South directors. I've worked with four-five South directors at one point of time. Even the heroines share this sense of brotherhood with me; it's really nice (laughs)."
On the difference between Bollywood and South filmmakers, he said ", they're very advanced and emotionally they're very evolved. They don't pick up ideas and stories from elsewhere. They conceive their own stories." He revealed "“They (South filmmakers) also respect me because I am Salim saab’s son. At that time, heroism was brought into mainstream cinema by dad. They have made a lot of films inspired by my dad’s stories. K V Vijayendra Prasad ji told me, ‘Whenever I write something, I have to revisit your father’s films and then I start writing’. Hence, dad has earned a lot of respect down South.”
He continued "Having said that, it's not like all the films that they make in the South are good. In Bollywood, you only remember those films that work well at the box office. Wahaan bhi hafte mein 2-3 picture picture banti hai but woh kuch khaas karti nahi hai (2-3 movies are released every week in the South too, but they all don't do too well). The mantra is the same everywhere. If you make good films, they'll work."
Speaking about South movie lovers, Salman shocked all saying “I have worked with many South technicians, directors, actors, and actresses. I’ve collaborated with them often. But when my films are released there, they don’t get the same numbers because their fan following is very strong. I can walk on the streets, and people will recognize me, call my name, or greet me, but getting them to theaters, like how we accept South films here—that hasn’t happened yet. Their films do well here because we go and watch their films,”
He continued "When there is a Rajnikanth Garu film, Ram Charan, Suriya, and other actors' films, we go and watch them, but their fans don’t always come to watch ours. Collaboration is important with actors from all industries, but the budgets go so high that it becomes difficult to recover costs with the number of theaters we have. If we had 20,000 -30000 theaters, things would be different. We would have killed it. When we have that many theaters, then they will come here to work with us."