Vedaa helmer Nikkhil Advani has worked with Salman Khan in films like Salaam-e-Ishq and Hero, but has no plans of collaborating with him in the near future.

Nikkhil Advani talks about working with Salman Khan. (Photo: IMDb, Salman Khan/Instagram)

Salman Khan will always stand by you, says filmmaker Nikkhil Advani, who calls the superstar the film industry’s “messiah” but reveals why he still would be reluctant to helm a feature film with the actor. Nikkhil has worked with Salman in Salaam-e-Ishq, which had a massive star cast including Priyanka Chopra, Govinda, Anil Kapoor and others, and Hero, which was produced by the superstar and marked the launch of Sooraj Pancholi and Athiya Shetty.

In an interview with Lallantop, Nikkhil Advani was asked why he hasn’t collaborated again with Salman Khan, despite the two sharing a great equation. The filmmaker said the reason was clear: The box office pressure of a Salman Khan juggernaut.

“Salman Khan films have to make more than Rs 300 cr. If his films do less than that, he feels really bad, and I don’t want that burden. I want to sleep peacefully at night and not carry the burden of making that Rs 300-400 cr (grossing) film. I want to make films that I want to. I love Salman, he is my messiah.

“There is that option of, ‘In case of emergency, please call’, that Salman for me on my phone. I know he will leave everything and come. Even if he is doing the biggest action scene, if someone calls him, he will say, ‘I will go, this one’s in trouble.’ He is the messiah of the industry. But I don’t want to have that stress of Rs 300-400 cr. If it happens, great, but I don’t want that stress,” he added.

The filmmaker had recently revealed in a chat with Galatta Plus that after his fall out with Karan Johar post Kal Ho Na Ho, he got a call from Salman Khan, who told him, “Now you will work for me, you will make a film for me.” Salaam-e-Ishq was his immediate film after Kal Ho Na Ho, and Salman’s call was also why he directed Hero, years later. “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,” he had shared.

Nikkhil Advani is currently awaiting the release of his next film, Vedaa. Starring John Abraham and Sharvari, the actioner will hit the screens on August 15 and have a box office clash with Shraddha Kapoor’s Stree 2 and Akshay Kumar’s Khel Khel Mein.