Salman takes blame for ‘Hero’ failure, indirectly blames Nikhil Advani

In movies starring himself in the lead, Salman Khan is at a stage in his career where it seems he can do no wrong. But the superstar seemed helpless, as he went all out to promote ‘Hero’ starring Sooraj Pancholi and Athiya Shetty in the lead.

Salman even went to the extent of asking his fans to send him tickets of ‘Hero’, promising them that he would personally sign the tickets. All to ensure that the debutants get a solid box office ‘HIT’ on debut.

Unfortunately, nothing worked. ‘Hero’ tanked after a decent start at the box office.

In an interview to DNA, Salman held himself responsible for the failure of ‘Hero’ and indirectly blamed director Nikhil Advani, who delivered two back-to-back failures in ‘Hero’ and ‘Katti Batti’.

“The film has done well for itself. Our main intention was to launch Sooraj Pancholi and Athiya Shetty, which we have achieved. Both of them are safe. We made `36-38 crores. As producers, we did whatever we could do, we did not leave any stone unturned, but sometimes it clicks, sometimes it doesn’t.”

“The music was fabulous, action was outstanding. Even the way it was shot, the casting of the girl and boy was fantastic. It had the plot of Subhash Ghai-Jackie Shroff’s ‘Hero’. It was a simple love story. What else do you need in a romantic film? However, many people said the first half was good, but second half, they felt story nahi hai. There was action, romance, drama — one can’t do more than that. For whatever reasons — it’s their choice — the Mumbai and Delhi multiplexes didn’t get the audiences. They felt purani Hero hai, same cheez hai. If those metros had come in, we would have been rocking.” Salman said, highlighting the importance of strong collections from metro cities in today’s times.

Talking about Nikhil Advani’s direction, Salman said “Nikhil has done his best. First, I was busy with ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ and later ‘Prem Ratan Dhan Payo’. By the time I got the material.. I sat on the edit. I should have been overseeing it from before, seen the rushes because small, small things have been missed. It’s nobody’s fault, though. If it is anybody’s, it’s mine because I had taken the responsibility towards Sooraj and Athiya. I should have been a hands-on producer, but I left it to Nikhil, who is good. However, in trying to make the film look good, he lost that earthy charm. Sometimes, the visuals overtook the emotions. But we will definitely work together again.”

Nikhil Advani had previously directed Salman in ‘Salaam-e-Ishq’.