It’s a myth that Salman Khan is moody, says Ali Abbas Zafar

Ali Abbas Zafar is flying high. His third movie, Sultan has set the cash registers ringing at the box office, with the movie breaking several records to the top of the charts of releases. The wrestling saga saw Ali working with Salman Khan and Anushka Sharma and the movie is still doing well in its second week of release. We caught up with the director for a quick chat about his style of filmmaking, working under Kabir Khan, and of course, directing Salman in his latest. Excerpts:

How did you get to know Salman Khan It was some time during Ek Tha Tiger. We kind of bonded because at that time Mere Brother Ki Dulhan (Ali’s debut movie as a director) had just released and his film Bodyguard had released around that time. He had heard about the film. He saw it and he liked it. He congratulated me and asked me what I was doing next, and I was writing Gunday back then. I was also toying with the idea of a sports drama. This was back in 2012 and I was writing both the scripts. It was during that time when Sushil Kumar won a medal in the London Olympics. I shared the idea with Salman around then.

What was his reaction like I wrote a good 10-page story. I always believe that your first impression always becomes the last impression. Whenever I discuss any idea with an actor, I always chalk it out in my head — points about the character and the story. So when I was about to start Gunday, Salman was dubbing for Ek Tha Tiger at YRF. He told me to narrate Gunday to give me feedback and so I did. He said ‘Karan-Arjun bana rahe ho’. So he kind of understood the kind of filmmaking I believe in. About 20 days later, I met him because Adi (Aditya Chopra) had called Salman to tell him that I had written a story and wanted to narrate it to him. When we were driving to his house, Adi said to me if Salman doesn’t do it, we won’t make the film. After the narration he spontaneously said ‘karte hain’. He mentioned to me in the meeting that Sultan would be his release when he turned 50. He heard it when he was 48 and was right.

Did Salman have complaints about the training or weight gaining process for the film He did! It’s physically difficult to drastically change your body type at this age. The fact is, though, that he’s one of the few actors in the country who knows the ins and outs of bodybuilding. On certain days he would come to me and say, ‘aaj nahi karein kya, my body is tired.’ His doctors would call and tell me that Salman attended a physiotheraphy treatment and his body is not good at all. His is stiff, his joints aching. So then I would tell him that if he isn’t ready, we won’t shoot. On certain days his doctors would tell me to not let him shoot if he came on the sets. Salman would insist that now that he was there, we must shoot. There are myths that he’s moody and temperamental that people have created around him. I don’t think he is. According to me, Sultan is the easiest of the movies that I have made.

How did you adapt to Salman’s working style The process is like a new marriage — and that too arranged! You don’t know the girl and you’re still figuring this out. But now I can look at his face and know exactly what he’s going to tell me.

Kabir Khan is your mentor, how much has he influenced your filmmaking style Well, Kabir and I are two different filmmarkers. His strength lies in documentation, because of his background from before he made films. I celebrate my movies a little more than he does. A lot of my knowledge about lenses and framing comes from me assisting him in his movies. It is very important for a director to know how to shoot his actor.

Does Salim Sahab (Salman’s father) get involved in his son’s movie scripts He is very critical of SK’s work. He is not like most fathers who would say everything is ok. Even during Bajrangi Bhaijaan, he told Kabir to take Aaj Ki Party out from the film.