A day earlier, Salman responded to accusations that he destroyed some people’s careers on Bigg Boss 19 Weekend Ka Vaar, while chatting with Shehnaaz Gill. When she brought up how he's been known to make the careers of some, the actor said, "I've been mocked and accused of ruining so many careers. To be honest, those things are not in my control. It's become fashionable these days to say, ‘Oh, he’ll end someone’s career.’ Can you tell me whose career I have destroyed? If I have indeed done that, it's my own. I've occasionally been complacent and let things slip, but then I work hard to bring everything back under my grip."
For context, the actor seems to be referring to the statements filmmaker Abhinav Kashyap made about Salman a few years ago, which he reiterated in a new interview with The Indian Express.
What did Abhinav Kashyap say?
The ‘Dabangg’ director called him a "goon" who is not serious about his job. “Salman is never involved. He is not even interested in acting, and he hasn’t been for the last 25 years. He does a favour by turning up to work. He is more about the power of being a celebrity, but he is not interested in acting. He is a gunda (goon). I was not aware of this before Dabangg. Salman is ill-mannered, he is a bad person,” he said.
Abhinav also remarked that Salman and his entire family want to lord over everyone else, calling them "vindictive" and that Salman Khan is the "father of the star system" in Bollywood. "He is from a film family that has been in the industry for 50 years. He continues the process. They are vindictive people. They control the whole process. If you don’t agree with them, they come after you.”
Abhinav also recalled that his brother, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, also had problems with Salman while working on the film ‘Tere Naam’. "He told me before Dabangg that you won’t be able to make a film with Salman. He just didn’t tell in great detail why I won’t be able to make a movie with him. He just thought I’ll get easily bullied, he knows these vultures. Anurag left the film eventually. He wrote the script of ‘Tere Naam’. Boney Kapoor misbehaved with him, then he left. They didn’t give him credit, either. The exact same thing that happened with me. The basis of any good film is a good script.”
Abhinav had earlier called out Salman, his brother Arbaaz, and their family in 2020, after the death of Sushant Singh Rajput, accusing them of sabotaging the actor's career, and doing the same to his career as well. Abhinav also blamed them for not only launching a negative PR campaign against him but also tormenting him with life threats and the female members of his family with rape threats, aside from causing fractures in his relationship with his wife, leading to a divorce in 2017.
In response to Abhinav's claims, Sohail Khan, the younger brother of Salman and Arbaaz, filed a defamation case against him.
‘Not easy to shoot with a star’: What AR Murugadoss said about Salman Khan
Recently, filmmaker AR Murugadoss recalled unpleasant experiences while working with the star on 'Sikandar'. Murugadoss, whose latest film 'Madharaasi' released to a solid theatrical response this Friday, told Valaipechu Voice that the shooting of 'Sikandar' was disrupted by Salman's tardiness: “It’s not easy to shoot with a star. Even day scenes, we have to shoot at night because he arrives on sets only by 8 pm. We are people who are used to shooting right from early mornings, but that’s not how things work there.”
