If you ask anyone, the hard scenes in Sikandar weren’t the ones with the stunts. It was the days Salman would come in after the news of Baba Siddique’s death. Vishal Vashishtha, who was there, will tell you the actor was working through a lot – the loss, the threats, the pain in his side. It was a case of pure grit, and fans are latching on to that now.
It all came to a head in October 2024. When they shot Baba Siddique, it reverberated through Mumbai and the film world. For Salman, that emotional hit was made worse by a sore rib, and the people making Sikandar had to rework their plans as they put more of a cordon around him.
A set under strain, a star under guard
Vishal has seen a shoot where the danger is palpable and you can’t escape the security detail. After what happened to Baba, Salman was on the receiving end of some new threats and was put on Y+ cover. “The guards were everywhere,” he’ll have it. At times you could feel the air go out of the room.
But the unit made the best of it. You’d have the rest of us in the vanity van or on set for an hour or two, knowing full well what our lead was up against when we weren’t in frame. We put safety first, then we had to be patient, and only then did we get to the performance.
Vishal Vashishtha on grit over glamour
Salman would put in an appearance, but you could see he was running on empty, in more ways than one. He’d make his way from one mark to another, finish a take, and be off to physio before he was in front of the lens once more.
He had to be up and about for the action, but even the small stuff was a chore. In Vishal’s words, ‘He was in pain, yet he kept going.’ That’s what stuck with us and is why we have such regard for him.
*Action held back to let him heal*
We put off the big action to give him some time. We did the talking pieces first. The deceptively easy bits were the most trying: just rising from a chair and sitting back down was a test for him, as I recall.
Towards the end of that run of shooting, he was a little better. Not by much, but it was fine to keep moving. We weren’t calling it a walk in the park. As I see it, the idea was to get by today and put on a show tomorrow.
Why Baba Siddique’s killing changed everything
It was the way and when of it that made it so raw. They put two bullets in 66-year-old Baba outside his son Zeeshan’s place in Bandra East. He was rushed to Lilavati and they couldn’t save him.
Word is the men involved were tied to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, who have been after Salman for years on the blackbuck story. One of them, when they were at it, said they had him on their list too, but he was too well-protected to get to.
That made for a heavy mood on the Sikandar set. With the threat level up, we were watching every comings and goings. There was a time limit on everything. Still, we made the movie, even if it was at a different pace.
Here is what you would have seen on set:
– A lot more security in the wake of the killing
– Timetables that gave in to the need for physio
– The action for later
– A day-to-day of being patient
What it means for Sikandar and fans**
When you watch the film, it puts a different spin on it. Some of those homey scenes where he seems to be in no trouble? He might have been wincing to stand up. You can read that in the way he does it now.
For me, it’s not about the legend of him. It’s the method. He did what he had to do when he could have bailed. You could see the toll it took, and you could hear the resolve in it.
With what we’ve been through since last October, there’s no mistaking it. Making this film wasn’t your typical behind-the-scenes story. It’s the story of an actor who didn’t fold under the pressure, and a team that was there to back him up.
