Salman Khan Hits Back at Director AR Murugadoss Over ‘Sikandar’ Lateness Claims, Cites Broken Ribs

Bollywood superstar Salman Khan has finally broken his silence on the accusations of habitual lateness during the shoot of his recent action film, Sikandar, sharply retorting to comments made by the film’s director, A.R. Murugadoss. The actor, known for his no-holds-barred candour, used a recent appearance on the reality show Bigg Boss 19 to address the controversy, asserting that his late arrival on set was due to a significant on-set injury.

The war of words began after director A.R. Murugadoss had, in a post-release interview following the film’s lukewarm box office performance, spoken about the challenges of working with a Bollywood megastar. Murugadoss had remarked that even day scenes for Sikandar had to be shot late at night because Salman Khan would reportedly arrive on set only around 8 PM. The director suggested this complicated the schedule, particularly for scenes involving child actors who had to stay up until the early hours of the morning.

Addressing the issue directly during the ‘Weekend Ka Vaar’ episode of Bigg Boss 19, Salman Khan hit back, injecting his trademark wit into the defence. “I used to arrive on set around 9 PM, and apparently, that created problems. But my ribs were broken at the time,” the actor stated, referring to an injury he sustained while filming a dance sequence. Earlier reports from the time of the film’s shoot confirmed that Salman had fractured two ribs but continued filming, even incorporating the pain into a dance step.

Salman didn’t stop at merely defending his punctuality. He took an indirect, yet pointed, dig at Murugadoss’ recent South Indian directorial venture, Madharaasi, by sarcastically referencing the film’s box office run. “Recently, another film of his was released where the lead actor used to reach the set by 6 PM,” Salman remarked, before humorously labelling the director’s latest film a “bigger blockbuster” than Sikandar, implying a similar commercial underperformance.

Furthermore, the actor shed light on the film’s pre-production journey, claiming the project was initially a joint effort between Murugadoss and producer Sajid Nadiadwala. He alleged that following its poor reception, both the producer and the director distanced themselves from the film, with Murugadoss moving on to direct his next project down South.

While director Murugadoss had previously acknowledged his own failure to “execute the emotional story well,” the debate has intensified over whether an actor’s schedule or the creative execution was the greater factor in Sikandar‘s failure to connect with audiences. Salman Khan’s forceful counter-argument, highlighting his physical hardship during the shoot, presents a new layer to the ongoing post-mortem of the much-anticipated action-thriller.