When Salman Yusuff Khan found working with Prabhudeva on a scene in ‘Naach Lucky Naach’ very challenging

Prabhudeva and Salman Yusuff Khan starrer ‘Naach Lucky Naach’ (Hindi version of 2018 Tamil movie Lakshmi) is having television premiere on Zee Cinema on December 20. We recently spoke to Salman where he spoke at length about working with his dancing icon Prabhudeva, an anecdote related to the movie and more.

Salman said that it was not easy for him to do the movie in South languages and now as the Hindi version is premiering on television, he is eagerly waiting for the feedback from his fans.  He said, “Jisne bhi meri dubbing ki hain, unki awaaz main utni ki kaashish hain jitni meri awaaz main hain. I would love to see the feedback that my fans have for me. I want to tell them that it was a difficult task for me as it was in Tamil and Telugu and I don’t know both the languages. Tamil is spoken in a very fast pace and its pause is very different from Hindi and English and I had to deliver it in front of my dancing icon Prabhudeva sir.”

Salman also said that ‘Muqabla’ was the first song that he ever learned from TV and danced in every marriage and function. On working with his icon, Salman recalled an incident where Prabhudeva played a prank with him. “There was a very interesting scene that I found very challenging. In the movie, I am playing opposite Prabhu sir. In that scene, I had to talk to him where I get very angry and had to hold his collar. Before the scene, I told him about it and asked him not to mind. He said ok. When I did the scene with full emotion and held his collar tight and when the director said ‘superb’ and ‘cut’ and Prabhu sir told me that I am very tough and asked how could I hold him so hard. I was tensed and said ‘sorry’. He said, ‘Emotion means what. You are an actor and you should know where to do how much. So badly you held me’. I was really tensed that I offended him but he was actually pulling my leg and I didn’t know about it. He is a big prankster,” he said.

Salman added, “He did the same thing in a different scene. There was an over-the-shoulder shot where his head was facing the camera. He gave his scene and when my turn came, I was delivering serious dialogue and he was making faces. It was so challenging for me and I told myself that ‘Salman, this is your test in acting, if you fail in this, you are gone’.”

We had seen Salman mostly in the dance genre films. When asked if he wants to shed this image of him, he said he definitely wants to. “Thankfully, we have OTT platforms where they don’t need stars anymore. People have understood what content is and it has become the hero. Hopefully, I get to explore and do many more genres and try more emotions as an actor and there are a few things down the pipeline and hopefully, you will get to see those shades,” said Salman. He wants to play a warrior and a negative or a grey shade in the future.

Also Read: Salman Yusuff Khan: Creatively, I found myself in a very dead space during the lockdown