Can’t let Salman Khan down: Sooraj Pancholi

Emerging actor Sooraj Pancholi says there wasn’t any specific pressure on him and co-star Athiya Shetty for “Hero” but that of not letting mentor Salman Khan down.

“Salman sir never put any pressure on us. He never instructed us to work in a specific manner, or to take inspiration from other guys. Obviously there is a pressure because we’ve got such a big film and he is backing us. We can’t let him down and that’s a pressure,” he said to a query about the enormous expectations from them at a media interaction on Tuesday as part of the film promotion.

Though Sooraj and Athiya are kids of Salman’s close friends, Aditya Pancholi and Sunil Shetty respectively, the fathers didn’t have a say in their launch. And it was Salman spotting potential in them, the reason why he decided to launch them.

Sooraj said: “I was working with Kabir Khan on ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ where I met Salman sir. And after shooting for 6-7 months in Turkey, the film was about to get completed. He came in my room at three on the night of my birthday and pulled me into his room and gave me a birthday gift which was ‘Hero’.”

Explaining how she got the role, Athiya said: “I used to go to the gym in Bandra where I came across Salman sir’s sister. And she told him about me and anyway they were looking for an actress opposite Sooraj. He spoke to papa (Sunil) and the next thing I know is I’m on the sets of ‘Hero’.”

“Hero”, a remake of the 1983 film, is being produced by Salman Khan and Subhash Ghai and is directed by Nikhil Advani.

Inputs by IANS