EXCLUSIVE: Vinay Sapru recalls Salman Khan helping him promote Sana Teri Kasam; reveals actor called it a ‘blockbuster’

Vinay Sapru is an Indian film director. He is known for his work in Mohra (1994) and Lucky: No Time for Love (2005). Vinay last worked for the film, I Love NY (2015). In an exclusive interview with Bollywood Bubble, Sanam Teri Kasam director Vinay Sapru recalls Salman Khan’s help promoting the film.

Vinay Sapru on Salman Khan promoting Sanam Teri Kasam

Talking about Salman Khan’s support during Sanam Teri Kasam’s promotions, director Vinay Sapru said, “Our mentor is Salman Khan Sir. The film was just four days away from release, and Radhika and I were completely broken, disheartened. So, we went to Galaxy Apartments to meet Salman Sir. I told him, ‘Salman, this is about our film.’ He asked, ‘Why have you come? What’s the matter?’ I said, ‘We came to show you our film.’ He asked, ‘Which film?”Salman, our film Sanam Teri Kasam.”When is it releasing?”In four days.’ He said, ‘Okay, show it to me.'”

The director added, “He saw the film and the trailer and immediately said, ‘Blockbuster!’ Because Salman Sir, Radhika Ma’am, and I have directed about 150 songs. Even today, my song is number one, and number two is Lut Gaye and Vaaste. But the only person we truly respect above us is Salman Khan. And when Salman said the film was a blockbuster, we knew that what we had believed in was correct. It couldn’t be wrong. We believed in it. But then he said, ‘The problem is, nobody knows about your film. There’s no publicity. You guys are nobodies.’ He called his staff. Half of them knew about it, half didn’t.”

Vinay on Salman being a mentor

Talking about his mentor, Sapru added, “Someone mentioned the song Tera Chehra Khich Meri Photo. He asked, ‘Why didn’t you guys come to me earlier? You should have come a month ago!’ What could we say? There’s a marketing trend—if you go to Bigg Boss and Bhai (Salman) stands with you, the film gets nationwide publicity. Even our studio knew this, but since Salman Sir is our mentor, we didn’t want to go to him for every little thing and ask for favors. That wouldn’t look nice, considering he’s such a big man. So, we didn’t go. And honestly, it was the marketing team’s job, not ours. They should have approached him.”

Further adding, he said, “Then Salman asked, ‘Why didn’t you come to me? I would have brought you on Bigg Boss.’ By then, he had become aggressive, probably because, as they say, offense is the best defense. He started questioning us instead. Anyway, we requested him, ‘Salman, please, at least tweet about our film.’ He’s a sweetheart. He loves us a lot. So, he tweeted for us. But despite that, I think the promotion was lacking. People simply didn’t know about the film. On the first day, the film opened with Rs 1.25 crore. The second day, it made Rs 1.35 crore. On Sunday, Rs 1.5 crore. We realized that those watching the film were actually liking it.”

Concluding Vinay said, “Then Monday came, and the film still made Rs 1.25 crore. That meant it was holding up. We thought, if we can sustain it and push it forward, the film will pick up. So, we went to our studio’s office and told them, ‘The film is holding at Rs 1.25 crore, sir. Please do something!’ But over there, it was like mourning. They were in shock. ‘What? The film is still making Rs 1.25 crore?”Make some calls! What’s happening?’ Instead of supporting it, they started counteracting it. It seemed like a deliberate effort to pull the film down—whether it was marketing issues or something else. It felt like complete betrayal. But what could we do? We are creative people. We can only have faith, and the world runs on faith.”

Watch the full interview

Also Read: EXCLUSIVE: Vinay Sapru credits Himesh Reshmmiya for the title of Sanam Teri Kasam; says, “While working on music…”