AR Murugadoss, best known in Bollywood for helming Aamir Khan’s blockbuster Ghajini, collaborated with another Hindi cinema superstar, Salman Khan, on Sikandar. Though the film managed to cross Rs 100 crore at the box office, the numbers were considered underwhelming when weighed against its massive budget, grand scale and Salman’s superstar status. In a recent interaction, Murugadoss opened up about the challenges of working with a star like Salman and admitted to his own shortcomings in executing the film.Speaking on Valaipechu Voice, the filmmaker revealed how Salman’s turning up late on set impacted the shoot. He said, “It’s not easy to shoot with a star. Even day scenes, we have to shoot at night because he turns up to sets only by 8 PM. We are people who are used to shooting right from early mornings, but that’s not how things work there.”Murugadoss also highlighted how difficult it became to manage child actors during late-night schedules, which affected the film’s progress. He explained, “If there were four kids in a scene, we would have to shoot with them at 2 AM, even if it’s the shot of them returning from school. They would become tired by that time and usually dozed off.”Like Ghajini, Sikandar was built around an emotional arc and had the potential to strike a chord with audiences. However, Murugadoss confessed that he failed to translate the story effectively on screen. He said, “In the film, when the king loses his wife, her organs are donated to three different people. He then seeks them out, trying to fulfil the things he couldn’t do for her. In the process, he befriends an entire village. The story was emotional, but I couldn’t execute it well.”Also read | AR Murugadoss blames ‘inability to understand Hindi’ for Salman Khan’s Sikandar failure: ‘I feel handicapped, don’t understand what’s happening on set’While Ghajini was adapted from Murugadoss’s Tamil hit, Sikandar was an original script. The Tamil director admitted that the Hindi audience struggled to connect with his sensibilities, something that affected him personally. He shared, “I’m not saying I won’t return to Hindi cinema; I definitely will if I find my comfort zone. But when the audience can’t connect with my thinking, it affects me deeply.”Expectations from Sikandar were sky-high, with Salman himself declaring before its release that the film would cross Rs 200 crore and even touching Rs 250 crore at the box office. However, the reality fell short. The film wrapped its theatrical run with just Rs 110 crore in the domestic market, far below expectations, especially given its reported Rs 200 crore budget.Click here to follow Screen Digital on YouTube and stay updated with the latest from the world of cinema.© IE Online Media Services Pvt LtdTags:salman khan