5 min readMumbaiUpdated: Mar 10, 2026 11:27 AM IST
It’s almost a year since AR Murugadoss’ action thriller Sikandar released in cinemas, but there’s still no answer as to why the Salman Khan star vehicle didn’t work at the box office. Made on a reported budget of Rs 200 crore, it managed to earn only Rs 176 crore at the worldwide box office. While Murugadoss blamed it on the actor’s lack of punctuality and commitment on set, Salman claimed his allegations were rather convenient.
Now, Salman’s co-star Jatin Sarna, who played a taxi driver in the film, has come out in his defense. “I seriously can’t pinpoint the failure on any one thing. I just know that everyone was working hard. I call Salman sir Seth. So, Seth is very hardworking. He used to come on time and work very hard. The director’s vision was shaping up very well at that time. If you analyze it that way, it’s a very wonderful story,” Jatin told The Lallantop.
He also recalled how much of a support system Salman was to him on the set. “I seriously have no idea what went wrong. Because when I used to go to that set, I used to enjoy it a lot… to work with Salman sir, to see his admiration and love. When he felt I’m performing well in a scene, he asked that my dialogues and scenes should be increased. He supported me a lot. The film was made very well. I don’t know why the audience didn’t feel like that,” he added.
The Sacred Games actor said most people who he’s talked to have admitted that they also liked watching Sikandar. “I watched the film on the first day of release itself. I really liked it because I knew the story, so I began thinking from that angle. And everyone else, who went to watch it with me, also liked it. A lot of people told me later also that they liked it a lot. Now, I don’t know about its overall impact,” said Sarna.
He also defended Salman from the allegations made by Murugadoss. “If I’m not wrong, Salman sir said in an interview that he has a particular style of working. So, the director might have said, ‘Yes, I don’t have a problem.’ Cut to: as far as I know, Seth would arrive before my call time,” recalled Sarna.
“He would be exercising and cycling even though his ribs were broken and he had a shoulder issue. The taxi in the scene was very small, so it was very tough for a man to go in and out. He was doing all of that. He was there singing, dancing, and doing everything,” he added. Sarna also claimed that Salman would often shoot for Sikandar after wrapping up his commitment of hosting Bigg Boss 18 Weekend Ka Vaar every week. “He used to finish the shoot of Bigg Boss before doing his scenes. He was so tired, but he was there. He wasn’t given any leeway. So, I never found him coming late. He was working at least as much as he was expected to,” he added.
Murugadoss, however, maintains that Sikandar didn’t work at the box office because of Salman’s lack of punctuality. “It’s not easy to shoot with a star. Even day scenes, we have to shoot at night because he turns up on set only by 8 pm. We are used to shooting right from early mornings, but that’s not how things work there,” he told Valaipechu Voice last year, mulling over the box office failure of Sikandar.
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Later, Salman defended himself while hosting an episode of Bigg Boss 18 Weekend Ka Vaar. He justified coming late on set as he was recovering from the broken rib he sustained while doing action sequences for Sikandar. He argued that if the cause of the film’s failure was only the the lead actor’s punctuality, Murugadoss’ 2025 Tamil action thriller Madhraasi with Sivakarthikeyan turned out to be an even bigger flop than Sikandar, even though the latter arrived on time. Madhraasi earned only Rs 62.57 crore at the domestic box office, on a reported budget of Rs 100 crore.
Jatin Sarna defends Salman Khan and Sikandar.