Salman Khan returned to set after pack-up just to help Divya Dutta get through a scene she was struggling with: ‘He lay down on the ground next to me’

Divya Dutta recalled fond memories of the kindness that Salman Khan showed to her on the set of Veergati, and revealed why she will always have a soft corner for him.

Salman Khan and Divya Dutta in Veergati.

Actor Divya Dutta spoke about the special bond that she shares with the superstar Salman Khan, who went out of his way to help her crack a scene when they were working together on the film Veergati. She said that she will never forget Salman’s kind gestures, because she was a rookie at the time and was very affected when the director scolded her for not being able to deliver what was required of her.

In an interview with Siddharth Kannan, Divya Dutta said that she was shooting a death scene in the film, but because she is claustrophobic, she couldn’t hold her breath beyond a few seconds. After a few takes, the director KK Singh began to lose his patience. “I cannot handle closed spaces, or holding my breath. I’d completed the other scenes, but I couldn’t get through the death scene because I wasn’t able to hold my breath. I was 18 or something, and I was scared of the director, who was very strict. I’d never been scolded even at home, so I was taking his scolding very seriously…”

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She continued, “Salman was packed up for the day, he was sitting in his car. Some AD told him that the new girl is struggling with a scene. Salman came over. I had a huge crush on him, and I didn’t want to embarrass myself in front of him as well. He sat opposite me, and told me to follow exactly what he does. He lay down on the ground next to me, and guided me through the scene. He’d say, ‘I’ve held my breath now’, and I would also hold my breath. I kept looking directly at him, and he gave me a count. Even the director backed off because he knew that Salman was handling it. Then, after 10 seconds, Salman told me to shut my eyes and breathe.”

Divya said that as a newcomer, this was a pivotal moment in her career. “You never forget who stood by you in your moment of need,” she said, and narrated another story about Salman. She said, “I learned a lot from Salman. He was very protective of me. He’d take care of me, he’d bring food from home. One day, he called me over and said, ‘Come, I’ll take your pictures’. I assumed that he was ragging me, because he was known to be a prankster. So, I went over, and realised that he was being serious. He’s such a great photographer. He got those pictures printed on a T-shirt and a mug…”

She said that she will always have a soft spot for Salman. Asked if the superstar is ‘misunderstood’, Divya said that everybody is ‘moody’ at times, but because he’s so popular, stories about his moodiness become news.

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