Why Was Salman ‘Desperately Delaying’ The Release Of ‘Andaz Apna Apna?’

Mumbai: The Salman Khan and Aamir Khan starrer action-comedy ‘Andaz Apna Apna’ (1994) completed 30 years on November 4.

Written and directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, the film featured Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Raveena Tandon, and Karisma Kapoor in lead roles, while Paresh Rawal and Shakti Kapoor played the antagonists.

Though the film didn’t leave cash registers ringing at the box-office, yet it remains a cult classic because of the unique characters, messy plot, and endless laughter.

In an old video shared by YouTube channel The E Package, Salman is heard saying that he was desperately trying to delay the release of the film by making a myriad of excuses as he was portrayed as a nerd in it.

“Andaz Apna Apna is a hilarious film. It is incredible. It’s the funniest film on Indian screen ever. Aamir is damn funny in the film. He’s a talkative character and got all the funny lines. I’m the dumbo. He’s done his role, incredible… The film is coming out in six months. I’m desperately trying to delay the film. I’m not giving them dates and harassing them with my broken leg, I’ve cut my hair short. So the continuity is gone,” said Salman during an interview in 1992.

In another interview with Lehren, Salman shared about teaming up with Aamir for the first time, “He is good fun to work with. He is nice and very hardworking. He makes me work twice as harder. We vibe really well.”

Meanwhile in 2014, Aamir, while talking about the failure of the film, told Hindustan Times, “Actually, I loved the film. I thought it was fantastic. When it didn’t do well in theatres, I was like, ‘Kya hua yaar (what happened)? What went wrong?’ But one of the obvious things that went wrong was that no one knew when it released. It was that big a disaster. It was a washout (smiles). Kisi ne dekhi hi nahi film (no one watched it). The distributors weren’t sure whether they were going to get the delivery of the film. In the market, the release date had been announced, but they weren’t sure whether it would release. So the distributors didn’t take the delivery of the prints.”