Director Nikkhil Advani is currently counting on the box office numbers of his latest release Vedaa. The filmmaker who started his directorial journey with Kal Ho Naa Ho in 2003 has delivered some remarkable projects to Indian cinema. Having worked with several actors and big stars the director recently recalled a life lesson he received from Salman Khan. He believes those words helped him navigate through his journey in filmmaking.

After Kal Ho Naa Ho's success, Nikkhil Advani directed a Salaam-e-Ishq, featuring a star-studded ensemble cast including Salman Khan, Priyanka Chopra, John Abraham, Vidya Balan, Anil Kapoor, Juhi Chawla and Akshaye Khanna among others. In a recent interview with PTI, the filmmaker recalled a moment when they were shooting a song sequence and Salman was unable to get the steps right. He remembered, "I kept saying 'One more take, one more take'. Then Salman called me and said, 'I am not going to ask you to change the step but you should have already changed the step because that's the step that only a dancer can do'... Salman said 'If you have to direct big actors and stars, you need to understand when they are going to be uncomfortable'.”

He further added, "Choreographers sometimes give such steps that only Vicky Kaushal and Hrithik Roshan can do. Not everybody can do something like that and that was my first big lesson. So, now I know with John when there is something wrong. I just ask him 'What do you want to do? How do you want to do it?'"

Nikkhil Advani shares a long-time association with John Abraham as a director-actor duo and even as co-producer. Their recent collaboration is Vedaa which features John in an action-packed avatar. The action thriller also stars Sharvari and Abhishek Banerjee in the lead role. The film released in theaters on August 15 is directed by Nikkhil Advani and produced by Zee Studious, Emmay Entertainment and JA Entertainment.