The 2016 romantic drama ‘Sanam Teri Kasam’, directed by Radhika Rao and Vinay Sapru, made a surprising comeback with its recent re-release in theaters. Said to be an unofficial remake of the 2002 Hollywood coming of age movie ‘A Walk to Remember’, its lead actors Harshvardhan Rane and Pakistan’s Mawra Hocane made their Hindi film debuts with ‘Sanam Teri Kasam’. It was saved by its music, but the film was found to be long and tedious and collected just Rs. 8 crore in its lifetime run. To the box office’s surprise, in its re-release ‘Sanam Teri Kasam’s’ emotional storyline struck a new chord with audiences, and the film garnered an astonishing Rs 9 crore in just two days, surpassing its entire original theatrical run. Making the film one of Bollywood’s biggest re-releases.

Now when there’s talk about a sequel following this renewed interest in ‘Sanam Teri Kasam’, and speculation whether Mawra Hocane would reprise her role, PeepingMoon.com was privileged to learn from its directors Vinay Sapru and Radhika Rao how Salman Khan boosted their belief in the film with words of encouragement at a crucial moment in 2016. Calling Salman their “mentor” and “go-to person,” they revealed that he was one of the few who saw the film’s potential when many others dismissed it. Just before its release, when they were disheartened by the feedback they were receiving for ‘Sanam Teri Kasam’, Salman saw its trailer and immediately declared the film would be a super hit. “Everybody else said it was no masterpiece. We were down and depressed,” they said.

Salman asked Vinay and Radhika to talk to the producers and push the February 5, 2016 release of ‘Sanam Teri Kasam’. He believed the film had prospects but lacked publicity. “Why didn’t you come to me a month back? I would have put you on Bigg Boss,” he chided the directors. What the kind and large-hearted actor-host of the reality show didn’t know was that they had approached Colors, but were rejected by the channel because there was “no known face” in ‘Sanam Teri Kasam’ and they had “nothing going for them” in the film. Expressing disappointment, Salman still tweeted about ‘Sanam Teri Kasam’ and generously compared it to his 2003 romantic tragedy ‘Tere Naam’ that was considered one of his best performances and which received 24 award nominations and won seven.