Sooraj Barjatya Says Saif Ali Khan Was Stressed Out On Hum Saath Saath Hain Set, Amrita Singh Gave Him Sleeping Pills

On the set of his 1999 family drama 'Hum Saath Saath Hain', director Sooraj Barjatya recalls that actor Saif Ali Khan was a ball of nerves. 

Barjatya stated that the actor would be "very nervous" working on the movie.

Source : Twitter (@BombayBasanti)

New Delhi: Saif Ali Khan was playing a prominent role in the multi-starrer that also starred Salman Khan, Karisma Kapoor, and Tabu, and  Sooraj Barjatya admitted that Saif would be "very nervous" while working on the movie. On the set of his 1999 family drama 'Hum Saath Saath Hain', director Sooraj Barjatya recalls that actor Saif Ali Khan was a ball of nerves. 

Saif, who hadn't yet achieved success, would always feel "a lot of pressure" on the Barjatya set, to the point where he began to doubt his own skills as an actor. Barjatya stated that the actor would be "very nervous" working on the movie because he was playing a big part in the multi-starrer that also starred Salman Khan, Karisma Kapoor, Tabu, Sonali Bendre, Mohnish Bahl, Mahesh Thakur, and Neelam.

“Saif would be very nervous during Hum Saath Saath Hain shoot. This is the phase before Dil Chahta Hia. When films don’t work, actors are a little (shaken), so he would be nervous and had such a big part for the first time, that too opposite such big actors. He would keep himself under a lot of pressure. He would work too hard and mug all the lines, repeatedly,” Barjatya said in the video shared by Rajshri Production’s YouTube page.

Saif was unable to complete the song 'Suno Ji Dulhan' in one try, the director recalled, which led him to speak with his then-wife, Amrita Singh, and come up with a new approach.

“Once, we were filming the song Suno Ji Dulhan, where Saif had to copy Alok ji, Mahesh Thakur. When the shoot started, he had to do 5-6 retakes. I thought Saif was a natural actor, he should get it right in one time, this was comedy too. I asked Amrita, his wife, that why is he not able to do it. She said, ‘He doesn’t sleep, keeps looking at the mirror and thinking that this is how he would do it.’ I told her just give him some medicine and make him sleep'," he said. 

“So she secretly gave him a medicine and he slept. Next day, he woke up and gave a one-take shot! I told him you are a natural actor, sleep well and you would be able to do it! He benefited with Hum Saath Saath Hain and then of course, Dil Chahta Hai happened and then Saif became Saif,” he added.

Sooraj Barjatya is the director and writer of the movie 'Hum Saath Saath Hain'. Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Mohnish Behl, Tabu, Sonali Bendre, and Karisma Kapoor play the key characters in the movie. It ended up becoming the most grossing movie of 1999.