- Govinda claims Salman Khan asked him for career advice before starring in Partner
- Govinda advised Salman Khan to improve his appearance and fitness
- According to Govinda, Salman Khan acted on the advice by undergoing surgery and exercising
Salman Khan and Govinda lit up the screen when they co-starred in Partner. While it was the unofficial adaptation of the Hollywood hit Hitch, starring Will Smith and Kevin James, the David Dhawan film spoke to Indian audiences on another level.
Partner, which released in 2007, revolved around a charming love guru called Prem (Salman Khan) who helps the mousy, underconfident client, Bhaskar (Govinda) to woo his crush Priya (Katrina Kaif) who is also his boss.
In a recent interview with Siddharth Kannan, Govinda revisited the Partner days, claiming that Salman Khan asked him for career advice when he was feeling lost at the time.
Calling the Bollywood superstar "a sincere guy", Govinda said, "Unhone mujhe poocha ki main kya karoon? (He asked me what should I do?) Maine kaha, 'Salman, you have to do this, this, and this. Chehra utar gaya hai, thoda sa body taiyyar kar lijiye, thoda sa aisa lag raha hai ki aapke baal kam ho gaye hain. (You look pale, build your body a certain way, it appears that you have lost some hair)."
Govinda added that he shared this advice with Salman Khan over drinks.
"I don't drink much but thoda sa aisa ek din drink peete-peete I said this (to him). Ye (Salman Khan) gaya aur jaake (He went) got operated, started exercising. Look at Salman after Partner, he wasn't the same as before... Main toh bahut saal se touch mein nahin hoon toh mujhe pata nahin kya hai (I'm not in touch with him for many years now so I don't know what's up with him now)" he further said.
The 62-year-old actor also claimed that it was he who suggested Salman Khan's name for Partner, produced by his brother Sohail Khan.
"We will change his personality, total... Ek new Salman. Jo pehle dekha tha voh alag tha, jo ab dekh rahe hain yeh alag hai. (A new Salman, the one that we see right now is different from what we saw earlier) So, we tried it."
Partner shot Govinda back to limelight and also won him many awards.
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