When John drove Nikhil Advani nuts 
By Taran Adarsh, December 5, 2006 - 08:33 IST
Yesterday, we gave you a lowdown on the music launch of SALAAM-E-ISHQ. Now, we present to you the behind-the-scenes action that no one knows yet.
Nikhil Advani was on tenterhooks a day before the music launch. With John Abraham accompanying Big B and Ravi Chopra to London for BAABUL promotions, Nikhil wasn’t sure whether John would make it to the music launch on time. “I kept telling John that he must reach Mumbai anyhow. Vidya and John were to kickstart the fashion show and the entire sequence would fall flat if John was delayed for any reason,” Nikhil reminisces.
John tried to pacify Nikhil that he’d make it on time, but Nikhil wasn’t convinced. Nikhil called frantically at regular intervals and when John finally told him that he was about to board the flight from Heathrow Airport, Nikhil still didn’t believe him. “I thought he was lying. So I told him to hand over the phone to any other passenger in the queue so that I could verify the facts,” Nikhil laughs.
And John did just that! He randomly handed over his phone to a co-passenger, who assured Nikhil that John was indeed boarding the flight to Mumbai. “I felt relieved then,” Nikhil says.
Was it tough convincing Govinda to walk the ramp? “When I approached him with the concept of the music launch, Govinda was stunned. He was quiet for a minute… after all, he was asked to walk the ramp for the first time in his life. But he broke into the by-now-famous Govinda laughter, ‘Yaar, tum mujhse kya-kya karwa rahe ho?’ Believe me, he was like one obedient student during the rehearsals,” Nikhil smiles.
Meanwhile, Aangan Trust, run by Nikhil’s wife Suparna, has collected Rs. 50 lacs as donations from the event. Did his actors donate as well? “Of course, they did. Everyone has donated a substantial amount,” Nikhil says.
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