Bipasha Basu had no problem shooting 'Humshakals': Sajid Khan

Sajid Khan and Bipasha Basu

Director Sajid Khan says Bipasha Basu is not promoting his upcoming film 'Humshakals' as it is not about her. Bipasha has been missing from the film's promotions while Sajid and his starcast of Saif Ali Khan, Riteish Deshmukh, Ram Kapoor, Tamannah and Esha Gupta have been travelling across the country for the publicity ahead of its release this Friday.

Sajid Khan and Bipasha Basu

"I think Bipasha has not promoted many films of her like 'Players', 'All The Best'. I think the last film she promoted was 'Aatma' because the film was about her," Sajid told PTI. "She was perfectly fine shooting for 'Humshakals'. She is part of four out of the five songs and she has done complete justice to her role," he said. Bipsaha has said she was disturbed after seeing the "end result of the film".

"In these circumstances I didn't know how to promote a film with all honesty and that's why I thought it was better to stay away," Bipasha posted on Twitter. Actor Ajay Devgn, who collaborated with Sajid on 'Himmatwala' remake, had in an earlier interview said he was aware that the film would fail while he was shooting for it. Sajid, however, disagrees with it.

"That's not true, because a day before the release of the film, we were celebrating in his (Ajay's) house. If an actor doesn't believe in the film, the actor doesn't promote the film.

Ajay and I promoted 'Himmatwala' for 22 days," Sajid said. The director said that he started writing 'Humshakals' while grappling with the box office failure of 'Himmatwala'. "The idea of 'Humshakals' was already in my mind when I was making 'Himmatwala'. But I started writing 'Humshakals' in the week of the failure of 'Himmatwala'. I feel I wrote it vehemently because I wanted to make myself laugh," Sajid said.

'Humshakals' is a comedy film, which is Sajid's forte but the director is anxious about the response of audience.

"I am not concerned about how much money it will make. I think when the going is good everyone will accept whatever you do. People know Sajid Khan's films as comic capers which make them laugh. They expect a comedy film from me and now I will give them only what they want," he said.

Actor Saif Ali Khan is trying his hands on a full-fledged comedy film for the first time with 'Humshakals'. "I wasn't sure if Saif would agree to let his hair down and go so much beyond his usual performances for 'Humshakals'.

But he has surprised me with his acts. Directing him made me laugh out loud so many times. In the process of making this film, Saif and I discovered that we are very similar in a lot of ways," Sajid added