Salman Khan, one of the biggest Indian superstars, faced camera for the first time when he was jus 15 years old. In 1980, the actor shot for the Campa Cola ad, in which he swam shirtless in the shark-infested waters of Bay of Bengal.
Interestingly, it was also the first Indian advertisement to be shot underwater with a home made rig.
Kailash Surendranath, who directed the ad, recalled the shooting experience with Salman in his recent interview with The Sell Side YouTube channel. He shared how the Sultan actor was cast just two days before they had to shoot the ad in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The actor was recommended by one of Kailash’s team members, who had seen Salman swimming in a neighbourhood club. “His story is that he saw her, wanted to impress her, so he dived into the water and came out the other side”, Kailash recalled.
He further shared that he first thought that the actor was just a baby as he added, “I thought he was a child because was just 15. I said this guy is a baby compared to everyone else”, and his thoughts changed after he asked Salman to take off his shirt and seeing his physique, he was selected for the ad.
Kailash stated that Salman couldn’t open his eyes during the shoot as he said, “The first shot we did with Salman, after the whole night of being awake and fooling around, he couldn’t face the reflectors, he couldn’t open his eyes. This was the first time he was facing a camera in his life. I told the cameraman to switch off all the reflectors. He switched it off and it came out beautifully.”
“We shot in the boat and the sea the whole day and then the navy guys told us, ‘There are sharks here, what the hell are you doing?’ So we all jumped into the boat and changed location”, Kailash concluded. Salman made his acting debut almost eight years later in Biwi Ho To Aisi in 1988.