Father wanted me to be a cricketer: Salman

Bollywood superstar Salman Khan says his father Salim Khan wanted him to be a cricketer playing for India but he himself wanted to be a director.

Salman, who played the role of a wrestler in his box office hit film "Sultan", said former Indian cricketer Salim Durani was hired as his coach and he told his father that the actor had a bright future in the field.

"My dad wanted me to play cricket. That could have happened easily but I just didn't see myself going for cricket practice around 5:30am. Getting up early in the morning to reach school was as it is difficult for me, so cricket would have been very difficult," Salman said at the launch of tennis star Sania Mirza's autobiography "Ace Against Odds" in Mumbai yesterday evening according to our New Delhi correspondent.

The "Bajrangi Bhaijaan" star said he used to play cricket fairly well but the day his father came to see him, he intentionally gave a bad performance.

"Salim Durani was hired to be my coach. First day, he saw me play, I played very well. Second day, I did really well so he called my father the third day and said your son has got a very bright future. That is the day I realised, my father came to see me play.. so I should play really badly," the 50-year-old actor said.

Salman said it was tough for him to even reach school on time, so waking up early for cricket practice was next to impossible, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

"Reaching school used to be a big problem itself. At 9 I used to attend my first lecture. So I used to wake up at about 8:30 AM and barely manage to reach school on time. Now before school, it was this... I actually wanted to be a director.

Whether or not Salman would have been a good cricketer, Bollywood would have lost a highly-bankable superstar who has made producers laughing their way into banks.