Filmmakers Prashanth Neel and Ali Abbas Zafar helped Prithviraj Sukumaran work out his dates for Bade Miyan Chote Miyan to fit the film’s production into his busy schedule, the 41-year-old actor recently revealed in a statement.

Prithviraj was shooting for Prasanth-helmed Salaar and another movie when Ali Abbas Zafar approached him for Bade Miyan Chote Miyan. He at first refused the offer thinking that the cast — including Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Sonakshi Sinha, Manushi Chhillar and Alaya F — would have to shift their dates because of his busy schedule. But Ali Abbas was determined and convinced Prithviraj to listen to the first narration of the action-thriller.

“The very first narration just blew me over. I immediately told my wife and my manager that we had to make this film happen. But it just seemed like it was not going to happen,” the actor recalled.

Prithviraj said he had a discussion with Neel about Bade Miyan Chote Miyan during the shooting of Salaar’s climax scene. “I was talking about the film for 10-15 minutes and then Prashant turned around and said, ‘If you let this film go, you will be very sad’ and I was like, ‘Probably’.”

Sukumaran then revealed how a particular incident altered the production process of his other film at the moment. “Then Ali Abbas really adjusted and moved around a few things for me. He got me to travel two-and-a-half days to Glendale in Scotland to shoot for four hours and then two-and-a-half days back to my location in Manali. So that is how particular Ali Abbas was,” Sukumaran said.

The actor plays the primary antagonist in Bade Miyan Chote Miyan who escapes to London with a dangerous weapon in his possession.

A fresh take on the David Dhawan-helmed 1998 film starring Amitabh Bachchan and Govinda, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan will have an Eid release on April 10.