Bollywood actor Salman Khan, who is here with other actors — Sonakshi Sinha, Prabhu Deva and Kriti Sanon — for “Dabangg-The Tour”, says he never thought veteran actors like Vinod Khanna and Shashi Kapoor, will “ever leave us alone”.

In the light of “Dabangg 3” releasing in March next year, which also had Vinod Khanna essaying the role of his father in the earlier instalments of “Dabangg”, his passing away this year and Shashi Kapoor breathing his last earlier this week, Salman expressed his sadness here on Saturday at a press conference.

Salman said: “It is really sad… When VK (Vinod Khanna) sir’s health became bad and we lost him… It is a great loss to the film industry and to his family and now Shashi uncle too is gone. Which is really sad… We never thought that the heroes we worshipped, could ever leave us alone.”

“But still when we see their films and photographs… they are still there between us and I believe they are immortal. I still can’t fathom the fact that VK sir is gone. I believe he is still there amongst us,” Salman said.

Speaking on the challenges the tour which has till now travelled to foreign shores like Auckland, London, Australia and Hong Kong faced as it has a number of Bollywood stars on board, Salman says it’s the task of “organising the dates from everyone” which is “a huge challenge”.

“Everyone is really busy so, bringing everyone together on a particular date is a huge task. Also, no matter how successful you are, there is still this fear that of making the auditorium this full and bringing the stadium to be packed,” he said.

The press conference was attended by the organisers of the tour including Sohail Khan and other actors like Manish Paul, Daisy Shah and music composers-singers Meet Bros.

Asked why the tour first travelled on foreign shores and then become homebound?

Sohail said: “We create the package and it is all according to the promoter. So, we got an immediate reaction from Hong Kong. So as we keep on getting inquiries… For this particular show, the production is very huge.”

“The good thing about this show is that it is a two hour forty-five minute long show and it is all back to back with great performances. It has so many artistes and we have a huge library of songs. We have accommodated all that into a three hour package. The finale is breathtaking. The sound, lights… a show of this magnitude has never happened before,” he added.

After Delhi, the tour will travel to 16 cities which are yet to be announced.

The extravaganza will take place at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Sunday.

The show will be directed and scripted by Sohail.

The tour’s last stop was in Auckland where Akshay Kumar joined Salman and Sonakshi for the grand event.