Ashneer Grover, a Shark Tank judge, and entrepreneur, recently recalled a funny episode in which he attempted to negotiate with Salman Khan’s team to have him appear as the brand ambassador for one of his company endeavors. Salman Khan was someone Grover wanted on board, but he also said he didn’t want to spend a lot of money.
At a recent college function, Grover recalled the four-year-old incident and declared, “2019 mein Salman Khan ko brand ambassador liya. My soch is not working right now. (In 2019, I intended to appoint Salman Khan as a brand ambassador.) Ab main choti firm tha, merko overnight trust generate karna tha, toh merko laga ki main Salman Khan ko brand ambassador leta hun. (It was never even a possibility. As a small business, I wanted to build trust quickly, so I decided to appoint Salman Khan as my brand ambassador).”
Salman’s fees at the time, according to him, were Rs. 7.5 crores. Speaking of the negotiations, he said, “Ab Salman ki team ko approach kara, toh woh bole ki 7.5 crore lagenge, toh main calculation kar raha hun 100 crore pade hain, 7.5 isko dunga, 1-2 crore ki ad banegi, fir chalani bhi toh hai TV pe, toh merko 20 crore ka panga hai aur 100 (I started doing the math when Salman’s staff told me they would charge Rs. 7.5 crores when I approached them. I had 100 crores, will give him 7.5 crores, will spend another 1-2 crores on the advertisement, and I must also pay the broadcasters; all told, it will cost me 20 crores, out of the 100 crores I have. I asked Salman to lower his pricing because I wasn’t sure if I would secure another round of funding, and he complied by agreeing to make the advertisement for Rs. 4.5 crore).
Grover continued, “At one point his management asked me, “Sir, have you come to buy vegetables?'” (Ek time mein toh uska (Salman Khan) manager merko bolne laga ki, “Sir aap bhindi karidne aye ho kya, matlab kitni mandwali karoge,” maine bola hain hi nahi paise, de When asked “How much will you negotiate?,” I responded, “I don’t have the money to provide.”
