Mumbai, Dec 3 (PTI) Filmmaker Sajid Khan says there was an "unnecessary" bashing after his last outing "Humshakals" as people were reviewing him and not his movie.

The 2014 comedy was his second movie in a row which failed at the box office after "Himmatwala".

"After 'Humshakals', the Sajid Khan bashing which followed, that was a little unnecessary. Genuinely. But I wasn't like 'I'll show everybody', no, I have made fun of film industry for 20 years on TV so that much is justified," Sajid said in an interview.

"For 20 years I did that- this film is flop, that song is stolen, but I used to do that in jest. 'Humshakals' wasn't that big a flop. It did a business of 65 crore... With me, people were reviewing me and not my films, which is okay," he added.

Contrary to popular notion that he is "arrogant", Sajid said there was a time when he had become very rude.

"People think I am arrogant, I don't think so. I cannot be arrogant at all... I am basically a lower middle class person by heart. I think I was very rude. I was making statements for the sake of making one. '100 crore? No, my film will do 200 crore, it can never flop.'"

The "Heyy Babyy" helmer said it was because of these statements that he had to face lots of criticism.

"I used to make those statements without realising it's going to come back to me someday. I thought, take it (criticism), enjoy it, they (people) will forget after six months. But if you make statements, they will come back.

"I realised I have to be politically correct and easy.

I was taking myself too seriously, I had become rude. Which I don't think I am anymore," he said.

Sajid also revealed he became single last year which is a big "stress buster".

"I became single last year, so that is also a very big stress buster... I'll never ever put anything bad about a woman in public or speak negative about a woman. If anybody will ask about my ex, or exes, I will just smile. I'll never say anything negative because I think that's what being a gentleman is.