Mumbai, Nov 25 (IANS) Salman Khan is upset because he couldn't attend his father's 64th birthday celebration. The star was busy shooting for his home production 'Dabangg' at Wai in Satara district of Maharashtra.

'The whole family makes it a point to be together by hook or crook for our parents' birthdays. Anyway dad believes work comes first. But Salman and Arbaaz are very unhappy about the situation,' Sohail, who was the only one to attend the bash, told IANS.

Salim Khan turned 64 Tuesday and the Khan family planned a grand celebration, but Salman and Arbaaz couldn't return to Mumbai even for a few hours.

'I guess I got lucky. I got dad all to myself on his birthday. Much as Salman and Arbaaz would've liked to be with dad there was no way they could leave the shooting in Wai and return on Tuesday for dad's birthday without disrupting the schedule. We were just three days into the shoot and it couldn't be stopped,' he said.

'Dabangg' is Arbaaz's first film as producer and it is also the launch vehicle of actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha's daughter Sonakshi. Anurag Kashyap's brother Abhinav is directing it.

Salman is giving his best to the film - he has not only blocked bulk dates for 'Dabangg' but also learnt Bhojpuri to play a corrupt cop from Uttar Pradesh.

The family is getting ready for the release of 'Veer' Jan 26 next year.

'That's a big project for us. We've worked really hard on it. After 'Dabangg' we want to start 'Partner 2'. Everyone keeps telling us 'sequels ka zamana hai'. Look how well the sequels to 'Golmaal' have done. But until we're sure that the script will take us beyond the first 'Partner', we can't go ahead.'

So the entire 'Partner' team is working on the sequel's storyline.

'All of us, Salman, Govinda, David Dhawan and I, have been told to work on an idea. We'll go ahead with 'Partner 2' the minute one of us cracks the screenplay. Right now 'Partner' is hot, and Salman bhai is hotter,' said Sohail.