Salman Khan without legs in Bharat? Spoil script but spare Bhai
- Samrudhi Ghosh
- New Delhi
- August 2, 2018
- UPDATED: August 2, 2018 19:21 IST
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Ever since Prabhudheva's Wanted hit the screens, something clicked for Salman Khan. Since then, year after year, 'Salmaniacs' flock to the theatres to watch their beloved Bhai's larger-than-life machismo on screen.
The one time Salman tried to do something different and play a "Tubelight", he got his fingers badly burnt and ended up having to compensate the distributors for their losses.
Having learnt from the debacle, Salman is taking no chances. According to a report in an entertainment website, the script of Ali Abbas Zafar's Bharat is being tweaked to ensure that his fans are not disappointed. This includes significant departures from the South Korean film, Ode To My Father, which Bharat is an official adaptation of.
In the original, the protagonist is lamed in war-torn Vietnam; he gets shot in the leg while trying to save the life of a young boy. This incident is pivotal and forms the crux of a few emotional scenes later in the film.
However, an insider claims that people close to Salman have asked for changes in the script. "Herein is the dilemma of the scriptwriters of Bharat. They have been told to change the script because 'Bhai ka taang kaise kaate? Bhai ko langda kaisa dikhayenge? Bhai ka pair kaise katoge? His fans and audiences won't like to see a physically challenged Salman' etc," a source revealed.
Incidentally, director Ali Abbas Zafar had once told a magazine, "As a director, it is absolutely essential to highlight the USP of a big star in the best possible way. You have to develop the character in sync with the superstardom."
Will he rework the script of Bharat to "highlight the USP" of Salman? Perhaps.
Ode To My Father struck a chord with the audience for its tear-jerking screenplay. The emotional connect worked wonders to an extent that the film became one of the highest-grossers in the history of South Korean cinema.
To sideline the emotional quotent and make the hero infallible to appease Salman Khan fans would rob the essence of the original. And that might not be the best idea, as the sharp nosedive of the actor's last release, Race 3, at the box office showed.
Race 3 took off to a fantastic start, but crashed and burnt, as soon as the audience realised that the film is all style and zero substance.
But maybe, just maybe, the changes in the script might click with the audience. Because Salman's stardom and success is much like his famous dialogue in Kick, "Dil mein aata hoon, samajh mein nahin."
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