MUMBAI: Maybe it has something to do with his turning a ripe 47. Or maybe it’s the neurological condition that prevents him from socking it to the goons like there’s no tomorrow. Or perhaps the resurfacing his of legal problems urges the superstar to mend his ways. Be as it might, Bollywood superstar Salman Khan has decided to minimize the violence in his next project, a remake of his pal Chiranjeevi’s superhit Telugu film ‘Stalin’.
The original Telugu film directed by A Murugadoss was as violent as any of the director’s other successful films like ‘Ghajini’.
Salman,one hears, is for now fed up of doing action films and has asked for Stalin to be re-written without the bone-crunching action.
Says a source close to the project, “Salman has had enough of action films for a while. All his recent films ‘Bodyguard’, ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ and ‘Dabangg 2’ have contained large doses of stunts. And Sajid Nadiadwala’s ‘Kick’ which he starts shooting in June 2013 is again an out-and-out action film. Salman wanted a break from action.”
Apparently Salman asked his brother Sohail to get rid of all the violent sequences from ‘Stalin’ to focus on the human drama in the plot.
Says the source, “What Salman loved in ‘Stalin’ was the idea of a human chain formed to fight corruption. In the film Chiranjeevi helps distressed people. When they want to express their gratitude he tells them to get other people to join in the endeavour to help the needy. Salman loved the idea. It went very well with the whole concept of ‘Being Human’ that is so close to his heart.”
In fact there’s a chance that the film would be called ‘Being Human’, as it espouses the idea of compassionate interaction to better the world.
Says the source, “The film would definitely not called ‘Stalin’ in Hindi. It may be called ‘Being Human’ since the human-chain idea in Murugadoss’ film that appealed so much to Salman is very much in keeping with Salman’s ‘Being Human’ ideas.”
The source also adds that ‘Sher Khan’, the film that Salman was supposed to do as his home-production in January 2013, was put on hold because of its action content.
Says the source, “Salman didn’t want to do another action film at this juncture and that for his home production. He thought of going straight to ‘Kick’ in June thereby keeping the first-half of 2013 free to take care of his medical issue.”
However he didn’t want his brother Sohail’s plans to be foiled.
“You know how Salman is. Ek baar jo commitment kar diya so kar diya. He suggested to Sohail that they quickly find another project in lieu of ‘Sher Khan’. At this late stage a South remake was the only alternative. Sohail had the rights of Vamsi’s Telugu blockbuster ‘Brindavanam’. But it requires a much younger hero. It was then that Sohail thought of the Chiranjeevi starrer ‘Stalin’. When Salman saw it he loved the ‘human chain’ idea and told Sohail to focus only on that and to do away with the violence. Salman also loved the fact that ‘Stalin’ gives him a chance to play his own age. At 47 he isn’t kicked by playing 20-something heroes,” ends the source.
