Everyone was surprised when one fine day Salman Khan announced his next production venture in collaboration with Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions with Akshay Kumar as a hero. We all were left wondering what exactly might have initiated and led to this production collaboration. But Shah Rukh Khan is “glad that the step has been taken and should have been done a long time back”. And not only that, he wanted to make a film under his production banner with Akshay as a hero which didn’t materialize due to some reason.
In an interview with DNA, the actor said he also envisioned such a project, “It should have been done a long time back. But it’s very good that Karan and Salman are making a film with Akshay. I wanted to do that. But the story and all didn’t work out. I’m sure he is really open to it. I think whenever there is an opportunity, as producers, we should make this happen.”
He added that Salman Khan is not collaborating as an actor but as a production house and this distinction is important to be made. “Firstly, we should get this correct. They should not be taken as individuals, as Karan or Salman. It’s Dharma and SKF (Salman Khan Films). They are different identities, they are film producers. It’s about the company, not about individuals. So, two companies have come together to make a film with a big movie star.”
“Filmmaking should be collaborative. The more collaboration there is, in music, filmmaking, storytelling — you will have better films. Tintin was made by Steven Spielberg, who loved it and he produced it and let Peter Jackson — who owned it — direct it. It’s something Steven Spielberg always wanted to make and direct, but he found that Peter Jackson has it, he said, ‘Let’s collaborate’ and make it together,” said SRK explaining how production houses in India do not necessarily have a role in filmmaking or any creative process related to the film.
The 52-year-old actor also took the opportunity to talk about his ambitious poject under Red Chilies Production. His ultimate dream, as he calls it, is to make Mahabharat by collaborating with some international producers. He wants to make it of Baahubali level, “It’s my dream to make the Mahabharat for the screen. It’s been for years now. But I don’t think I have the budget to do that. Unless I collaborate. This one has to go out into the international markets. So you have to collaborate with someone who’s international. You don’t take up a subject like the Mahabharat and make it any less. It should be on the scale of a Baahubali or an even larger one.”
It’s nice to hear SRK speaking like this in this season of clashes. After his Raees clashed with Hrithik Roshan’s Kaabil, his next Imtiaz Ali-directed untitled film also starring Anushka Sharma will hit screens at the same time as Akshay Kumar and Bhumi Pednekar’s Toilet: Ek Prem Katha.
You might think SRK and Akki are rivals, but SRK has put a full-stop to all the speculations and conjecturing.
