Now that Tubelight has turned out to be one of Salman Khan’s lowest Eid earners, the back-and-forth of accusations and counter-accusations has begun, though not publicly. A close friend of Salman reveals that the superstar was “on shaky grounds” about the film.
“He wasn’t too keen on doing this film with Kabir. There was another script that Kabir had wanted to do with Salman. But Salman felt it required too much physical effort to go into the other project. So he picked this one just because it was physically less strenuous than Sultan and Tiger Zinda Hai,” says the knowledgeable friend.
Also, Salman insisted on doing the bhola-bhala act again after Bajrangi Bhaijaan.
“Salman wanted to build on the image of the innocent do-gooder who helps bring people together. That image really worked for him in Prem Ratan Dhan Payo and Bajrangi Bhaijaan. Tubelight was like the third part of Salman’s trilogy of innocence, a counter-point to Shah Rukh’s evil trilogy of Darr, Baazigar and Anjaam that came 20 years ago.”
Incidentally Salman had refused Baazigar because he didn’t want to play a grey character. It looks like Salman went too far in playing the pureheart in Tubelight. After watching the end-product, he apparently turned around and said to his director Kabir Khan, “yeh thoda zyada ho gaya.”
Kabir, in fact, is now going to face the brunt of the blame game. At the moment, the director has gone into hiding to avoid the uncomfortable questions.
