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Threats end Ram-Salman movie role: The Asian Age
Mumbai, July 17: Actor Salman Khan will not play Lord Ram following `threats` from the Bajrang Dal.
Mumbai, July 17: Actor Salman Khan will not play Lord Ram following "threats" from the Bajrang Dal.
Khan said he will neither produce nor act in the film Ramayan. "We had started pre-production work on the film, but there are some people who think that I should not play Ram because I am a Muslim. How can people forget that my mother is a Hindu? And if my mother would not have been there, how would I be here today? It is frustrating and sad, but what can I do," Khan said. Salman does not really want to shelve the project entirely. "I shall probably go back to the project next year," he said.
However, brother Sohail Khan’s ex-partner Bunty Walia, who was to co-produce the movie, said, "Once the media played up the story of us producing Ramayan, I started getting calls from a religious organisation threatening me with dire consequences if I signed Salman Khan for Ram’s role. They kept calling me up and asking how a Muslim could play Lord Ram," Walia said.
Asked whether it was the Bajrang Dal that had threatened him, Walia preferred not to comment, saying, "They were people with vested interests."
GS Entertainment had intended to start the movie budgeted at Rs 100 crores in 2004 with Salman Khan as Ram and Sohail Khan as Lakshman. They were keen on casting a Hollywood actress to play Sita. They had even planned to shoot the banwas (exile) in the jungles of New Zealand.
Khan said he will neither produce nor act in the film Ramayan. "We had started pre-production work on the film, but there are some people who think that I should not play Ram because I am a Muslim. How can people forget that my mother is a Hindu? And if my mother would not have been there, how would I be here today? It is frustrating and sad, but what can I do," Khan said. Salman does not really want to shelve the project entirely. "I shall probably go back to the project next year," he said.
However, brother Sohail Khan’s ex-partner Bunty Walia, who was to co-produce the movie, said, "Once the media played up the story of us producing Ramayan, I started getting calls from a religious organisation threatening me with dire consequences if I signed Salman Khan for Ram’s role. They kept calling me up and asking how a Muslim could play Lord Ram," Walia said.
Asked whether it was the Bajrang Dal that had threatened him, Walia preferred not to comment, saying, "They were people with vested interests."
GS Entertainment had intended to start the movie budgeted at Rs 100 crores in 2004 with Salman Khan as Ram and Sohail Khan as Lakshman. They were keen on casting a Hollywood actress to play Sita. They had even planned to shoot the banwas (exile) in the jungles of New Zealand.