Mahira Khan’s Bollywood debut in the Shah Rukh Khan starrer Raees just got cut short quite drastically. The Pakistani actress reportedly had two songs in the film, one of which had been canned earlier this year. While that might be retained in the film, she will not be coming back to India to shoot the second one. A romantic scene between SRK and Mahira has also reportedly been chopped off.
This is as a result of the Indian film industry’s ban on Pakistani artistes, following the Uri attack and India’s surgical strike along the LoC.
According to a Mumbai Mirror report, the Khan duo had shot together in Bhuj in February 2015. This was followed by a schedule in Ahmedabad where their on-screen wedding was filmed, after which SRK and Mahira shot another schedule in Mumbai.
Though Mahira does play SRK’s love interest in Raees, the film is reportedly not a romantic one. Shah Rukh plays the par of a bootlegger named Raees Alam in the film and meets his nemesis in ACP Ghulam Patel, a policeman being essayed by Nawazuddin Siddiqui.
The report also suggests that it was not difficult to chop Mahira’s role, but it remains to be seen how much screen time she will finally be left with, given that the makers do not intend to hurt the public sentiment.
(Source: Mumbai Mirror)
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