Salman Khan hates prosthetics. And with good reason. His neurological condition (he had undergone surgery for Trigeminal Neuralgia in 2011 and was cautioned against excessive stunts and makeup as his skin needs to breathe) makes it hard for him to breathe if he has a beard wig or other props slapped on his face. This is why we never see Salman in disguise.
No matter what he plays Salman Khan looks like Salman Khan. In his aversion to prosthetics, Salman is at one with Shah Rukh Khan.
But Salman’s equation with prosthetics is about to change. In his next film Bharat to be directed by Ali Abbas Zafar (of Tiger and Sultan fame) Salman has to go through a spectrum of age changes from approximately 17 years to 65.
Various possibilities including the hiring of a younger actor were considered, and discarded.
“The Bharat team considered the prospect of getting a Salman lookalike to play the young Salman. But Salman quickly discarded that line of thought and agreed to take on the entire role from age 17 to 65.”Source
Apparently Salman will go through a series of look tests to decide his final appearance at various stages of his character’s life. “All the prosthetics may aggravate his neurological condition. But it’s a risk Salman will take for the sake of authenticity,” says a source close to the project.
Bharat is going to be Salman Khan’s patriotic pitch in the Indian market. According to sources, the film whose plot premise is based on the successful Korean film Ode To My Father, will pitch Salman in the same mould as Manoj Kumar’s Bharat and the characters that Akshay Kumar has been playing in his recent films on socially relevant themes .
“The whole idea behind doing Ode To my Father with Salman is to pitch him as the face of India. If you’ve seen the original film it features the Korean hero(Hwang Jung-min) as he goes through the various phases in Korean history. The entire Korean film is being re-written in the context of Indian history. Salman’s character will be seen going through various phases in the history of India, from the Partition of the country to present day.”A friend of Salman Khan
This is Salman’s most ambitious and most expensive home production being produced by his brother-in-law Atul Agnihotri and directed by Salman’s current favourite Ali Abbas Zafar. The original choice Kabir Khan is no longer a part of the project. The budget being put aside for what promises to be the superstar’s career-defining image-changing role is around Rs 200 crores, give or take, another 10 crores.
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