Was Salman first choice as dwarf in Aanand L Rai’s next?

With much being written about Aanand L Rai’s next starring Shah Rukh Khan, it has emerged that Salman Khan was the director’s first choice for the film.

According to a Deccan Chronicle report, Rai had mentioned Salman will be playing a dwarf in the film, in an interview with DNA India in 2015. At the time, there were reports that the film had been shelved after Salman allegedly abandoned the film. Talking about this then, Rai said, “The project was never shelved. Bhai is a busy man. We haven’t yet locked his dates. But he has heard the story and he liked it. He has okayed it.”

At that time, Rai had also said, “I come from a remote area. I was born in a middle-class family. My parents were school teachers. So that element of small town has played an important role in my films. My film with Salman, too, will be from the heartland of India. I think Salman will play the desi boy really well. People connect to him that way. I am going to meet him soon with a concrete plan but I am not sure if this will be my next film, as Salman is shooting back-to-back. I will start with the scripting in about a month or so. Then, we will see when he can give dates. Right now, we have just discussed it. The script needs to be finalised, dates have to be locked. So I can only talk about it in detail two months from now. But this film will happen.”

So has King Khan come to the rescue of Rai by agreeing to the take film from Salman? It also stars Anushka Sharma and Katrina Kaif. Incidentally, Salman will be seen in a cameo in the film, which was shot this week.