Shah Rukh Khan, whose upcoming film ‘Raees’ features Pakistani actor Mahira Khan, has made sure that his 2017 production does not fall into any trouble and has met MNS chief Raj Thackeray at the latter’s residence to clarify his stand on Mahira and other Pakistani actors.
In a meeting that lasted for almost an hour, SRK promised Raj that neither will he bring down Mahira to India for promoting Raees and nor will he work with any Pakistani actors in future.
Confirming the same to indianexpress.com, Amey Khopkar of MNS said, “There was news in the media for past one week that SRK is going to get Mahira Khan to India for film promotions. So he came here to meet Raj saheb to tell that Mahira Khan is not coming to India for any kind of film promotion and he will also not cast any Pakistani artistes in future.”
Amey also clarified that there would be no protests from MNS as far as Raees is concerned. “In the meeting between Raj Saheb and the Chief Minister of Maharashtra and Producers’ Guild that took place in October, it was decided all the films that have already been shot and has Pakistani actors in it will be allowed to release and going forward no Indian producer, director or actor will work with Pakistani artistes. SRK too agreed to the same in his meeting with Raj Saheb.”
This precautionary move by Khan, whose Red Chilies Entertainment has co-produced Raees, comes on the back of controversies surrounding the presence of Pakistani actors in Indian films. The situation had turned violent during the Diwali release of Johar’s ‘ADHM’ featuring Pakistani heartthrob Fawad Khan.
MNS, which thrives on its nationalistic affiliations, had threatened to stall the film’s release. And producer-director Johar had to shell out Rs 50 million in order to pacify protesters. The move didn’t go down well with many in the industry which felt that the otherwise influential filmmaker he had given in to ‘political extortion’.
