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Salman Khan charged one rupee for Phir Milenge, agreed to play HIV positive man after entire Bollywood said no: producer Shailendra Singh

Salman Khan charged only one rupee from producer Shailendra Singh for Phir Milenge, which also starred Shilpa Shetty and Abhishek Bachchan. The actor played an HIV positive man who dies in the film.

Salman Khan charged only one rupee for Phir Milenge.

Salman Khan hasn’t done many non-mainstream films in his three and a half decade long career, which is perhaps why his appearance in Revathi’s Phir Milenge is often seen as an unusual choice by his fans. In a recent social media post, producer of the film, Shailendra Singh, revealed that Salman actually did this film for only one rupee. He also shared that Salman agreed to do role of an HIV positive man when everyone in the movie industry had refused to do so.

The 2004 film Phir Milenge starred Shilpa Shetty in the lead role. The film followed her character after she is diagnosed with HIV and is wrongfully terminated from her work. Abhishek Bachchan played her lawyer and Salman played her former lover. Producer Shailendra Singh said that Salman’s character actually died in the film even though his on-screen persona in other films celebrated machismo.

“At that time, and even now, Salman is one of the biggest youth icons. So imagine convincing Salman to do a film on AIDS when he is actually the Rambo and the Terminator and the Superman of India. The plot line for the lead actor is that he gets HIV and then he dies. The whole industry said no and that’s the day I called Salman Khan,” he said. Salman had an extended cameo in the film. “Salman dies in the climax due to HIV. Obviously his fans were not happy but the message of the film got across the nation,” he added.

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In an earlier chat with Rediff, Revathi revealed that it was actually Salman who offered himself for the film after he heard about it from Shilpa. “As for Salman, Shilpa spoke to him about this film. He then called me and said he wanted to be a part of it. After 10 minutes I called him and asked if he was serious. Did he really want to be part of this film? He said yes. He has done this film literally for free,” she said.

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Earlier, the Supreme Court directed the Delhi Government, civic bodies, and authorities of Noida, Gurgaon, and Ghaziabad to pick up stray dogs and move them to shelters. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)

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