When Salman Khan claimed he stopped Katrina Kaif from getting John Abraham replaced in New York: ‘Not the righteous thing to do’

The Dabangg actor recalled, “I remember the visual of Katrina crying while saying, ‘My whole career is destroyed’. I had to deal with it for three days. I thought she is going to be one of the biggest stars we have in the country and why is she crying? I told her, ‘You will be laughing at it after a few years’. But she was like you are saying it because you are a big star, you don’t feel it. I told her. ‘They must not have understood your English and Hindi. First, work on it and she learnt to write and read Hindi in just two days.'”

Salman shared that from then on, Katrina worked hard to reach where she is and when she was offered Aditya Chopra’s 2009 film New York she could have got John replaced as the film’s director Kabir Khan and the production team were her friends.

He continued, “She worked hard to reach where she is today. Then this film came and she was like, ‘This has John in the film’. I told her, ‘So what? It could be anybody in the film. You are doing the film because you like the script, you like the director, and anyone can be your co-star.’ She was like, ‘No, but he took me out of that film.’ I said, ‘Be magnanimous. Today, you are in a position where you can do this (remove John from the film) since you are friends with the director and with the production company. He can be replaced any time but it is not the righteous thing to do.’ She understood that, she worked with him and it became a hit. Katrina aur mere badappan ki vajah se John Abraham ko ek bohot badi hit mili (It was because of Katrina and my big-heartedness that John Abraham got a hit).”

However, a few years later when John appeared on Aap Ki Adalat, he quashed Salman’s claims and said he was not in a position to remove anyone from a film when Saaya happened. “When Saaya was being shot, Jism had not released. I was a newcomer and I was not recommending my directors or producers to take or remove actresses from the movie. I was only thinking about myself and didn’t even have the power to replace anyone. Even today, when I have a little power, I do not recommend the directors to take some actress or to remove someone from the film,” he shared.

He shared even he was unaware about her being replaced until he went on the set of the film. “At that time, Katrina was there in one of the shots and when I went on the set the next day, she was not there, So I asked the director and producer where has that girl gone. They told me they have replaced her,” John narrated.

On being told what Salman said about giving him a hit with New York, he sarcastically expressed gratitude towards him and Katrina. He said, “Katrina is definitely a big star and I wish her all the best. I am really thankful to her that because of her, Kabir Khan, I, and others got a hit. Thank you so much.”

Saaya was directed by Anurag Basu and produced by Mahesh Bhatt. Last year, Katrina, during the promotion of her film Phone Bhoot, had once again talked about being replaced in the movie.