Salman Khan goes solo in 'Antim'

For the first time in his career, Salman Khan has no leading lady opposite him in Antim: The Final Truth where he plays Good (Sardar) Cop to his real-life brother-in-law Ayush Sharma’s Badass act.

While Sharma has television actress Mahima Makwana (she once was Balika Badhu) opposite him, Salman voluntarily opted out of any romantic involvement, on screen at least.

A sad comment on his real life love-life?

Director Mahesh Manjrekar reveals that a heroine (Pragya Jaiswal) was cast initially opposite Salman. Romantic scenes and a song were shot. But after these were completed Salman felt his character would be better off without a leading lady. He told Manjrekar to remove the romantic scenes.

A source in the know reveals it was done in the interest not so much of the film as Salman’s brother-in-law.

“There is too much of Salman in Antim. This would make his fans happy, but does nothing for Ayush who is looking at making a post-debut splash after his debut Loveyatri (like Antim, also produced by Salman Khan) sank without a trace. Saman’s action scenes add up to almost 25 minutes of playing time. If the romantic angle was not eliminated he would have been on screen for nearly 40 minutes. Salman didn’t want to wrest interest away from Ayush in Antim.”

That damage has already been done, I am afraid. Antim: The Final truth is being perceived as a Salman starrer by the audience. The other damage is to Pragya Jaiswal, a name in Telugu cinema introduced by the redoubtable Krish Jagarlamudi in the Telugu hit Kanche in 2015, Pragya was apparently looking forward to her BIG Bollywood break with Salman Khan. She is no longer a Bhai-product.