‘Salman Khan knew Tere Naam would be a success but was wary it had the wrong message for youth’: Satish Kaushik

Salman Khan played an obsessive lover in Tere Naam but unlike Kabir Singh, the character ends up in an asylum instead of getting the girl. Director Satish Kaushik reveals Salman was wary that his character would send a wrong message to the youth.

Filmmaker and actor Satish Kaushik has revealed that Salman Khan was not happy with the stalking shown in his hit film Tere Naam. Satish, who celebrated his birthday recently, remembered the time when he shot the film and revealed that Salman knew audience would love the film, but also feared that its messaging was wrong.

Salman Khan in a still from Tere Naam climax sequence.

Tere Naam - a film that marked the debut of Bhumika Chawla - told the story of an obsessive lover Radhe (Salman) who is a good-for-nothing college drop-out who continues to linger about the college premises, initially for hooliganism and later for the girl he takes a fancy to. Shahid Kapoor’s Kabir Singh had a similar arc - it was the story of a medical student who is obsessed with a junior in medical school. However, Kabir Singh was widely criticised for romanticising violence in relationships and promoting misogyny.

Satish told Bollywoodlife in an interview, “There are quite a few similarities between Tere Naam and Kabir Singh, especially the way, the hero pursues the girl and some other aspects. In fact, you wouldn’t believe that while shooting the movie, Salman had told me that it would work with the audience, but we’re sending a wrong message to the youth. This isn’t the kind of character we should show to the youth as they could get wrongly influenced by it. Salman has always been very conscious that way in what he shows to his fans on screen.”

Satish, nonetheless, added that he believes all kinds of characters must be shown in films. “We must ensure that such negative characters or those with shades of grey are not shown winning in the end,” the director said, an advice he also followed in Tere Naam. Salman’s character ends up in an asylum in the film. “As a viewer and filmmaker though, I believe that all kinds of characters, positive, negative and those with grey shades should be shown in cinema, but it’s necessary to not show negative or grey characters winning in the end, like in Tere Naam,” Satish further told the tabloid.

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