Salman’s still my first choice: Mahesh Manjrekar

Salman Khan was expected to produce the Hindi remake of Mahesh Manjrekar’s acclaimed Marathi film Shikshanachya Aicha Gho (2010) under his banner Salman Khan Being Human.

Salman Khan was expected to produce the Hindi remake of Mahesh Manjrekar’s acclaimed Marathi film Shikshanachya Aicha Gho (2010) under his banner Salman Khan Being Human. Now, rumour has it that actor-producer Akshay Kumar has stepped in, and replaced the Bodyguard star as the film’s producer at the original film’s director-producer’s behest.

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“I don’t where such ‘news’ comes from,” retorts Mahesh. “Salman is my first choice to remake the film. I know he’s really busy presently but I won’t approach anyone else till he turns the project down. Salman was excited about the film but he is yet to revert to me. I’ll wait for him to get free so we can speak at length.”

Shikshanachya Aaicha Gho highlights loopholes in the education system in India. Last week, reports made the rounds that Mahesh had approached Akshay to remake the Hindi version since Salman has back-to-back acting assignments - Ek Tha Tiger, Dabangg 2 and Kick. In the meantime, South baddie Prakash Raj released the Telugu version of the film, Dhoni. Mahesh, who teamed up with Salman in Wanted (2009), Dabangg (2010) and Ready (2011), says that a recent incident involving a 15-year-old student who fatally stabbed his teacher in Chennai has forced him to speed up the Marathi film’s Hindi remake.

“A lot of questions have been raised about the kind of pressure a child goes through in school that provokes him to stab his teacher,” says Mahesh. “The Hindi remake will touch on such issues. But I don’t want to set a deadline that will mess up the content.”