Senior actor Kabir Bedi recalled the time he worked with late actor Sunil Dutt in Kurbaan in 1991, however, with Salman Khan’s presence in it, the senior actors were turned into background music. During Times LitFest one of the audience members spoke about just Sunil Dutt who also struggled with his son Sanjay Dutt’s addictions, Kabir too faced a similar with his son. But the senior actor changed the topic by recalling the time when he worked with Sunil in Kurbaan.
In his recently released autobiography, 'Stories I Must Tell', he had shared how he was floored with Sunil Dutt’s performance in Mother India. Hence, when he came to Bombay and he met the late actor, he termed this moment as his dream turning into reality. Back then the producer had roped in Sunil Dutt and him to play two powerful figures from the village who would lock horns. Meanwhile, Bedi on being asked to suggest a young actor in the film, he suggested Salman Khan’s name as he had just begun his career.
Bedi said, “I'd seen Dutt saab in ‘Mother India’ and I was like, ‘Oh my God, what an actor’. When I came to Bombay, I went to meet him and told him ‘Dutt saab, today my childhood dream has been fulfilled having met you’. And then a producer came to me and said, they’ve got a film called 'Kurbaan', where Dutt saab and I had to play two giants in a village and they were going to have a clash. And it would be a fantastic clash of titans.”
He adds, “I'd heard Salim Khan's son Salman Khan had started acting and he was garnering quite the reputation. So that's how they signed Salman and he had just started his career.” ALSO READ: Kabir Bedi On Mentioning His Three Divorces In His Autobiography: ‘Real Story Has To Have Drama; I've Accepted My Own Frailties And Guilt’
As the movie shoot progressed which was quite slow, Salman Khan has delivered 4 hits at the box office. Hence, the young actor was initially roped in for romantic songs, the movie was later converted into a love story. Resulting in Kabir Bedi and Sunil Dutt becoming the background music in the movie.
Continuing further, he said, “Bollywood films in those days particularly were shot in a sort of installment plan. You know, they’d shoot a few days every month and it would keep going on. It used to take about two years to make a film and while the shooting for ‘Kurbaan’ was going on, four of Salman's films released and became superhits. Immediately, the scenes in our film were converted into a love story, and Dutt saab and I became the background music.” ALSO READ: Kabir Bedi Wants To Change The Way He 'Handled Money’; Reveals People Close To Him Betrayed Him
This confession of the senior actor left the audience in splits. Kurbaan directed by Deepak Bahry released in 1991 and also starred Ayesha Jhulka alongside, Salman Khan, Kabir Bedi and Sunil Dutt. It marked Ayesha’s Bollywood debut.
Image Source: Instagram/beingsalmankhan/ikabirbedi