Salman Khan to play negative role in Race 3: Ramesh Taurani confirms

Bollywood megastar Salman Khan will play a role with “completely grey” shades, Ramesh Taurani, the producer of the soon to be announced ‘Race 3’, has confirmed.

“Yes, Salman’s character is completely grey in Race 3 and it’s an extremely slick, stylish and exciting one – something he has not done before. The Race franchise always has grey characters in them – we are just continuing with that. Like Saif in Race or Race 2” Ramesh Taurani was quoted as saying.

The extremely popular ‘Race’ franchise has fared well at the box office, but none of the films in the series has featured a major box office star in the lead. While the first film featured the likes of Saif Ali Khan, Akshaye Khanna and Anil Kapoor, the second film had John Abraham who replaced Akshaye.

Taurani also confirmed that the film will feature Jacqueline Fernandes as the female lead.

The director duo of Abbas Mustan will be replaced by Remo D’Souza, who has previously directed the successful ‘ABCD’ franchise.

Saif Ali Khan has also said that he hasn’t been approached for the third film.

“Ramesh ji (Taurani) told me about this last year that he wants to make Race 3 but as a new movie, with a new cast. We spoke about it and I love Ramesh ji. Who better than Salman Khan for this? I wish both of them luck. But I haven’t been approached.” Saif was quoted as saying.

The film is expected to go on floors next month, after Salman wraps up the final schedule of ‘Tiger Zinda Hai’ which is the last release of 2017.

There are also reports that ‘Race 3’ is targeting Eid 2018, which should be considered only a rumour, until an official announcement is made.

Industry superstars playing negative roles has worked big-time at the ticket window. When Hrithik Roshan replaced John Abraham in ‘Dhoom 2’, the film went on to become the biggest grosser of all time. The result was the same when Aamir Khan replaced Hrithik in ‘Dhoom 3’. All roles were negative, but featured the villains in large-than-life ‘hero’ characters.

With the inclusion of the industry’s biggest crowd-puller, the third film in the ‘Race’ franchise is set to become by far its biggest – both in terms of investment as well as box office returns.