DNA (November 9, 2016)

When you mention the Race franchise — macho men, fast cars, hot babes, twists and thrills and great music come to mind. And all that is pretty much up Hrithik Roshan’s alley. And so, it’s easy to buy into the buzz that HR is being considered for the third installment of the franchise. In fact, comments our source, “There’s still time for Hrithik to start work on Krrish 4 and he’s through with Kaabil after January 2017. Race 3 could well be next.”

Why not Salman?
But isn’t Salman Khan in contention for Race 3? “Of course”, adds a trade insider, but reasons that “for that, he needs to have dates free. If it was only Tubelight, it would be understandable. But Salman has also signed Tiger Zinda Hai, which could keep him occupied through 2017. And if he ends up picking Dabangg 3 for Eid 2018, Race 3 will only arrive by 2018-end. So he might not be picked.” Moreover, Hrithik has already decided that now he would aim at working in a couple of films a year. “To spend a couple of years of his professional career into Mohenjo Daro,wasn’t worth it after all,” a source close to him says, “Now that he has worked on Kaabil which is a quickie by his standards, he is ready to move on to his next big one. He would now be seen in an average of three movies, if not four, every two years.”

Giving it thought
However, the franchise’s fate really depends on the superstar doing Race 3 to like the script. Consider this: “When it came to Race 2, Saif Ali Khan was quite vocal that the script could have been better. He pretty much echoed the sentiments of audiences as well who felt that the film wasn’t as impressive as the first film in the series. This makes the job all the more difficult when it comes to Race 3,” the trade insider adds, “Moreover, whether it is Salman Khan or Hrithik Roshan, both would give it quite some thought.” Will it be Hrithik Roshan, Salman Khan or someone altogether new for Race 3? Watch this space...