Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; January 16, 2018)

Salman Khan and Ali Abbas Zafar, who have collaborated on two films (Sultan and Tiger Zinda Hai), are all set to team up again for Bharat, which is being produced by brother-in-law Atul Agnihotri. While previously, Salman and Ali upped the ante with some great stunt sequences, this time too they have something unique up their sleeve.

The story of Bharat chronicles Salman’s journey from the age of 18 to 70. Currently, the team is busy with the groundwork for the film. Ali reveals, “We have just locked the script. The idea is to make Salman look the way he appeared in Maine Pyar Kiya — from the time he began his career to now. But we will know how much we can achieve only after our complete research is done.”

The makers will reportedly use an age-reduction technique to achieve what they have envisioned. “We are in talks with the prosthetics and VFX team of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. They had worked on the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Fan, too,” adds Ali.

In an earlier interview to this paper, Salman had said that he hates using prosthetics as it aggravates his nerve disorder (trigeminal neuralgia). About this, Ali tells us, “I know Salman doesn’t like a lot of prosthetics and make-up, so we will have to design something that doesn’t bother him too much because he’s the central character. We are figuring out other ways of doing it. Benjamin Button came a decade ago and during this time, a lot has happened with respect to technology. Many things can be done with VFX. So, we might not need too much prosthetics or make-up.”

The filmmaker is hopeful that Salman will surprise his fans once again with this film. “He’s such a good-looking man. He will work a little harder, as I keep pushing him to lose more weight and look younger. He can reduce weight and look 10 years younger within four weeks,” smiles Ali.