Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; August 4, 2018)

Salman Khan has his date diary full, with as many as five movies lined up back-to-back. The Race 3 actor had told After Hrs that after Ali Abbas Zafar’s Bharat, he has Prabhudheva’s Dabangg 3, Sajid Nadiadwala’s Kick 2 and Sohail Khan’s Sher Khan coming up, one after the other. Apparently, he is also in advanced talks with Sanjay Leela Bhansali for a film. Now, the shooting schedules of his two projects have been swapped.

Dabangg 3 will take Kick 2’s slot
In an earlier interview with us, Sajid had revealed that he plans to go on floors with Kick 2 in January 2019 and release it during Christmas. But now, Dabangg 3 might take that spot. Says a source close to the superstar, “Kick 2 is getting pushed by a few months because Salman begins Dabangg 3 only around this December. The first schedule of Arbaaz Khan’s production will happen simultaneously with the last leg of Bharat’s shoot. January onwards, Salman gets completely into Chulbul Pandey mode and the makers will finish it by March end. He will move onto his next movie only after wrapping up the cop drama.”

The source adds, “Bharat is being readied as a big Eid bonanza. Kick 2 will possibly not be ready for a Christmas 2019 release, so in all probability, Arbaaz and Salman might release Dabangg 3 on that date.”

Change in Bharat’s schedule
The earlier plan was to begin D3 alongside Bharat, next month. Our informer adds, “Salman began shooting for Bharat in July. He was supposed to kick-start Dabangg 3 from mid-September. But he begins shooting for Bigg Boss 12 around the same time. Also, the shooting schedules of Bharat have changed a bit. The team needs a little more time to wrap up the ambitious film because of the scale it’s being mounted on. They will fly off to Malta this month and then shoot in different parts of Delhi, Punjab and Mumbai from September to December.”

It was a collective decision taken by the team to avoid pressure on the superstar. “Bharat is a physically-exhausting project that involves a lot of prosthetics, stunts and VFX. That’s why everyone thinks it’s wise to finish the period film first and then move on to another, so that it doesn’t take a toll on Salman’s health.”