Parmeet Sethi's Film With John Abraham Was Dropped After Salman Khan Announced Sultan

News18

08-05-2025

Last Updated:
Parmeet Sethi, who debuted in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, faced setbacks with his film on The Great Gama due to similar projects by Salman Khan.
Parmeet Sethi, who began his acting career with Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge in 1995, shifted gears after years of working in both films and television. Around 2010, he decided to try his hand at writing and penned a love story set against the backdrop of India-Pakistan relations. However, the project faced multiple setbacks and was eventually shelved. He then wrote Badmaash Company, which went on to be a major success under Aditya Chopra's production.
In an interview with SCREEN, Parmeet Sethi said his career break happened because of struggles. He had written a film about wrestler The Great Gama and took it to Aditya Chopra. But Aditya had already approved a similar film, Sultan, with Salman Khan. He recalled, 'The problem was the film I had written was on The Great Gama. I wanted to make that film and I went to Aditya Chopra with the script. Just a week before, Aditya had approved a similar script, called Sultan, which they eventually made with Salman Khan. Aditya was like, 'I can't make two films about wrestlers.'"
Parmeet Sethi felt let down but followed Aditya Chopra's advice to pitch his film elsewhere. He approached John Abraham, who liked the story and agreed to act in and produce it. Everything was going well until Salman Khan announced a movie on the same topic. 'I stepped out of Yash Raj and I approached John Abraham. He loved the script. He was ready to both star and produce the film. We were both happy and started to work on it. Unfortunately, a month later, Salman Khan announced a project on the same subject. So our studio said there are two films coming on the same subject, Salman Khan has announced the film, we cannot take this forward," he said.
There were rumours that Salman Khan would produce a show about The Great Gama, with his brother Sohail Khan in the lead role. However, no official updates about the series have been released yet.
First Published:
May 08, 2025, 11:04 IST