Mumbai, July 05: It looks like Salman Khan’s finally going to get the chance to show his full acting credentials in the epic Veer, which it transpires is based on Gogol’s classic Taras Bulba. “Veer has all the swashbuckling elements that Salman enjoys watching in a film and he is sure that the audience enjoys it too,£ said a source for the movie, “He discussed the idea with his director-friends and eventually asked Anil Sharma to make Taras Bulba into a Hindi film with Mithun Chakraborty as the patriarch and Salman and Sohail Khan as his two brave sons.”
Gogol’s book tells the story of a 16th century Cossack warlord in the Ukraine, whose two educated sons rejoin him in the east and they set out to defeat their Polish masters. One of the sons has a warrior spirit like his father but the other is more sensitive and has fallen in love with a Polish noblewoman whilst away studying. They go to war and end up besieging a Polish city. The sensitive son, Andriy, learns that his beloved Polish girl is inside the city and is starving from the siege. He brings her bread and forsakes his family and people to join her…
The Hollywood version of Taras Bulba starred Yul Brynner and Tony Curtis in 1962 and earlier this year an epic Russian version was released starring Bogdan Stupka, Igor Petrenko and the very beautiful Magdalena Mielcarz. Salman Khan’s version is set in British colonial India. Director Anil Sharma confirms “It’s not exactly Taras Bulba though some characters and relationships may be similar. Veer is a period film based in India in 1870.”
Veer also stars Mithun Chakroborty, Singh Surendra, Lisa Lazarus and Tara Dixon, who also appears in Salman’s London Dreams – and yes, both girls look a little like Katrina Kaif.
—Agencies