Parmeet Sethi recalls shelving John Abraham starrer The Great Gama after Salman Khan announced Sultan: “I went to Aditya Chopra with the script”

Actor and director Parmeet Sethi recently revealed the heartbreak of shelving a long-cherished film project, a biopic on legendary wrestler Gama Pehlwan, after Salman Khan announced a competing wrestling-themed film. The project, which was to star John Abraham and be produced under his banner JA Entertainment, collapsed when studios backed out, citing market saturation. Sethi shared his disappointment in an exclusive interview with SCREEN.

“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 recalled.

He further added, “He was very sweet. He told me, you go out and approach others, I can help you in that. 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 continued, “I was heartbroken. Even John was hurt. The script was mind-blowing, and even if picked up today, it will turn out to be a great film. So the gap that you see from 2010 to 2015, it was because of these struggles. Eventually, I returned to acting.”

Speaking of Sultan, it was released in 2016 and stars Anushka Sharma opposite Salman Khan.

Also Read: Archana Puran Singh reveals why she had to hide her marriage with Parmeet Sethi for four years

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