Fearing a possible controversy, film maker Aditya Chopra has decided to delete a character based on scamster Abdul Karim Telgi from his film Badmaash Company, says a media report.This was one character Aditya Chopra decided to do without in his forthcoming film, Badmaash Company.
The character was inspired by Abdul Karim Telgi, the mastermind of the multi-crore stamp paper scam, languishing in jail since he was arrested by the Mumbai Police in 1991.Aditya, sensing late in the day that that this political hot potato could end up scalding his film, decided to delete the track in which he featured.
A source from the film says, “A junior artiste was given Telgi's look. He had a small role but he had shot his entire part with Shahid Kapoor in Mumbai. It was a fun track but Aditya - and even director Parmeet Sethi - felt that it would be wise if they did away with that portion in the final draft.”
Elaborating why the Telgi character was completely eliminated from the film, our source says, “This (Telgi) character wasn't taking the story forward in any way. In fact, it was slowing down the pace of the film.Retaining an element that wasn't essential to the story and also a possible source of controversy just didn't make sense to Aditya and Parmeet.”
Parmeet Sethi declined to comment on the matter, but a spokesperson of Yash Raj Films confirmed, “There was a scene which had a brief reference to Telgi. However, this scene did not make it to the final edit.”
