Anurag Kashyap says he was fired as director from Tere Naam as he wanted Salman Khan to grow chest hair

Anurag Kashyap, whose latest film Almost Pyaar with DJ Mohabbat was released this month, spoke about Salman Khan and being fired from the actor’s 2003 film Tere Naam. In a recent interview, Anurag recalled why he was fired as a director from Tere Naam after he had written the film, which was ultimately directed by Satish Kaushik. Anurag said that he wanted Salman to not shave his chest as his Tere Naam character, Radhe, hailed from Uttar Pradesh, ‘where men don’t wax their chest’. Also read: Satish Kaushik talks about toxic lovers of Tere Naam and Kabir Singh

Despite being thrown out of the film after Salman and the makers refusing to give in to Anurag Kashyap’s demand that the actor should not wax his chest during the shoot, Anurag said he admired Salman’s films such as Sultan, Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Dabangg. In fact, Dabangg (2010), in which Salman played an unconventional cop, was directed by Anurag’s brother Abhinav Kashyap.

Recently, Anurag said in an interview to Unfiltered By Samdish, “I was thrown out of a film because I asked the hero to not wax his chest.” When he was asked which film, Anurag said, “Tere Naam”. He further narrated why he asked Salman to grow chest hair, and said, “Arrey Agra-Mathura ki film thi, wahan aise thoda hee hota hai (the film was based in Agra-Mathura, where men don’t wax their chest).”

Actor Bhumika Chawla featured alongside Salman in Tere Naam, which also marked her debut in Bollywood. In the film, Salman’s Radhe falls in love with Bhumika’s Nirjara and tries to win her over by stalking and threatening her. Written by Bala and Jainendra Jain, the film is a remake of Bala’s own Tamil film Sethu (1999), which had featured Chiyaan Vikram in the lead role.

In a 2022 interview with The Indian Express, director Satish Kaushik had spoken about a remake of Tere Naam and compared Kabir Singh (2019) to it. He had said, “We’ll definitely need to adapt with the times. Making the same film and getting the same performance out of Salman will be difficult. Salman always said the film is good and will definitely work. But the character gives the wrong message in it. There was a debate on Kabir Singh too. Kabir Singh was an adapted copy of Tere Naam.”