Dabangg's Abhinav Singh Kashyap lashes out at Salman Khan's family; Says how they sabotaged Besharam's release

Abhinav Singh Kashyap, who directed Dabangg, took to Facebook to lash out at Salman Khan's family for allegedly threatening the director at every pivotal point in his career including the sabotage of his film, Besharam, starring Ranbir Kapoor. Read Abhinav's scathing FB post on the Khans below.

Written by Karishma Shetty , Journalist

Updated on Jun 16, 2020 | 11:59 PM IST | 15.3M

Abhinav Singh Kashyap claims that Salman Khan sustained a negative smear campaign against him and his film, Besharam, starring Ranbir Kapoor.

As the world of Bollywood was shaken up by Sushant Singh Rajput's untimely demise, the conversation about nepotism has struck back in lightening mode. Karan Johar and Alia Bhatt received flak for their tribute posts on Sushant while Kangana Ranaut questioned why the late actor's achievements went unnoticed by the film industry. Abhinav Singh Kashyap, director of Dabangg, wrote a lengthy note on Facebook regarding how Sushant's fight continues on even after his death. Abhinav questioned what compelled the young actor to his untimely demise and how a detailed investigation must take place on the same.

Abhinav continued on to write about how talent management agencies lure "needy wild talent from out of Mumbai with little connections or property," with A-list parties, where they are prominently belittled. They are then used as scapegoats into iron-clad contracts that dominates their entire career. "Even if they are brave and manage to escape the clutches of their Talent Management agency somehow, they are systematically boycotted and their name smeared till they jump ship to another Agency in the hope of a better tomorrow. But that tomorrow never comes," the filmmaker stated.

Moreover, Singh lashed out at Salman Khan and his family for "exploitation and bullying," while narrating how they threatened him at the most pivotal points of his career.

ALSO READ: Anurag Kashyap on Abhinav Singh Kashyap's statement: Abhinav had told me clearly to stay out of his business

Read what Abhinav Singh Kashyap had to share about Salman Khan's family below:

Arbaaz Khan on Dabangg and ever since. So here is my story 10 years after Dabangg. The reason I moved out of making Dabangg 2 ten years ago is that Arbaaz Khan in collusion with Sohail Khan and family was trying to take control of my career by bullying me. Arbaaz Khan sabotaged my second project with Shree Ashtavinayak Films that I was signed up with by personally calling their head Mr. Raj Mehta and threatening him with dire consequences if they made a film with me. I had to return the signing money to Shree Ashtavinayak films and moved to Viacom Pictures. They did the same thing. Only this time the sabotager was Sohail Khan and he intimidated the then Viacom CEO, Vikram Malhotra. My project was sabotaged and I was made to return my signing fee of Rupees 7 Crores plus interest of Ninety odd lacs. It's only then that Reliance Entertainment came to my rescue and we forged an enduring partnership for my film Besharam.

But lo behold... Mr. Salman Khan and his family sabotaged the release of the film and got their PROs to run a sustained negative smear campaign against me and my film BESHARAM before release. This scared the distributors from buying my film. Reliance Entertainment and I were capable and courageous enough to release the film ourselves but the battle had just begun. My enemies, which there were many ran a sustained negative Trolling and badmouthing campaign against the film till the Box Office of my film collapsed. But to their horror, Besharam had still netted 58 crores before it went out of theaters.

So they fought on... They sabotaged the Satellite release of the film that was pre-sold to Mr. Jayanti Lal Gada who was the main aggregator for Zee Telefilms those days. With Reliances goodwill, they were able to re-negotiate the satellite rights sale with Gada for a much lesser price.

Over the next few years, all my projects and creative endeavors have been sabotaged and I have been repeatedly threatened with life and rape threats given to/for the female members of my family. The sustained gaslighting and bullying destroyed my mental health and that of my family and led to my divorce and breaking up of my family in 2017. They erred and sent some of these threats as texts, sent to me as SMS from several numbers. Armed with evidence, I went to the police in 2017 to file an FIR which they refused to register but registered a non-cognizable complaint. When the threats continued, I forced the police to trace the numbers but they couldn't be traced back to Sohail Khan(the suspected sender). My complaint remains open to date and I still have all the evidence.

My enemies are sharp, cunning and always attack me from the back and stay Hidden. But the best part is after 10 years, I know who my enemies are. Let it be known that they are Salim Khan, Salman Khan, Arbaaz Khan and Sohail Khan. There are many other small fry’s but Salman Khan's family is the head of this venomous serpent. They use a clever mix of their ill-gotten money, political clout and connections with the underworld to intimidate anyone and everyone. Unfortunately, truth is on my side and I am not going to give up like Sushant Singh Rajput. I refuse to cow down and will fight on till I see the end of either them or me. Enough tolerance. It's time to fight back.

So this is not a threat, it’s an open challenge. Sushant Singh Rajput has moved on and I hope he is happier wherever he is but I will make sure that no more innocent will kill himself over lack of work with dignity in Bollywood. I hope suffering actors and creative artists will share my post on various social media platforms as will the media and people who patronize the entertainment industry.

Warm regards, Abhinav Singh Kashyap

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