Salman Khan arrived his Eid gift for fans this year in Race 3. The multi-starrer, which is, of course, the third film in the Race franchise is directed by Remo D'Souza, who takes over the reins from Abbas-Mustan. Apart from Salman Khan, Race 3 also stars Anil Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandez, Bobby Deol, Daisy Shah and Saqib Saleem. The movie is about an estranged family, with Anil Kapoor playing a patriarch and Salman, Daisy and Saqib the squabbling siblings.

If you were not aware of this, the makers of Race 3 were initially looking to cast Amitabh Bachchan in the role of Anil Kapoor's head of the family. However, that casting never happened with a report stating the usual excuse - clash of dates. However, a little birdie told us that there was no date clash as such.

The source revealed that, in fact, it was Salman Khan who was against the casting of Amitabh Bachchan in the movie. The reason was, of course, the uncomfortable vibes being shared between the Bachchan family and Salman, after Abhishek married Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (who used to date Salman before things got ugly between them). Salman Khan is co-producing Race 3, along with TIPS. The last time Salman and Amitabh last acted together was in 2008 film God! Tussi Great Ho.

The source further revealed, "After Amitabh Bachchan was dropped, they approached Sonu Sood for the role. However, Sonu felt the casting might be awkward as he will be playing Salman's father as well as the antagonist in Dabangg 3 (it is a prequel to the first Dabangg, which explains how his dead character might return). Salman Khan understood his predicament, and the role later fell on the lap of Anil Kapoor."

Race 3 is scheduled to release on June 15. The satellite rights of the movie has been sold for an astronomical price, even beating Aamir Khan's Dangal in the process.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 12, 2018 05:54 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).