‘Salman Khan is not my God, I ain’t scared of him’: Kaala Hiran director faces threats ahead of trailer release

The makers of Kaala Hiran, a film inspired by the Salman Khan black buck case, have brought forward the trailer release from June 20 to June 12 amid rising public curiosity and controversy. Director Bharat S. Shrinate says the decision also comes in the wake of mounting pressure and threats from multiple quarters demanding that the film be stalled or banned. The backlash, he adds, has only angered the team further, as they insist their intent is to present the truth and highlight the struggles of the Bishnoi community.

In an exclusive interview with Business Upturn, Shrinate spoke out after receiving threats on social media, asserting that he will not be intimidated and will continue to exercise his artistic freedom.

“We are releasing this earlier on public demand,” he said, adding, “I don’t have many followers on social media and I am not looking for any kind of publicity through any of it. But lately, I have been receiving a lot of threats on my Instagram. This is definitely making us angry because someone is trying to intimidate us for showing reality.”

Describing the nature of the messages, Shrinate revealed, “Aise messages aa rahe hain ki Mumbai me akar dikha, hum aisa kar denge, waisa kar denge [Messages are coming in saying ‘come show yourself in Mumbai, we’ll do this and that to you’]. But it’s my job to make films and I have the artistic freedom to do that.”

He also referenced past experiences, saying, “I have faced a lot of death threats during Udaipur Files as well. But I understand the sentiments there. Here, there is no communalism. It’s not about religion.”

But isn’t celebrity worship a strong phenomenon in India, where people treat their favourite stars no less than God?

Shrinate was direct. “I don’t consider Salman Khan as God, nor is he my godfather and he can’t destroy my career. I don’t feel afraid of Salman Khan. [I don’t fear Salman Khan].”

He emphasized that the film does not aim to defame anyone. “They feel that their wrong image is being shown, but we are only showing those incidents which have happened in the past. [They feel we are showing a wrong image of them, but we are only showing incidents that happened in the past]. This movie is about the struggles of the Bishnoi community during the black buck case and Salman is just another character in the film. We have also shown Lawrence Bishnoi’s side of the story here. There are no intentions of maligning anyone’s image.”

Explaining the narrative approach, he added, “The film shows a character named Ayaan Khan, who commits a mistake. Even the movie ends with the suggestion that he should just apologise in the Bishnoi temple. But Salman is not ready to say that one word — sorry.”

The director also pointed to the public sentiment around the subject, including people’s strong support for Salman Khan and the threats that may have stemmed from his followers. “If there are followers of Salman, there are also a lot of followers of Lawrence Bishnoi and I feel if it’s about ‘S’ vs ‘L’, people will vote for the ‘L’ side more.”

Anticipating further developments after the film’s promotional material is unveiled on June 12, he concluded, “I am sure we will get a notice after the trailer’s release.”