Salman Khan-starred war drama Tubelight has already hit the movie screens today ahead of Eid. The film has received an immense response from the fans. Ever since the trailer was released on May 25, the emotional potboiler has garnered great attention around it and is expected to be one of the biggest grosser of this year. Directed by Kabir Khan, Tubelight stars real life brothers Salman Khan and Sohail Khan as reel brothers too. The film is set against the Indo-Sino War of 1962. Here are some of the interesting facts about the much-awaited movie Tubelight.
1. After a long gap of 17 years, two superstars of Bollywood, Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan are seen sharing the same screen space. Though Shah Rukh is doing a cameo, his character is considered to have an impact on the story. In a recent event, Salman revealed that Shan Rukh agreed to do the role even before listening to the entire conversation. It is definitely a treat to watch both the Khans together on the screen after so many years.
2. Did you know that Akshay Kumar was Kabir Khan's initial choice for the role of Salman's brother? Well if you didn't, you know it now. However, Salman wanted to have that emotional connection and so suggested Sohail for the role.
3. After Baahubali's big time success worldwide, especially in the USA, Salman Khan too pulled up some strings for Tubelight. According to a mid-day report, Salman Khan's film is getting the biggest ever opening for a Bollywood film in the USA, where it has released across 1,200 screens.
4. To match up to Tubelight's massive opening in the US, the makers have widened their promotional benchmark. As a result, the posters of Tubelight received the central spot at New York's Times Square. Tubelight is apparently the first Bollywood film to make it to Times Square.
5. Tubelight is Salman Khan's shortest duration film ever, like ever, with his previous films like 'Sultan', 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan' and 'Prem Ratan Dhan Payo' ranging between 2 hours and 45 minutes to 3 hours. According to reports doing the rounds, the Salman Khan starrer has been awarded a 'U' certificate by the CBFC with a total run-time of 136 minutes (2 hours and 16 minutes).
6. Tubelight was Om Puri's last project. The veteran actor passed away in January this year and since then two of his films have released- The Ghazi Attack and Viceroy's House. Sadly,Tubelight will be the last time we will watch Om Puri on the big screen.
7. Child actor Matin Rey Tangu is Salman's co-star and playing an important role in the movie. Salman Khan believes that Matin, who hails from Itanagar, will become as popular as Harshali Malhotra, his co-star in "Bajrangi Bhaijaan". Salman and Kabir had all nice things to say about Matin, who handled the media Dabangg-style in a recent event.
8. The film also stars Chinese actress Zhu Zhu who has previously worked in international projects like 'Shanghai Calling', 'Cloud Atlas' and 'The Man With The Iron Fists' among others. She will make her debut in the Indian film industry with 'Tubelight'
9. Tubelight is inspired from Alejandro Gomez Monteverde's war drama Little Boy.
10. Kabir Khan also had to obtain an NOC (no objection certificate) from the makers of a Kannada film of the same name 'Tubelight'.