The
cat
is
out
of
the
bag.
Though
it
was
supposed
to
be
a
well
guarded
secret,
it
doesn't
remain
anymore
with
the
revelation
of
one
of
the
principal
actors
in
Ishqiya.
Though
all
this
while
the
film
was
smartly
publicised
as
the
story
of
Naseeruddin
Shah,
Vidya
Balan
and
Arshad
Warsi,
the
fact
remains
that
amongst
many
other
principal
actors
in
the
film,
there
is
also
an
actor
from
Pakistan
who
has
a
substantial
role
to
play
in
the
film.
His
name
is
Salman
Shahid
who
enacts
the
role
of
the
chief
baddy
in
this
Vishal
Bhardwaj
production.
Another
major
revelation
is
that
he
was
worked
in
only
one
Hindi
film
before,
Kabul
Express,
and
incidentally
his
co-star
there
was
Arshad
Warsi.
Though
one
is
tempted
to
believe
that
he
(Arshad)
may
have
played
a
role
in
the
actor
being
roped
in,
Arshad
denies
any
insinuation.
"No,
no,
I
wasn't
involved
in
the
casting
decision
at
all",
says
Arshad,
"There
was
an
audition
held
for
each
of
the
supporting
actors
in
the
film
and
Salman
went
through
the
same
process
as
well.
I
am
glad
though
that
he
made
it
to
the
cast
eventually."
He
was
pleasantly
surprised
though
when
he
met
Salman
on
the
sets
of
Ishqiya.
"I
wasn't
aware
about
his
casting
and
when
I
saw
him
on
the
sets,
I
exclaimed
-
'arrey,
aap
yahaan?'
It
was
nice
to
reconnect
with
him
once
again
after
Kabul
Express.
Apart
from
being
a
fantastic
actor,
he
is
also
a
very
nice
human
being."
One
wonders
why
the
man
was
left
behind
in
the
entire
promotional
campaign
of
Ishqiya
which
has
been
on
for
over
six
months
now.
While
a
lot
has
been
heard
and
written
about
the
three
main
actors
in
the
film,
presence
of
Salman
has
been
completely
kept
under
the
wraps.
Was
it
the
prevailing
tension
between
India
and
Pakistan
that
turned
out
to
be
a
major
reason
behind
this
exclusion?
"Nothing
like
that",
says
a
source
attached
to
the
film's
production,
"The
film
revolves
around
its
three
principal
characters
and
publicising
anything
else
would
have
been
an
unnecessary
distraction.
Yes,
Salman
is
important
to
the
film's
plot
but
it
made
sense
to
bring
audience
primarily
on
the
basis
of
Naseer,
Vidya
and
Arshad."
In
Kabir
Khan's
debut
directorial
effort
Kabul
Express
(2006),
Salman
had
enacted
the
role
of
a
Pakistani
who
kidnaps
the
characters
played
by
Arshad
Warsi
and
John
Abraham.
He
received
quite
some
acclaim
for
his
role
and
even
though
he
had
featured
in
another
critically
appreciated
film
Khamosh
Paani:
Silent
Waters
earlier,
he
didn't
bag
too
many
roles
in
the
Hindi
film
industry.
One
hopes
that
with
Ishqiya
turning
out
to
be
a
good
success,
Salman
will
get
back
into
the
reckoning
once
again
and
bag
some
meaty
roles
for
himself
in
films
to
come.
Story first published: Tuesday, February 9, 2010, 14:16 [IST]