Filmmaker Raj Kumar Gupta has been planning to make a biopic of Indian spy Ravindra Kaushik for a while now. Since its announcement in 2018, the film has gone through several rounds of scripting and been offered to many A-list Bollywood stars, but it still hasn’t seen the light of the day. The project got a new lease of life last year when Salman Khan agreed to star in and co-produce it. He was supposed to shoot for this film after finishing Sajid Nadiadwala’s Kabhi Eid Kabhi Diwali in mid-this year, however, that also doesn’t seem to be happening anymore. Peepingmoon.com has exclusively learned that Raj Kumar Gupta’s action-thriller film with Salman has officially been shelved. 

"Raj Kumar Gupta has called off the Black Tiger project. The rights to unfold Ravindra Kaushik’s emotional and remarkable story to the big screen that he had bought five years ago from his family has expired now. And the filmmaker has not renewed it as he still doesn’t see the film happening anytime soon. Salman has also shown his apprehension about playing yet another spy when he already has YRF’s biggest spy franchise, Tiger, in his hands. With no certainty over the film’s future, the director finally decided to let go of the rights back to Kaushik’s family. He doesn’t want to make this film anymore and has now turned his attention to other projects," a source close to the filmmaker revealed, adding that Gupta is now developing a true-story-based film as well as a web show for a streaming giant. 

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Salman and Raj Kumar Gupta have apparently been planning to make a film together for the past few years now. The director had first approached the superstar for a different project, but that didn’t materialize, after which he pitched him the Black Tiger project, which Salman really found intriguing and gave his verbal nod immediately. "With the Ravindra Kaushik biopic going into toss now, Khan and Gupta are now looking for a different script which both of them can agree upon. They are in regular touch and it’s just a matter of finding the right script before they finally work together, "the source further informed us. 

Meanwhile, Salman has wrapped Yash Raj Films’ highly-anticipated Tiger 3, and will begin shooting for Farhad Samji’s family-comedy, Kabhi Eid Kabhi Diwali, in the first week of April in Mumbai. The Sajid Nadiadwala production, which also stars Pooja Hegde and Venkatesh in the lead roles, is expected to be completed by September 2022. Salman will then most likely move on to the fourth installment of his Dabangg franchise. He is also contemplating some projects for 2023 but hasn't finalized any yet.