He called it utter nonsense.
Speaking at the trailer unveiling of his upcoming military action feature Maatrubhumi, producer-star Salman Khan moved quickly to squash persistent industry chatter that authorities forced script changes to erase anti-China plotlines. The film hits cinemas on December 4. But its road to the screen has been bruised by geopolitical timing—shelved after initially targeting an April theatrical rollout as diplomatic tensions thawed between New Delhi and Beijing.
"This ongoing narrative that we were making a film against China and that our government has pressured us to change the script or rewrite it, it's all nonsense—ye sab bakwaas hai," Khan said. The actor pushed back against speculation that the production, inspired by the deadly 2020 clash between Indian and Chinese forces, could inflame cross-border ties. "I don't believe that the Chinese will say, 'Salman Khan has made a film, let's attack India.' This is not a biopic. This is inspired. I just wanted a film that has a man-on-man scuffle."
Yet behind the studio assurances lies a significant creative shift. Defence journalists and co-authors Shiv Aroor and Rahul Singh, who provided the film's original foundation based on an account from their book India's Most Fearless 3, officially parted ways with the production ahead of the preview.
"As the film has evolved, it has moved beyond the account of the Galwan incident in our India's Most Fearless series that first brought us on board," Aroor and Singh stated in a joint address, stepping aside while extending formal best wishes to Khan and director Apoorva Lakhia. Originally developed under the title Battle of Galwan, the project has steadily detached itself from documentary precision in favour of broad-canvas commercial combat.
Khan framed the revised narrative as a story of professional duty rather than cartoonish antagonism, insisting the script pits soldiers into an impossible tactical corner where neither side operates as a cartoon villain. Whether Lakhia's reframed border showdown can balance raw battlefield history with mainstream action choreography will be settled when Maatrubhumi opens in theatres on December 4.