Dawn Images

Salman Khan's Dabangg 3 is gearing up for its release but has made some final edits along the way.

A source close to the film revealed that Rahat Fateh Ali Khan recorded a track for the movie but "the tensions then increased between India and Pakistan. An unofficial decision was taken that the industry should stop working with singers from across the border. Since Rahat sahab is a Pakistani, Salman and the entire team decided to drop his voice and replace it with that of another singer."

Images got in touch with RFAK's producer and global promoter Salman Ahmed who explained that, "Basically two songs were recorded for Dabangg. Everyone wanted the songs and they're really good."

"This song ‘Naina’ is lovely and everyone misses the fact that Rahat sahab's version couldn't go on... But at the end of the day of course he has to see the interests of his country, so I don’t think the artist has choices there given the circumstances."

The Federation Of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) has given a directive that, "no Indian artist/singer/dancer/anchor/performer and last but not least, promoter would work with [Pakistani] nationals and [Pakistani] artists in view of the current alarming situation between the two countries."

FWICE has previously sent notices to Indian artists and promoters for participating or organising events that feature Pakistani artists or nationals, including a RFAK concert.

Ahmed added, “If the song would’ve been released, there’d be controversies, the film would have been affected and nobody wants that. That’s why we didn’t do the song.”

"It’s not bad blood. It’s not like Salman Khan purposely dropped the song."

He added, "At this moment, the emotions and sentiments of that industry and the country, he only adhered to them. Otherwise we all know there are people who want a reason to damage Salman Khan’s reputation by creating a fuss and having needless controversies. There’s no bad blood, nothing intentional. I would say it is more circumstantial than anything else and that’s about it."