Shortly after being granted bail by a court in Rajasthan in the black buck hunting case, Bollywood heartthrob Salman Khan has begun shooting for Subhash Ghai's “Yuvraaj”.

The filmmaker dons the directorial cap after a gap of many years after ''Kisna''.

Shooting for “Yuvraaj'”, being produced under the Mukta Arts Entertainment banner and also featuring Anil Kapoor, Katrina Kaif , Zayed Khan and Boman Irani, began on September 12 with a song sequence at Khandala near Mumbai.

The song, composed by A R Rahman and having lyrics by Gulzaar, was picturised on Katrina Kaif and Salman.

With “Yuvraaj”, which has cinematography by Kabir Lall, art direction by Omung Kumar (“Black” and '”Saawariya”) and choreography by Shiamak Davar, Ghai returns to direction after a long hiatus. His last directorial venture “Kisna” was a miserable flop.

“Yuvraaj” is Ghai's biggest ever movie with a budget of over Rs 50 crore.

The Mumbai schedule will be followed by another 21-day marathon schedule in Western Europe from next week in which the entire cast will participate.

Salman Khan had sought permission to be allowed to travel abroad.

“Yuvraaj” is one of the several films featuring Salman Khan which was in danger of getting stuck when a Jodhpur Court cancelled his initial appeal against his conviction in the black buck hunting case.

Salman had surrendered on August 25 to the Jodhpur police after the sessions court of Jodhpur turned down his appeal against his five year sentence awarded by the Chief Judicial Magistrate on April 10 last year.

However, after spending six nights in jail, Salman was granted bail by the Rajasthan High Court on August 31, and his five year sentence being suspended till a final order on the revision petition.

The court will hear the actor's revision petition on October 24 and his five year sentence will remain suspended till the order on the revision petition is pronounced.

As of now, there is about Rs 100 crore stuck on Salman Khan with several films featuring the star in various stages of production.

Among Salman's other under-production films are Rumi Jaffery's “God Tussi Great Ho”, Boney Kapoor's untitled venture, Atul Agnihotri's “Hello”, “Mera Bharat Mahan” and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's
“Saawariya”, which are in various stages of production.

Of the above, Rumi Jaffery's “God Tussi Great Ho”, which has Salman play a leading role with Superstar Amitabh Bachchan, is about 80 per cent complete. Sanjay Leela Bhansali's “Saawariya”, which also marks the debut of Rishi Kapoor's son Ranbir and Anil Kapoor's
daughter Sonam, is ready for release on November 9.

Boney Kapoor's yet untitled venture, touted as a remake of the Tamil and Telugu superhit 'Pokkiri' is just ten per cent complete.

Shooting schedules of the film, being directed by Prabhu Deva and co-starring Ayesha Takia , were held in Bangkok and Hyderabad recently. It was from the shooting of this film that Salman had returned to Mumbai the night before the Jodhpur court pronounced its judgement in the Black buck hunding case, upholding the five year sentence pronounced by the lower courts in the Case.

Besides the above films there are those like “Yuvraaj” which have recently been announced, the others being “Tom and Jerry” and “Main Aur Mrs Khanna” by Sohail Khan and “Mera Bharat Mahaan” by Samir Karnik.

With his recently-released film “Partner” turning out to be one of the blockbusters of the year, Salman's stock in the industry remains at an all time high with the filmmakers eager to sign him on despite his frequent brushes with the law.

Even the lukewarm response to “Marigold”, Salman's debut Hollywood venture, featuring him alongside Hollywood actor Ali Larter, has not dimmed the enthusiasm of filmmakers for featuring the actor in their movies.