Dabangg director Abhinav Kashyap has been levelling several allegations against Salman Khan lately. Now, in a new interview, the director has claimed that not Khan but Randeep Hooda was the first choice to play the lead in the film.
Kashyap claimed that when he narrated Dabangg to Arbaaz Khan, he was keen on playing Chulbul Pandey. However, he then decided to produce the movie. Arbaaz then asked Kashyap to narrate the film to his brother, Sohail Khan.
A few days later, Abhinav met Sohail, who liked the script and asked who the filmmaker had in mind for the lead role. Abhinav told Sohail that he wanted to cast Randeep Hooda because of his rough and tough look, which makes him suitable for the role of a cop. However, Sohail rejected the idea and asked the director
to think of a bigger star.
Kashyap revealed how Sohail reacted to Hooda’s name and told Bollywood Thikana, “No, yaar, Randeep Hooda ka kya market hai, kaun paise lagayega, koi bada hero soch” (He doesn’t have a big enough reach, who would invest in him, think of a big hero). I then said that Sanjay Dutt and Sunny Deol are also good, and Salman also has a good body if he can carry a tough role, because Salman had a ‘chichora image’, uski image mawali waali thi (he had a rowdy image).”
Abhinav Kashyap, who is also filmmaker Anurag Kashyap’s brother, then revealed that Sohail and Arbaaz immediately jumped on Salman’s name and stated they would produce the film only if Salman liked it.
Salman Khan Did Dabangg For Image Makeover?
This comes days after Kashyap claimed, in another interview, that Salman decided to do Dabangg because he needed an image makeover. He said that the Bollywood superstar had developed the image of being a ‘chhichhora’ and a ‘mawali’ because of his films like Wanted and Tere Naam and therefore, he decided to do Dabangg to get away from that image.
Kashyap mentioned that he first approached Arbaaz Khan, who was interested in playing the lead role himself, but later offered to produce the film. Recalling how he reacted when he was told that Salman Khan would be the lead in the movie, Abhinav shared, “Salman’s image at the time was that of a chhichhora, someone who would harass women on the streets. This was around 2008, when I’d signed the film. He’d done Tere Naam then. He had a very unflattering image, that of a crazed lover or a roadside Romeo. He also had that towel dance.”
