You’ll Never Guess Who Was the First Choice for ‘Dabangg’

Can you picture another actor as Chulbul Pandey?

Salman Khan as cop Chulbul Pandey in Dabangg.

(Photo Courtesy: Arbaaz Khan Productions)

Dabangg 3 producer Arbaaz Khan has been sitting on some interesting trivia about the franchise. While Salman’s look as police officer Chulbul Pandey is now iconic, it turns out that he wasn’t Dabangg director Abhinav Kashyap’s first choice for the role.

Sonakshi Sinha and Salman Khan in a scene from Dabangg.

Arbaaz revealed in a recent interview that he had originally considered Irrfan Khan and Randeep Hooda as the lead. Arbaaz too had approached Kashyap for the role but was cast as Chulbul Pandey’s younger half-brother Makkhanchand "Makkhi" Pandey instead. He then offered to produce the film and suggested bringing Salman on board.

He also confirmed that Mahesh Manjrekar’s daughter Saiee Manjrekar will feature as Salman’s love interest in the scenes that offer a glimpse of a younger Chulbul Pandey.

Arbaaz also revealed a few details about his role in Priya Varrier-starrer Sridevi Bungalow. “I play an actor who comes to Priya’s rescue with an action sequence unlike any I have done before, designed by a stunt team from Thailand,” he told Mumbai Mirror.

Dabangg 3 reunites Sonakshi Sinha with Salman with southern star Sudeep as the villain. The film is being directed by Prabhudeva. In a recent interaction Arbaaz said that the film is 60 percent complete and on track for its 20 December release date. "We are in middle of a long schedule. We have completed almost 60 per cent shooting of the film and, hopefully by the end of September, we will wrap up entire shoot,” he told IANS.