Actor-filmmaker Arbaaz Khan has shared the screen with his superstar brother Salman Khan in films like Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya, Hello Brother, Garv: Pride and Honor and Dabangg. He also directed him in his debut directing project Dabangg 2. But just because they were siblings, directing Salman couldn’t be easier. He recently shared with us how his older brother decided to ‘rattle’ him after gaining confidence that he can handle his tantrums and the pressure of taking a film director’s seat.
Dabangg 2featuring Sonakshi Sinha, Prakash Raj, Deepak Dobriyal and Manoj Pahwa, which was released ten years ago in 2012. The film was a blockbuster and made a total revenue of Rs 155 crore.
Arbaaz shared his experience shooting a director for his brother, recalling how Salman tested him on the sets of Dabangg 2. “He may be my brother, but he’s also a star and a professional. I was a director for the first time and he wanted to test the waters and see, ‘Do I know my work?’ On the first day I had forty photos in a row and he let me go by the book and do it. I thought, ‘Wow, what an obedient actor. I tell him to do this, and he does it,” said Arbaaz, who will be featured next in the SonyLIV series Tanaav.
Salman Khan in a still from Dabangg 2. (Photo: Express photo)
But Arbaaz’s happiness was short-lived. He saw his brother in his element on the second day of the shoot itself when Salman deleted everything Arbaaz had shot on the first day. He made it clear what he would like to keep from the first day shot and will only film what he feels comfortable with.
Arbaaz related, “When he (Salman) was sure I would do it, he decided to rattle me. He started giving his suggestions. He was like,’Mil gaya tumhein pehle din mein satisfaction (You have your satisfaction on the first day)’. He said what he didn’t want to keep. He explained how he will shoot and what he would not do. This was when Arbaaz realized, ‘I’m going to be baptized with fire’. I said, ‘This isn’t going to work with him. He’s going to turn around and say: I’m not from here, I’m from there. I’m not going to say this, I’m going to say that.’”
But after dealing with Salman as an actor in his first movie, he prepared Arbaaz for the future. He told indianexpress.com, “But I think it was a good practice place for me because if you’re too rigid and too unwavering it can rattle you. Then I thought, ‘Agar main ye kar sakta hun jahan par mere mind mein merko pata hai kya karna hai, but this actor won’t let me, then I can handle any situation’ (If I can do this where I know what I want to do, but the actor won’t let me do it..). It was a great experience and I saw him (Salman) enjoy it too.”
On days when Salman wasn’t on set, Arbaaz used the days to impose 100 percent on what he wanted to do. “On days when he wasn’t shooting, I always felt ‘Aaj toh main 200% vahi karvaunga jo maine socha haibecause the rest of the actors were very obedient. I used to wait for days like this because I knew those were the days when I could get 100% of my work. So that’s how it was,” Arbaaz said.
Although the film marked Arbaaz’s debut as a film director, he was not intended to be directed by him. It came to his lap after Dabangg director Abhinav Kashyap refused to work on the second film in the franchise. The two had a public fallout after Abhinav accused Arbaaz and Sohail Khan of sabotaging his career.
“When we decided to make Dabangg 2, I pitched the film to him (Abhinav). I said, ‘Since you wrote and directed the first, the first right to the sequel is yours. We would sort our occupational comparison because it is nothing personal, humaari koi dushmani toh hai nahi (we have no personal grudge). But for some strange reason things didn’t work out for him and me, so we had to move on,” Arbaaz said.
Although it has been almost 10 years since Dabangg 2 was released, Arbaaz has not directed another movie. He said he never had time to work on a movie because he was busy with his production and acting projects. But he would soon find time to work on a script and take the director’s chair again.
Source link
