Salman’s suggestions like words written in gold: Arbaaz Khan
By Subhash K. Jha, IANSMonday, July 12, 2010
MUMBAI - A lot of Salman Khan’s inputs were incorporated into his forthcoming home production “Dabangg” even after the film was completed. Producer Arbaaz Khan says his superstar brother’s inputs were valuable.
“Salman is a very experienced superstar. This happens to be his brother’s production, which makes it a ‘ghar ki baat’. He is the star of the film. I considered every suggestion from Salman to be like words written in gold and we incorporated them accordingly,” said Arbaaz.
“I don’t think Salman has contributed more from behind-the-camera to any of his films. Earlier in some of his films he tried to make suggestions which were unfortunately not taken well. In ‘Dabangg’, we welcomed Salman’s inputs warmly. He has added considerably to the film’s overall mood and feeling, specially in the action scenes,” added Arbaaz.
Five lengthy action sequences including a climactic eruption lasting 20 minutes were devised specially by Salman in collaboration with action director S. Vijayan who did the stunts for Salman “Wanted”. Salman’s brief to Vijayan was simple - “Make the action sequences bigger and better than ‘Wanted’.”
“Yes, ‘Wanted’ was his big action release in 2009. We want ‘Dabangg’ to be his bigger action flick in 2010. I can’t deny we devised the stunts accordingly,” said Arbaaz.
“There was this prevalent belief about ‘Dabangg’ that it was a gritty realistic offbeat kind of film. We didn’t want that kind of branding for ‘Dabangg. We wanted this to be a full-on action film, bigger than ‘Wanted’. In fact, bigger in terms of action than anything Salman has done before.”
The five action sequences, the film’s highlight were shot over a period of 60 days. And though Arbaaz isn’t willing to reveal it, the climactic fight alone is 20 minutes long.
“Let’s just say we shot the action scenes for 60 days which is the time spent shooting an average full-length feature film. These action films are done with special effects the way Jackie Chan’s stunts are shot.”
Apparently, Salman is now all set to direct his own film.
