Acting Fearless

You play a desi Robin Hood in Dabangg. Do you steal from the rich and give to the poor?

Pretty much. But I am corrupt. Chulbul Pandey is a strange character—emotional,family man,arrogant,romantic and also very violent. There is a sense of

humour in him even when he is serious.

Would it be right to say that it takes off from where Wanted ended?

No. They are different kinds of films. Since I play a cop in both and they both are

action films,it is perceived like that. The characters are poles apart.

Many people say that the moustache looks good on you. Did you like sporting it in the film?

A lot of people sport moustaches as it makes them look older,stronger. It is a manly thing. My whole attitude,too,changed when I wore the moustache. It affected the way I spoke,walked and even talked.

Director Abhinav Kashyap was thrilled that while working on Dabangg you didn’t do any other film. What’s the reason?

I had done a lot of films prior to this. Wanted,Veer and there was London Dreams in between. The action got tedious. Veer was 10 times more strenuous than Wanted. I had to work with shields,swords and horses. I knew Dabangg ‘s action had to be a lot bigger than both these films put together. That’s the reason I wanted to concentrate on just one film. The dialogues were fun,but when it came to the action,there was a lot of work to do. The Peele Peele dance step is from my cousin. The scooter dance is by a guy who I saw dancing at a wedding.