People’s Maverick

You play a desi Robin Hood. 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 two different kind of films. Since I play a cop in both and both are action films it is perceived like that. The characters are poles apart.

Many people say the moustache looks good on you. Did you like sporting it?
In the North,people do sport moustaches. It makes them look older,stronger. It is a manly thing. My whole attitude too changed when I wore the moustache – the way I spoke,walked,talked.

Abhinav Kashyap was thrilled that while working on Dabangg you didn’t do any other film.
I had done lot of films prior to this. Wanted,Veer and then there was London Dreams in between. The action got tedious. Veer was ten times more strenuous than Wanted. I had to work with shields,swords and horses. And I knew Dabangg’s action had to be a lot bigger than both these films put together. The film looks like fun in the dialogues,but when it came to action there was a lot of work to do.

Your dance steps were also spontaneous,right?
All the dance steps have been taken from real people. One of them is right here (points at one of the people from his entourage). The Peele Peele dance step is from my cousin. The scooter dance is by a guy who I saw dancing at a wedding.

Are you Dabangg (fearless) in real life?
Everyone is Dabangg in their own limitations. The only Dabangg quality is,‘Don’t bend forward but have the capacity of bending backwards’.

What do you fear the most?
Losing family,falling out with friends and unintentionally doing something wrong.

This movie is a first for Sonakshi Sinha as actor,Abhinav Kashyap as director and Arbaaz Khan as producer. How did you feel working with first-timers?
The same way Rajkumar Barjatya did working with Salman,Sooraj Barjatya,Bhagyashree,Lakshmikanth Berde and Mohnish Behl in Maine Pyaar Kiya.

How was it working with Sonakshi?
She looks like the typical Hindi film actress. And once the camera rolled she came into her own. And the fact that we were doing a movie in UP/Bihar and she is Shatrughan Sinha’s daughter,it really helped.

What other movies are you working on?
I have already started shooting for Ready. Then there is Kick,Partner 2 and a love story.