‘Salman Khan rattled me during Dabangg 2, scrapped everything I shot on day 1’: Arbaaz Khan says his brother ‘baptised him fire’

Actor-filmmaker Arbaaz Khan has shared the screen with his superstar brother Salman Khan in films such as Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya, Hello Brother, Garv: Pride and Honour, and Dabangg. He also directed him in his debut directorial project Dabangg 2. However, just because they were siblings, the process of directing Salman was not any easier. He recently shared with us how his elder brother decided to ‘rattle him’ after gaining confidence that he can handle his tantrums and bear the pressure of taking the chair of a film director.
Dabangg 2, also starring Sonakshi Sinha, Prakash Raj, Deepak Dobriyal, and Manoj Pahwa, among others, released ten years ago in 2012. The film was a blockbuster hit and did a total business of Rs 155 crore.

Sharing his experience of turning a director for his brother, Arbaaz recalled how Salman tested him on the sets of Dabangg 2. “He may be my brother, but he is a star and a professional too. I was a first-time director, and he wanted to test the waters and see, ‘Do I know my job?’. On the first day, I had forty shots lined up and he let me go the book and do it. I thought, ‘Wow, what an obedient actor. I am telling him to do this, and he is doing it,’” said Arbaaz, who will be next seen in the SonyLIV series Tanaav.
Salman Khan in a still from Dabangg 2. (Photo: Express photo)
But Arbaaz’s happiness was short-lived. He got to see his brother in his element on the second day of the shoot itself as Salman scrapped everything that Arbaaz had shot on the first day. He made it clear what he would want to retain from the first-day shoot and will only film what he is comfortable doing.
Arbaaz shared, “When he (Salman) was confident that I will do it, he decided to rattle me. He started giving his suggestions. He was like, ‘Mil gaya tumhein pehle din mein satisfaction (You got your satisfaction on the first day)’. He said what he didn’t want to retain. He explained how he will shoot and what he would not. This was the moment that Arbaaz realised, ‘I am going to be baptised fire’. I said, ‘This is not going to work with him. He is going to turn around and say, I am not coming from here, I am coming from there. I am not going to be saying this, I am going to be saying that.’”

But having dealt with Salman as an actor in his first film prepared Arbaaz for the future. He told , “But I think it was a good training ground for me because if you are too rigid and too unshakeable, 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 could see him (Salman) enjoy it too.”
On days when Salman didn’t come on the set, Arbaaz utilised the days to impose what he wanted to do 100 per cent. “On days when he was not shooting, I used to feel, ‘Aaj toh main 200% vahi karvaunga jo maine socha hai,’ because the rest of the actors were very obedient. I used to wait for such days because I knew those were the days when I could get 100% of my work. So that is how it was,” Arbaaz shared.

While the film marked Arbaaz’s debut as a film director, it was not meant to be directed him. It landed in his lap after the director of Dabangg 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 did pitch the film to him (Abhinav). I said, ‘Since you wrote and directed the first one, the first right on the sequel is yours. We would sort our profession equation since it is nothing personal, humaari koi dushmani toh hai nahi (we do not have any personal grudge). But for some strange reason, things couldn’t be worked out with him and me, so we had to move on,” said Arbaaz.
Though it’s been almost 10 years since Dabangg 2 was released, Arbaaz hasn’t directed any other film. He said he never got time to work on a film since he was busy with his production and acting projects. But, he would soon take out time to work on a script and take the director’s chair once again.