Close shave

Dabangg director Abhinav Kashyap on how his lead star Salman Khan took to the scissors

Nobody can predict mercurial Salman Khan's next move. The director of Dabangg, Abhinav Kashyap, vouches for this.

Kashyap maintains that the word 'dabangg' fitsu00a0 Salman, as snugly as a glove; and therefore deems it important to elaborate on the meaning of the word. He says, "The word originally comes from UP. I read a report that the film is based in Bihar. Not true. The word is part of the lingo in UP and Bihar, because their culture is quite similar. Dabangg yaaneki 'jo kissi se dabe nahi' (one who cannot be suppressed by anyone)."

The director discusses toughie Salman's philanthropic side. Kashyap says, "While we were shooting for the climax of the film near Wai, two kids would come regularly to Salmanu00a0 and plead, 'Salman bhai, cycle do, na'."

Salman happily obliged. To his amusement, the next day it looked as though the entire village had come up to him. And Salman gave away 1,500-2,000 cycles. He also organised cataract operations for around 200 people."

Kashyap says, "Once people know Salman is nearby, they come from far off places to seek help from him."

In the same breath, Kashyap endorses Salman's intimidating image. The film maker admits to Salman giving him the jitters before he started shooting for Dabangg.u00a0 "I had never sat face-to-face with a star. For my first meeting, I went to the sets of Veer. Salman kept staring at me for an hour so I got cold feet and asked for another time for the narration. After a few meetings, I felt at ease," says Kashyap.

But even after getting familiar with the star, an all-important issue of Salman's look for the film was gnawing away at Kashyap. He recalls, "I wanted Salman to sport really short hair and a moustache too in the film. I approached him tentatively but he refused to sport a moustache or cut his hair. Despite my efforts at persuasion, he stood his ground adamantly. I almost gave up."

However, on the first day of the shoot, while the director dealt with an anxiety attack as best as he could about his lead star's look, Salman surprised him. "I was asked to meet Salman bhai before the shoot. When I came out, he was sitting beside his vanity van sporting a moustache. I was relieved but in shock. 'How does it look?' he asked me blandly," recalls Kashyap. Salman had even brought along a set of moustaches in case Kashyap wanted to change the look. "Then he asked me if his hair was fine. I pushed my luck and said that I wanted it shorter. He instantly got his hair trimmed and once again looked at me. When I asked if he could cut it some more, he stared at me, but did as told. I felt I had won a lottery."

Bollywood News Service