Salman Khan was insecure of Sonu Sood's physique during Dabangg, director Abhinav Kashyap claims: ‘Katrina Kaif helped’

Filmmaker Abhinav Kashyap made another fiery claim about Salman Khan, who gave him his Bollywood directorial debut with Dabangg. Talking about working with Khan, Kashyap revealed that Randeep Hooda was his first choice as the lead in Dabangg. However, it was Arbaaz Khan and Sohail Khan who signed him for the film after locking Salman Khan as the lead.

Salman Khan was insecure of Sonu Sood, claims Dabangg director

In an interview with Bollywood Thikana, Kashyap claimed that Salman Khan was insecure about Sonu Sood, who played the antagonist in the film. He added that Katrina Kaif was the one who helped to convince Khan to cast Sood.

Abhinav Kashyap shared that during a brief 15-minute pitch, Arbaaz Khan was sold, expressing his desire to play Chulbul Pandey himself. However, the director felt he was better suited for a supporting role in the film. To move things forward, Arbaaz Khan proposed producing the film instead, and they went on to narrate it to Sohail Khan.

Kashyap said that after both the Khan brothers came on board, he suggested Randeep Hooda's name for the lead.

Abhinav Kashyap calls Salman Khan mawali

However, he recalled that Sohail Khan told him, "No, yaar, Randeep Hooda ka kya market hai, kaun paise lagayega, koi bada hero soch” (He doesn’t have a big enough reach, who would invest in him, think of a big hero). I then said that Sanjay Dutt and Sunny Deol are also good, and Salman also has a good body if he can carry a tough role, because Salman had a ‘chichora image’, uski image mawali waali thi (he had a rowdy image).”

Kashyap shared that Sohail Khan and Arbaaz Khan backed Salman Khan for the lead, promising to produce the film if he approved. After a narration on the sets of Veer, the Khan brothers signed him with a ₹10 lakh cheque.

He added that even casting Sonakshi Sinha wasn’t his choice. However, he was later happy with her performance.

How Katrina Kaif helped to cast Sonu Sood

Kashyap said that this is when Sood's name cropped up to play the villain in Dabangg.

“Sonu was my suggestion; we were old friends. I helped him get cast in Mani Ratnam’s Yuva. I thought he looked like a young Amitabh Bachchan… For the villain, I wanted someone who looked stronger than Salman. I knew Sonu had a good physique. But Salman wasn’t very keen. He was very insecure, because Sonu had a good body. Katrina helped convince him. She was around Salman a lot in those days, and she endorsed the idea of Sonu being cast," the director added.

Dabangg was backed by Malaika Arora and Arbaaz Khan under Arbaaz Khan Productions, along with Dhilin Mehta under Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision.

Following the commercial success of the film, Dabangg became a franchise with two sequels-- Dabangg 2 (2012), helmed by Arbaaz Khan, and Dabangg 3 (2019), helmed by Prabhu Deva.