Arbaaz Khan, the second and most even-tempered brother of the Khan trio (Salman, Arbaaz and Sohail) is already sitting on a neat pile because his film Dabangg seems like it will be the biggest blockbuster of 2010. He admits, “Dabangg has now snowballed into something really big. Every filmmaker works hard, but there are certain elements you can’t plan, and how a film’s received, the audience decides.
The audience is God. My film got a good response from the first look. And the momentum built up when I started releasing more clips, promotional material, the music, the dialogue promos, everything became a rage.
As a producer, I feel that Salman has been presented in a nice way. People will see him in a new avatar. Chulbul Panday is a cult figure. Here I must repeat a famous dialogue, ‘Yeh toh sirf promo hai, picture abhi baki hai’.”
The producer-actor says he has a lot to thank his family for. “Dabangg gave me an opportunity to work with a superstar, who is my brother. All I had to do was deliver. I tried my best to maximise the opportunity I got. I looked at it as not my first chance, but my last. It isn’t like if this film doesn’t work, I’ll go back to Salman and say, ‘Bhai, let’s do another film.’ I put my best effort, gave Dabangg all that it needed, whether it was the action, the music... I knew I inherently had something interesting to make. I didn’t want to feel guilty about anything later.’’
However, he resisted the temptation to give himself a bigger role. Says Arbaaz, “Everyone has a good role. Dabangg is a Salman-centric film. I play his brother and the only reason I am in the film is because that role suited me best. And also because Salman and I share a certain chemistry. If Dabangg clicks, then Salman and I will be seen as a lethal combination.
But I was happy to stay in the background and didn’t put myself in posters and banners. I didn’t want it to seem like Dabangg is an effort to salvage my career; and that I was using Salman to prop me up. One thing was always clear from the start — the film was made for Salman as an actor and me as a producer.’’
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