Salman Khan remembers the last time he was in Chennai. “I was here for almost a month shooting the climax for Wanted (2009),” he says.
It has been 10 years since, and what brings the actor back to the city is Dabangg 3 , the third in the highly successful franchise of films centred around Khan’s cop character, Chulbul Pandey.
For the first time, however, a Dabangg film will have a wider release (5400+ screens across the world, and over 250 screens in Tamil Nadu alone). The film is being dubbed and released in Telugu, Kannada and Tamil besides Hindi — the protagonist will be called Chulbul Pandiyan in the Tamil version — and which Salman says is happening because “this State is about these kind of movies.”
“ Wanted was a remake (of Pokkiri ). I had done the remake of Vikram’s Sethu as well, and I thought I should give one original from my side. We (read as: Bollywood) have accepted with open arms Rajini garu (Rajinikanth), Kamal Haasan sir, and then Prabhas came with Baahubali . We thought one film from us could come here... and like the way we have accepted your films on the big screen as well as on television, I would love it if you accept our films also here,” he says.
Mass reach
Distribution rights for Dabangg 3 in Hindi for Tamil Nadu was acquired by KJR studios. They will also be releasing the Tamil-dubbed version. Kotapadi J Rajesh, the distributor, says that the idea with the localised version was to “reach the B and C centre audience” (read as: viewers in sub-urban and rural territories).
Salman Khan in Dabangg 3 
“Also, there was no point in just dubbing and letting the film out. We needed to come here and say, ‘This is more your film than it is ours’. We had to come here and say that here is a film you might want to watch,” the 53-year-old Khan adds.
Besides Khan, Dabangg 3 stars Sonakshi Sinha, Saiee Manjrekar in her debut, Kichcha Sudeepa as the antagonist and Arbaaz Khan among others. The trailer seemed to hint that the film will revolve around Chulbul’s past, and much before the happenings in the first film.
“It is kind of a prequel, and we will get to see why Chulbul Pandey has become the way he is,” says Khan, adding that the character has always been about big-heartedness. “Chulbul is nothing without his family, even though he is corrupt and does things differently. When we were making Dabangg 2 , Arbaaz (Salman’s brother and co-producer) suggested that Chulbul should have moved on and that there should be another girl. But I said that was not going to work because he is the most amazing husband to his wife and the most amazing brother as well. Chulbul is all heart.”
Such elements, like love, action, families and heroism, and the reception these elements get in films down South, was another prime reason in deciding to have a wider release in Tamil Nadu, Khan adds.
Roping in Prabhu Deva for the film was a no-brainer for the star, who has also produced the film. “I know his style [of filmmaking], and that he would take up my level as an actor. He is good with humour, heroism, action and dance... he made me dance a lot. A film like Dabangg requires a director like Prabhu Deva,” he says.
The duo will continue their association with Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai , their upcoming film, which was announced in October. Shoot for the film is currently underway.
