Abhinav Kashyap’s Facebook post where he has accused Salman Khan and his brothers of bullying and intimidating him out of the film industry, has stirred up a hornet’s nest. Coming as it does after Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide and the raging controversy regarding the prevalent nepotism in the film industry, Abhinav Kashyap’s accusations (which interestingly enough, his brother Anurag has distanced himself from) are a significant blow to Salman and his family’s reputation.
The allegation that Arbaaz Khan shunted Abhinav out of the Dabangg series after Part 1 is not untrue. It is a fact that Salman and Arbaaz turned Abhinav’s original script into a vehicle for Salman Khan.
Originally, the cop Chulbul Pandey was to be played by Randeep Hooda. The film was meant to be a raw, gritty cops film. Arbaaz and Salman took over the project and rendered Abhinav’s status as redundant in his own film.
After the release and success of Dabangg Arbaaz Khan told me in an interview, “During Dabangg, I’d suggest changes and Abhinav would incorporate them. It was time-consuming. This time, for Dabangg 2 I’ll be actively involved with the writing during scripting. We have a bigger responsibility this time. Let Abhinav tell me that he doesn’t want to direct the sequel. So far he hasn’t. Why should I believe what I hear until he says it? I am aware that he has been going out for negotiations with many production houses. With us, he shares a different rapport. Our ‘contract’ is a moral one. Dabangg worked because of many factors. And it is an expensive film. When it clicked during the first week, I gifted him a car worth Rs 25 lakhs. That came from the heart. He can’t make demands of us. We work on a different equation.”
Eventually, Abhinav found himself out of the Dabangg franchise.
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