EXCLUSIVE: Dabangg was over budget by 19 crores, couldn’t pay Salman his price till release: Arbaaz Khan

Actor Salman Khan starrer Dabangg was the one film that completely took a 360-degree shift in his career. The cop drama not only become a blockbuster but made Salman Khan one of the most bankable actors back in 2010 In fact, the dialogues, the songs, the hook steps, everything about Dabangg became iconic and they are still being recreated by fans on social media. Arbaaz Khan production venture went on to earn Rs 141.25 crores at the box office. However, do you know the film was over budget? So much so that, he was unable to pay Salman his price till the film was released.

While nephew Ayaan Agnihotri is all set to launch the exclusive Dabangg NFTs on December 30, we caught up with the producer-actor behind Dabangg, Arbaaz Khan who shared some never heard before trivia about the film. During an exclusive chat with Bollywood Bubble’s The Khandaan edition that is powered by Bollycoin, Arbaaz revealed, “A film when it works, it works on multiple levels and multiple contributions from a lot of people even though they are very small and minute. You cannot deny the fact that Dabangg had great music, you can’t deny that it had great actions, you cannot deny that writers and directors did a great job in the film. As a producer whatever was required, we didn’t even think what kind of money we are going to make, we were probably losing money when we were making this film. I mean the market of Salman was probably lesser than what we have spent and what are we going to release the film. The film was to set me up as a producer like not only he will become a producer but he will also end up making some money but that was not the case when we released the film. Both of us did not make any money while making the movie. We made money after the movie was a success. That’s when I end up paying Salman his price. So, it was just passion ki bhai banate hai picture fir dekhenge kya hoga. (Let’s make the movie before thinking of the outcome.)”

 

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When asked about Dabanng’s initial budget, to which Khan who essayed the role of Makkhi in the film, said, “Salman’s market around that time, I mean honestly, we have Rs 30 crores to make the movie, we ended up making the film in 49 crores, everything (including) print publicity. So, there was no one really making the money, there’s no money on the table coming. When the movie became a hit, whatever we were expecting, it all came back, all the accolades came, all the money came and then, of course, Dabangg 2 came and followed up with Dabangg 3.”

Watch the full Arbaaz Khan interview which is powered by Bollycoin:

Also read:  Arbaaz Khan celebrates 10 years of Salman Khan’s ‘Dabangg’; says, “Chulbul Pandey has become cult”