Was Salman Khan’s ‘Sultan’ called ‘Dangal’ before?

Salman Khan‘ s upcoming Eid release ‘Sultan’ is eagerly awaited by his fans. The posters and the trailer has set the ball rolling for this Ali Abbas Zafar directorial. But one thing that has caught the attention of many is the uncanny similarities between Aamir Khan‘s upcoming release ‘Dangal’ and Salman Khan’s ‘Sultan’. The first and the foremost being both are depicting the roles of wrestlers. Now ‘Sultan’s’ director has mentioned another bizarre coincidence between the two films.

Zafar said, “When I wrote this script, I had no idea that there was any other film that was ever going to get made on wrestling. I wrote this film in 2012, it’s almost four years since. And I can tell you now that the first draft of ‘Sultan’ was called ‘Dangal’. ‘Dangal’ means a wrestling competition. When I travelled in Haryana for research in 2012, I would ask people about the matches and they would say, ‘Aaj dangal chaupal pe hai, aaj dangal nadi ke paas hai.’ I just thought ek jo charm tha uss title ka, bahut honest charm tha. Therefore the first 10 pages, which I mailed to Adi, was titled ‘Dangal’.”

He added. “Sultan is a much better title for the film, because the character was called ‘Sultan’, but the journey was about fighting within. Also, the title ‘Sultan’ was not with us. It was with Ramesh Taurani, and I thought, ‘Yaar, agar nahi milalega toh kya karenge?’ But Taurani gave the title rights up for Salman’s sake.”

‘Sultan’ starring Salman Khan, Anushka Sharma will release on Eid, on the other hand ‘Dangal’ starring Aamir Khan as wrestler Mahavir Phogat releases in December.

What do you think about the amazing similarities between ‘Sultan’ and ‘Dangal’? Do let us know.

Also Read: I’m excited about ‘Dangal’: Director of ‘Nil Battey Sannata’ Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari