Guess who were the original choices to play Chulbul Pandey in Dabangg!

Talk about Salman Khan movies and Dabangg will be one of the first ones to pop up on your mind. The fun-loving Robin Hood cop Chulbul Pandey still remains one of the adored characters of Salman thanks to his swag and kickass dialogues. To the delight of fans, the third instalment of the franchise, titled Dabangg 3, is currently underway and lately, we have been stumbling upon various exciting updates on the film. But our latest piece of info is sure to leave you flabbergasted! Shockingly, Salman was not the first choice for Dabangg. Guess who was the original choice then?

Not one but two popular actors from B-Town were first considered to play Chulbul Pandey. Recently, in an interview with Mumbai Mirror, Arbaaz Khan revealed that director Abhinav Kashyap initially wanted to cast either Irrfan Khan or Randeep Hooda to portray the role. “When Abhinav narrated the script to me, I asked him why he wasn’t offering me the role of the Robin Hood cop. But more than Chulbul, he saw me as Makkhi, which was an extension of my role in Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na,” he said.

Salman Khan in Dabangg

“He was looking to cast Randeep Hooda or Irrfan Khan as the lead then but neither of them had been finalised. I offered to produce the film for him and asked him what if we got Salman on board as Pandey ji. He was instantly excited and things quickly fell in place,” he added.

Imagine Irrfan saying, “Hum tum mein itne ched karenge, ki confuse ho jaoge ke saans kahan se le aur paade kahan se” Or Randeep making a grand entry with the line, “Swagat nahi karoge humara?”

Meanwhile, Dabangg 3 will also see Sonakshi Sinha reprising her role as Rajjo and debutant Saiee Manjrekar too will be a part of it. The film will hit the silver screens on December 20 2019.