Salman Khan took my song Munni Badnaam: Sonu Sood on not wanting to do Dabangg

Actor Sonu Sood has revealed in an interview that the 2010 hit film Dabangg was meant to feature him in the lead role. The actor was speaking during the promotion of his latest film, Fateh, when he recalled his meeting with Dabangg’s director Abhinav Kashyap and mentioned how the role of Chulbul Pandey and the song Munni Badnaam were written for him, but Salman Khan changed everything at the last minute.

The 51-year-old told Shubhankar Mishra on his YouTube show that Kashyap spoke to him about making a cop film with a protagonist named Chulbul, and that’s when he got on board. Sonu added that later, when the director offered him the role of the villain named Chhedi Singh, he refused to play the character.

The actor said, “Abhinav Kashyap (Dabangg’s director) was an assistant to Mani Ratnam earlier. He was a very good friend of mine. He told me that I am writing a cop story with the name Chulbul, we will do it together. I was also excited and told him that we would do it.”

He shared that it was Arbaaz Khan, Salman’s brother, who informed everyone that the superstar wanted to work in the film. Sonu recalled Arbaaz mentioning how he narrated the film to his brother and he liked it.

While the lead role went to Salman, the director continued to pursue Sonu for the negative character. The actor shared that after sometime, he asked Kashyap to provide some depth to the character and give him a special song.

“They asked me, ‘What is the problem with the role, why aren’t you doing it?’ I asked Abhinav to twist the role a bit. Let’s write it more for the next 2–3 days. If I understand it, then I’ll do it. And, I need a song in the film. I asked them to include an item number. When Farah (Farah Khan, choreographer-filmmaker) was making the song, I was conversing with her about including certain steps and how it should be a hit,” he said.

The actor, who is also known for his humanitarian work, went on to call Munni Badnaam ‘my song’. Sonu highlighted that he was keen on doing the popular dance number, but Salman decided to take over it at the last minute.

He said, “Abhinav came with one good and one bad news. Good news about one of the scenes and bad one about Salman taking the song. I said, ‘It is my song, how will he come in between like that’. He said that he will do it through a raid scene. I told them that it’s wrong, I only had one song. But finally, whatever happened, happened or the good. People still remember the song.”

Sonu’s performance as Chhedi Singh was well appreciated by both the critics and the audience. Dabangg also featured Sonakshi Sinha and Dimple Kapadia in important roles. It turned into a franchise with Dabangg 2 and Dabangg 3 hitting the screens later.