Dancing around the trees or cavorting in front of snow-capped mountains is passé for Bollywood’s onscreen couples. Now, they dig for a touch of ‘realism’ in their romance.

Last week Salman Khan and Sonakshi Sinha shot for a dream song sequence at Dubai’s Metro Station for Arbaaz Khan’s home production Dabangg. The scenes canned showed Salman and Sonakshi entering the station, buying the tickets and waiting for the train. But Salman is left behind and only Sonakshi boards the train.

“We wanted to keep it realistic. Very real. I play a corrupt cop from a small village in Bihar and Dubai was a perfect location because it’s a perfect blend of the east and the west,” Salman Khan told a few reporters late on Saturday.


The shoot was originally supposed to be held in Switzerland, but was shifted to Dubai because of the disrupted air traffic due to Iceland’s volcano.

However, shooting at Khalid bin Walid station in Dubai was a cakewalk for the crew.


“We shot on all the three levels: near the ticketing counter, at the station and there is a scene where Sonakshi gets into the train leaving me behind. We are not running around trees anymore, now we are doing it around trains,” Salman told the reporters.

The volcanic eruption in Iceland that has caused chaos all over the world by affecting air travel, had now affected Salman Khan's Dabanng. Yes, the ash could has played havoc.

Producer Arbaaz Khan explains, "We were to fly today to Switzerland to shoot for a romantic song sequence choreographed on Sonakshi Sinha and Salman but now thanks to Eyjafjallajokull (the name of the Icelandic glacier where the volcano erupted), we have had to shift our venue to Dubai."

Sohail and Arbaaz leave for Dubai today for a recce. "We tried working out the flights to Switzerland till the last moment but it just wasn't happening. We had Salman's dates and didn't want to waste them by postponing the schedule.

“Dubai was always an alternate plan and it worked, so now we are going there. It's an emotional storytelling romantic song filmed on Sonakshi and Salman travelling in a romantic situation, and can be shot anywhere from Ladakh to Switzerland or Dubai."

Salman, Sonakshi and the unit join Arbaaz and Sohail tomorrow in Dubai. The call to go to Dubai to shoot was taken five days ago and necessary arrangements were made.

Bollywood Superstar Salman Khan's on screen names are as famous as his acts. Remember his favourite character names, Prem and Radhey. Now, here is another name of his upcoming act that will surely make you smile.

In his forthcoming film Dabanng, Salman Khan will have a unique character name. Something which his fans might find surprising. According to sources who have sneaked this inside information out to media, Salman Khan's character name in Dabanng will be Chulbul Pandey. This not the end of fun. Sonu Sood, who will also be part of this film, has been named Cheddi Singh in order to add to the fun.

Sonakshi Sinha, who will be making her film debut opposite Salman Khan in the film, is named Rajo and she will be playing Salman's wife in the film.

Dabanng deals with the subject of mafia and is set in Bihar. The film is a comic take on the mafia of the land and the name of the characters suggests that this laughathon is surely going to rock at the box office.

While his Gladiator act in Veer may not have set the cash registers ringing, it certainly hasn't affected Salman Khan. Sallu is busy shooting for his next film Dabangg directed by Abhinav Kashyap and produced by Arbaaz Khan. We came across some on-the-sets stills of the film and were in for a surprise to see Salman sporting a moustache. Yes...you heard it right; Salman who apparently plays a police inspector would be seen sporting a moustache in this film. Even brother Arbaaz who stars in the film will sport a moustache.

The film also marks the debut of Shatrughan Sinha's daughter, Sonakshi Sinha. One will have to wait and watch how Sallu fans react to this new look of his.

She has walked the ramp, designed clothes and is now making her acting debut in Bollywood — that’s Sonakshi Sinha for you. The daughter of actor Shatrughan Sinha comes across as an outspoken person.

When asked whether she felt strange acting with Salman Khan who is more than double her age, she says, “I agree he is a lot older than me. But nowadays a lot of new heroines have done that. Deepika came in with Shah Rukh Khan and Asin with Aamir Khan. They too are way too young than their heroes. So what are we talking about? Besides, I have seen the rushes. I look good with him.”

Sonakshi realised that she was suited for acting only after she lost a lot of weight. And the weight loss happened because Salman had told her that she was ‘way too fat’ when he first saw her.

“He told me that the first thing I needed to do was lose weight. He said that he can take me in his movie as a heroine but I needed to shed off my kilos first. He convinced me to lose weight. When that happened, he said I was on for his next film. I was very happy doing my fashion designing but suddenly after losing weight, I knew that my career graph has changed,” says Sonakshi candidly.

Didn’t Shatrughan Sinha tell her ‘khaamosh’ in his inimitable style
when she first went up to him and said she wanted to act?

“There’s no way he would tell me ‘khaamosh’. In our house, I go around telling my dad ‘khaamosh’. Besides, he saw the script and approved it himself,” she says. During the course of the conversation Sonakshi also gives us a glimpse into her philanthropic side. She wants to take up the cause of breast cancer.

“I want to build awareness about it. This is a form of cancer that can be easily cured provided it is detected early. A lot of women don’t speak about it because they think would be turned into outcasts,” she ends.

Shatrughan Sinha’s daughter Sonakshi, who has a degree in fashion designing from SNDT College in Mumbai, has big plans with Bollywood Superstar Salman Khan when she debuts as a fashion designer and hosts her own chat show on television.

The young actor had recently styled her co-star from
Dabangg, Salman Khan, for Dabboo Ratnani’s calendar. She wants Salman to be her showstopper.

“Salman is a very cool guy to work with. He has no fusses and if he likes the clothes that you choose for him, he will wear it without saying anything. I had turned into a stylist for him for the photo-shoot and my experience at fashion designing certainly came in handy. I picked up some really cool things for him that he instantly liked. The shoot went off smoothly. If he wouldn’t have liked it, he’s the kind of person who would say it point blank,” Sonakshi says.

She adds, “This experience (dressing up Salman) has instilled a lot of confidence in me. I used to style people in college and I do all my styling myself. I think it’s a matter of days before I turn into a designer because Ihave the education of how to go about it. I want Salman Khan to be a show-stopper for me. He can hold people’s attention with ease. He’s very confident and it would be a cake-walk for him to be my show-stopper. In fact, he wouldbe my USP.”

Salman Khan is taking his role as Sonakshi Sinha’s guardian angel very seriously. The actor and Shatrughan and Punam Sinha’s daughter have been shooting together for Abhinav Kashyap’s Dabanng in Wai. Salman is said to be monitoring every shot with hawk eyes to make sure Sonakshi lives up to everyone’s expectations.

The Sinha and Khan families are getting closer by the day, thanks to the paternal interest Salman is taking in Sonakshi’s career. For New Year’s, Shatrughan and Punam were at Salman’s farm in Lonavala along with Sonakshi. Salman’s also spreading the good word on the debutante actress’ talents and beauty to other producers, one of them being his new producer-compatriot Boney Kapoor. Last week, Boney drove to Wai to see Sonakshi shoot and has apparently decided to cast her either in Mr India 2 or Wanted 2, both featuring Salman.

The bright and confident young girl happily admits that Boney saw her rushes and was very happy. “But you’ll have to ask him if he’s signing me. At the moment I’m completely focused on Dabanng. It’s a crucial film for me, and for director Abhinav Kashyap and producer Arbaaz Khan. We’re all starting at the same time. Very nervous. But confident.” Salman, says Sonakshi, makes the task of acting easy for her. “He has seen me growing up. I never thought I’d one day be facing the camera with him. It was Arbaaz and Sohail who first spotted me and then recommended me to Salman.”

Sonakshi plays a Bihari girl in Dabanng, though she has been born and brought up in Mumbai. “I’ve spent a lot of time in Bihar. Though I’m half-Sindhi, the Bihari side of me is also very strong. I used to spend a lot of time in Patna when my daadi was there. And we haven’t really gone into a Bihari accent for the characters. Everyone speaks normal Hindi.”

Sonakshi’s happiest moment was a compliment from Salman. “He called me a one-take actor. That’s what they used to call my father. If I can be even 10 per cent of what he is, I’d feel I’ve done my parents proud.”

Dabanng will see the debut of Sonakshi Sinha, daughter of veteran star and MP Shatrughan Sinha. Arbaaz Khan debuts as a producer with this movie in the form of newly launched Arbaaz Khan Productions.

Dabanng is the story of a corrupt police officer played by Bollywood Superstar Salman Khan and highlights the flaws and loopholes in the system. The film primarily deals with unlawful practices in the states of UP and Bihar and the involvement of police in it.

Salman has given up his long hair that he had grown for Veer over two years. He will also deliver dialogues without his usual accent in the film.