South superstar Kiccha Sudeep will be seen playing the bad guy in Dabangg 3. We caught up with the actor who told us how Salman Khan and him shot the climax scene in 27 days and why he just couldn’t kick Salman on his chest. So they had to cheat the scene. He also opened up on the age gap debate.
Sudeep, how was it beating up Salman Khan?
Sudeep: So, there’s only one fight in the whole film, between me and him. That’s a fight which everybody will enjoy because there’s a lot of... I should definitely say that a lot of contribution goes to Mr Salman Khan himself for even not indulging in deleting anything. You know? As in like, he’s a very selfless person. That’s what I have realised. The fight is, till the end is equal. We hit each other like madness and it’s only... and of course, there has to be ending to it. Chulbul has to win. But then, man, they made me feel very special, trust me. I guess you know, coming from there, they never made me, at any cost, feel that. You know, you’re the villain so, we will treat you like a villain. That was never that way. I think it takes a lot.
How many takes did it take to do this action sequence?
Sudeep: No takes. We had about, just about 27 days. 27 days of only climax. We saw all kinds of weather. We saw the hot burning sun, then we saw cold. Then we saw a little bit of rain and then we saw a fire on set because of the cars, or the burning cars. Then we went indoor after a couple of months to shoot the remaining part of the climax and then there was dust and dust and dust everywhere. It was so claustrophobic. So we saw everything. And finally, he worked so much through the film. So he got so much back in shape and he looks humongous on screen.
And because you said he has got back in shape, you also have to work very hard to look like that?
Sudeep: Luckily for me ‘Pailwaan’ happened a little before this film so I was a bit in shape. Otherwise, I don’t think I would have been confident to open my t-shirt or shirt at all. I don’t need to prove a point. I’m not confident, I won’t do it, that’s it. But I was okay and I was little in shape and we worked out every day and yeah, so the fights look good. Both of us are looking good and he looks gigantic and I loved him, loved him in the climax fight.
I read in an interview, one of your interviews you said that you just could not hit him on his chest. There was a scene where you had to hit him on the chest.
Sudeep: We hit each other very badly. That’s not the point. On the chest region, see. We Indians, we have it you know like you know whenever we talk, we say do it with all our heart. And where is the heart? So, it’s like kicking him there? Probably if I had not known him personally, it would be easy for me. It’s an actor’s job, I don’t care. But I know this man and it is difficult after getting to know him so well, for the person he is. For the person he is and he commands that. It got a little difficult for me. Maybe I’m only wrong, but I got it. I couldn’t and I did one take but then they wanted more pressure and all that, that’s when it happened. It’s okay. It’s okay we can always cheat it and do things. It’s okay, we got it done by the way by the end of it, it looks hard.
Okay, so coming to the last question. We have always seen like a Salman Khan have romanced Revathi. Revathi now plays mother to Alia Bhatt in the film Two States. But Salman goes on, still the same and romancing a 21 year old girl. Same with Akshay Kumar and Rajinikanth. Do you think the age gap is something that we have to question? Like we don’t see a Madhuri Dixit romancing an Ishaan Khattar? Are you getting what I’m trying to say? The women are never seen romancing the younger men. What do you think about that? Do you think there’s a mental block?
Sudeep: No ma’am, I think it’s the crowd acceptance. So there’s nothing of that sort. If there’s a script, they do it. There is definitely a script is there, they will do it and if the script demands something like that, they will do it. So it’s all in the makers hand. So whatever they want to do, they’ll do. What people want to watch, they’ll watch. For example, there is one film where I don’t know what is that? I think Dil Chahta Hai, where an Akshay Khanna is in love with a very elderly woman. It is there. It has happened. The film is right there. So we cannot say doesn’t happen if the script calls for it, they’ve done it and people have accepted it.
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