Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 12, 2019)
Nine years ago, Sonakshi Sinha arrived in B-town as Chulbul Pandey’s Rajjo in Dabangg which opened in the theatres on September 10. Prod her on moments and memories and she shakes her head, saying, “It happened so fast… It was like living a dream though I had never dreamt of becoming an actor. Destiny and Salman Khan had a big hand in putting me on this journey.”
The actor, she informs, was always pushing her towards wonderland even though Sonakshi herself often wondered how he could see an actress in an overweight teenager. Once the cop drama started taking shape, push turned into a shove and one day, director Abhinav Kashyap, co-writer Dilip Shukla and producer Arbaaz Khan dropped by her place to narrate the script of Dabangg . “My parents (Shatrughan and Poonam Sinha), who were also present, were blown away by the story. Soon, everyone was smiling and shaking hands. It was like an arranged marriage where a match is fixed without anyone asking the girl,” she chuckles.
She was just 20 then and a year-and-a-half later, she landed up on the set with no grooming lessons and absolutely no idea what was required of her despite coming from a film family. Her first scene was set in a hospital, after the bomb blast, and required her to cry. “Fortunately, I took to acting like a fish takes to water and it all played out really well. I think it was a one-take okay because everyone was clapping and telling me that I was a natural, with Salman wearing an I-told-you-so smile,” she reminisces with a relieved smile.
As a typical masala movie, Dabangg had half-a-dozen songs, the first she shot for being Rahat Fateh Ali Khan’s lyrically romantic “Tere Mast Mast Do Nain”. It remains among her favourites, even though Sonakshi filmed this eye-catching song with a sty that needed some innovative camera work to cover up on screen.
Along with its naach-gaana and Salman’s herogiri, her first film is remembered for Rajjo’s dhamakedaar line, “Thappad se darr nahin lagta sahab, pyaar se lagta hai.” Even a decade later, there’s a popular demand for it at events and Sonakshi is proud of the fact that like her father’s famous “Khamosh”, she too has an oft-quoted line to her credit. “I don’t think any other actress has such an iconic dialogue,” she beams, pointing out that the scene was performed normally without any thought of what it could become. “But like I still do, I gave a little bit of myself to Rajjo. Unlike other debutantes, even though I made my debut in saris and lehengas, playing Salman Khan’s wife, I liked the fact that Rajjo was spirited and spunky, giving it back to her husband who was quite the brat.”
The gamble paid off when after the film’s release, Sonakshi swept award shows with best debutante wins, including Filmfare. The actress, however, admits that she was not prepared for all the adulation and went to Toronto to pick up an award without a hair or make-up person or even a stylist. “I would simply borrow my mom’s saris,” she laughs, adding that it was only later that it dawned on her that the kind of success people dream of had come to her with her very first film. “And having discovered how much I loved being in front of the camera, this only made me more determined to take my career seriously and consciously give every role my 100 per cent.”
Sonakshi’s still playing Rajjo, in the third instalment of the Dabangg franchise. You wonder if the character has evolved as the actress matured, and she confides that recently Salim Khan, Salman’s scriptwriter father, after seeing the rushes, called her home and sat her down, asserting that no one else could have done what she has with Rajjo. “That for me is the biggest compliment I have received because Salim uncle is not known to be free with compliments,” the actress maintains. What about Salman? “He is the stingiest person I know with compliments. He will make some sarcastic remark and you have to read between the lines and find the compliment in there. But I know he’s proud of me,” Sonakshi ends on a laugh.
9 years of Dabangg: When Sonakshi Sinha caught the eye
