‘Khan family controls Bollywood, stole my film to launch Arbaaz’: Dabangg Director Abhinav Kashyap explodes

Mumbai: In a fresh and fiery outburst, Dabangg director Abhinav Singh Kashyap has once again taken direct aim at Salman Khan and his family, accusing them of sabotaging his career and hijacking credit for the 2010 blockbuster. Calling Salman a “gunda” (goon) in a recent interview with Screen, Kashyap alleged that the Khan family pushed him out of the film’s marketing and credits to “set up” Arbaaz Khan’s career.

The comments come as Dabangg marks its 15th anniversary, but Kashyap made it clear there’s nothing to celebrate on his end. “They’ve claimed credit for things they haven’t done,” he said. “It’s a landmark film in their careers, and they felt the need to take entire credit, so it’s a compliment to me.”

“Khan family wants to rule Bollywood”

In one of his strongest accusations yet, Kashyap claimed that Salman, Arbaaz, Sohail, and even veteran screenwriter Salim Khan have long tried to control the Hindi film industry.

“The Khan family wants to rule Bollywood. They control the industry and target anyone who goes against them,” he said, alleging that both he and his brother, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, have been victims of the same system. ‘I got no credit for Dabangg, and my brother got no credit for Tere Naam.’

He further claimed that Arbaaz Khan agreed to come on board Dabangg only if he could produce the film. “Dabangg was an opportunity for Arbaaz to settle himself financially by turning a producer. He kept this condition that he’ll do it only if he produces it, so I agreed. They monopolised all the rights, but they forgot about it while making the film. Later on, when the first print came out and they saw it, they realised that there is something good on their hands. Then, they slidelined me in the marketing and cleaning credits process started,” Kashyap claimed.

Kashyap further revealed that he willingly stepped away from Dabangg 2 after realising early on that he would not be granted creative freedom. The sequel, released in 2012, was eventually directed by Arbaaz Khan and written by Dilip Shukla.

“I was happy to leave Dabangg 2, but differences happened when they came after me, they harassed me, that’s why I stepped away. They wanted a slave kind of a director. They wanted me to do what I was told to do. They would leverage my creativity, steal credit and make money,” he alleged.

Kashyap claimed that the experience during the making of the first film had already shown him how things would unfold with the sequel. “I noticed that in part one only, so I know the same thing will happen with the sequel – no respect, no fame, no money, no credit,” he said.

Old accusations, renewed rage

This isn’t the first time Kashyap has gone public with serious accusations against the Khans. In 2020, he published a scathing Facebook post accusing the family of sabotaging his career. Arbaaz Khan responded back then, stating he would pursue legal action.

However, Salman Khan has never publicly addressed the feud.