Salman Khan engineered Sonakshi Sinha's dream debut in Bollywood by picking her as his co-star in the 2010 blockbuster Dabangg and the talented actress deftly capitalized on the opportunity.
Two years later, Sonakshi is already a star that producers trip over each other to sign up for their films. Interestingly, she has yet to be tested at the box office for a second time since Dabangg, but no one seems to doubt her talent.
Salman Khan and Sonakshi Sinha will soon get back together on set filming for Dabangg sequel and this time around the equation between them will be slightly different: When the film goes to theaters, Sonakshi will complement Salman's prodigious star appeal, not just ride it, and that could result in the film being an even bigger draw than Dabangg.
Salman, 46, will begin filming for Dabangg 2 in Mumbai from March 9. Sonakshi, 24, will join on set on March 17. The two will reprise their roles of Inspector Chulbul Pandey and Rajjo respectively.
The film will mark the directorial debut of Salman's brother Arbaaz Khan, who is additionally the producer of the Dabangg series and stars in the films.
Salman tells DNA, "Arbaaz always wanted to be a director, and when Abhinav (Kashyap) dropped out of the film, he decided to direct it himself. I'm sure he will do a good job, but most of all I'm very happy that Arbaaz is finally getting to live his dream!"
Salman recently returned from over a month long shooting schedule in Cuba for YRF production's Ek Tha Tiger with co-star Katrina Kaif. The film is almost complete with just the climax scene remaining to be filmed. It will wrap before Salman starts filming for Dabangg.
Sonakshi, who returned to Mumbai from Kolkata where she was filming for Lootera with co-star Ranveer Singh on February 27, has two other films on hand: Rowdy Rathore with Akshay Kumar and SOS -Son Of Sardar with Ajay Devgn.
She has already completed filming of Shirish Kunder's Joker with co-star Akshay Kumar. The film is due in theaters on August 30.
Salman plans to work on his second brother, Sohail Khan's film soon after wrapping Dabangg 2, but says it may not be Sher Khan.
"I don't know if it's going to be Sher Khan as we have liked two scripts. We'll begin work on whichever gets finalized first."
Dabangg 2 is scheduled to release on December 21.