Mid-Day

A warm and dildaar Bihari father was needed for Sonakshi Sinha in Abhinav Kashyap's Dabangg. The natural choice was the actress' dad, actor Shatrughan Sinha.

And although Salman Khan personally requested Shotgun to do the needful, the older actor shied away from the temptation of sharing screen space with his beti in her debut drama.



Sinha, it appears, doesn't want to play his daughter's papa on screen until she's confident enough. Mahesh Manjrekar stepped into the papa's part has played it exactly like Shatrughan Sinha would.

Change of character
Manjrekar is a bit reluctant to reveal details about his part in Dabangg. "Yes I am playing Sonakshi's father. I'm not allowed to reveal details about my role. But I will say this much: After a long time I'm getting to play a cute, cuddlesome character. I was tired of playing the sleazeball in all the films I was offered."

Apparently, on seeing the rushes of Dabangg, Sinha Sr  warmly congratulated Manjrekar for doing such a good job of playing his daughter's father.

Real bonding
But the real bonding that grew on location was between Mahesh and Salman. The two are working together in Manjrekar's Hindi adaptation of Shikshanacha Aaicha Gho. Sallu also insists that Manjrekar play a part in the Khans' next home production, as Sonakshi Sinha's father again.